Royal Naval Biography/Robertson, William (b)
WILLIAM ROBERTSON (b), Esq.
[Commander.]
Entered the royal navy in 1803; passed his examination in the beginning of Feb, 1810; was made a lieutenant on the 20th of that month; and subsequently served in the Lynx sloop. Captain John Willoughby Marshall, on the North Sea station. He was afterwards successively appointed to the Sarpedon sloop, Fortunée frigate, and Erne of 20 guns, in which ship we find him serving under Captain (now Lord) Napier, at the close of the war with France, in 1814. lie next joined the Isabella hired ship. Captain John Ross, fitting out for a voyage of discovery in the Arctic regions; and in May 1820, the Conway 26, Captain Basil Hall, from which ship he was removed to the Creole 42, Captain the Hon. Frederick Spencer, on the South American station, Dec. 2d, 1821. He was flag-lieutenant to Sir Thomas M. Hardy, when that officer escorted a body of troops to Lisbon, for the purpose of supporting the Portuguese constitutionalists, in Dec. 1826; and during his command of an experimental squadron in 1827. He obtained the rank of commander on the 12th Nov. in the latter year; commissioned the Snake sloop, in May 1832; and, after serving for some time under Sir Pulteney Malcolm, on the North Sea station, sailed for South America on the 15th June, 1833. Since then he has captured a Portuguese brig, having on board 425 slaves.