Royal Naval Biography/Price, John
JOHN PRICE, Esq.
[Commander.]
Was made a lieutenant on the 31st July, 1795; and served as such under Captain (now Sir Graham) Moore, in the Melampus frigate, at the defeat of Mons. Bompard, by Sir John B. Warren, Oct. 12th, 1798. On the following day he assisted at the capture of la Résolue, French 36, and was thus spoken of by his commander: – “As a very heavy gale of wind came on immediately after our boarding la Résolue, the second lieutenant, Mr. John Price, with twenty-one men, were all that could be thrown on board of her, with the loss of our two cutters. That officer deserves very great credit for his active exertion in clearing her of the wreck of her masts and rigging, and in keeping company in so violent a storm.”
In July, 1804, Lieutenant Price commanded the Archer gun-brig, and was highly commended by Captain (now Sir Edward) Owen, for his “decisive promptness” in attacking the Boulogne flotilla, many vessels of which were driven on shore and destroyed in the presence of Napoleon Buonaparte[1].
In 1807, we find him commanding the Gladiator receiving-ship, bearing the flag of Sir Isaac Coffin, at Portsmouth; in 1810, he was appointed flag-lieutenant to Sir Roger Curtis, the commander-in-chief at that port; and in June, 1811, to the acting command of the Zephyr sloop: he obtained the rank of commander on the 28th April, 1812; and died in Jan. 1828.