Royal Naval Biography/Tobin, George

by John Marshall

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GEORGE TOBIN, Esq
A Companion of the most honorable Military Order of the Bath.
[Post-Captain of 1802.]

This officer is the second son of the late James Tobin, Esq., a proprietor in Nevis, by Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the late George Webbe, Esq., of the same island. His youngest brother is a Lieutenant-Colonel of the royal artillery^[1].

He was born at Salisbury, Dec. 13, 1768; and entered the naval service under the patronage of the late Admiral Herbert Sawyer, as a Midshipman on board the Namur, a second rate, forming part of the Channel fleet, in June 1780.

At the commencement of 1782, the Namur, then commanded by the late Commissioner Fanshawe, accompanied Sir George B. Rodney to the West Indies, where she bore a conspicuous part in the memorable actions of April 9th and 12th, in the same year^[2]. She returned to England, and was put out of commission in consequence of a general peace taking place in 1783.

Mr. Tobin then joined the Bombay Castle 74, stationed as a guard-ship at Plymouth; where he continued till the spring of 1785, when he proceeded with his friend Commodore Sawyer, in the Thisbe frigate, to Nova Scotia, on which station he completed his time as a Midshipman on board the Leander of 50 guns. He subsequently served in the Assistance, a ship of similar force. Between the autumn of 1788 and the summer of 1790, we find him making a voyage to Madras and China in -an East Indiaman; and soon after his return to England he appears to have joined the Tremendous 74, fitting at Chatham as part of the armament destined to act against Spain, in the event of a rupture with that country. He obtained the rank of Lieutenant Nov. 22, 1790.

In the ensuing spring Mr. Tobin was appointed third Lieutenant of the Providence of 16 guns, commanded by Captain William Bligh, under whom he served during the bread-fruit expedition in 1791, 1792, and 1793^[3].

Previous to his return from that service he received letters from England, informing him that Captain Horatio Nelson, (who had a few years before married a Nevis lady, related to his mother) had kept the third Lieutenancy of the Agamemnon 64, open for some time, in hopes of his joining her; but little calculating on the subsequent greatness of that officer, Mr. Tobin was rather pleased than otherwise at being out of the way of accepting the offer, and particularly so when, a few months afterwards, he found himself second Lieutenant of the Thetis, a fine frigate, commanded by the Hon. Alexander Cochrane, who had already proved himself a very zealous and active officer, and with whom he continued upwards of four years^[4].

The Thetis, after cruising for some time, in the winter season, on the coast of Norway, was attached to a squadron under the orders of Rear-Admiral George Murray, with whom she proceeded to the Halifax station in May 1794. The capture of two French store-ships by her and the Hussar, already noticed at p. 259 of our first volume, took place at a time when Mr. Tobin commanded the Princess of Wales schooner, employed as a tender to those frigates. He subsequently became first Lieutenant of the Thetis, and continued as such till his removal into the Resolution 74, bearing the flag of the commander-in-chief, by whom he was promoted into the Dasher, a new sloop of war, about Aug. 1798^[5].

After commanding this vessel for twelve months on the coast of America, Captain Tobin was ordered to convoy the homeward bound trade: and on his arrival in England he used every effort to have her sent to the Mediterranean, in order to be near Lord Nelson; but had the mortification not to succeed, she being placed under the orders of Sir Thomas Pasley, at Plymouth, and chiefly employed off the Isle of Bas, in the irksome, but rarely successful service, of endeavouring to prevent the enemy’s convoys passing along-shore. During the last two years of the war we find her attached to the Channel fleet, successively commanded by Earl St. Vincent, and the Hon. Admiral Cornwallis. She was paid off at Plymouth, Oct. 10, 1801^[6].

Captain Tobin obtained post rank at the general promotion, April 29, 1802; and was appointed to the Northumberland 74, bearing the flag of his friend the Hon. Rear-Admiral Cochrane, off Ferrol, in Sept. 1804. The manner in which he was employed during the ensuing twelve months will be seen by reference to Vol. I, p. 261.

In Sept. 1805, he was removed by the Rear-Admiral, then Commander-in-chief on the Leeward Islands station, into the Princess Charlotte, a 38-gun frigate, with a complement of 264 men; and on the 5th of the following month, being off Tobago, he captured the Cyane French corvette, (formerly British) mounting 20 long sixes, 2 long fours, and six 12-pounder carronades, with a complement of 190 men, commanded by Mons. Masnard, Lieutenant de Vaisseau; the Naiad brig, of 16 long 12-pounders, and 170 men, was in company with the Cyane, but by taking a more prudent, though annoying situation, and superior sailing, effected her escape. When first discovered, these vessels were so far distant, that Captain Tobin saw no chance of overtaking them by an avowed pursuit; he therefore disguised his frigate as much as possible, which had the desired effect of bringing them down to her in the night of the 4th, when a close action took place, and continued above an hour, during which the Princess Charlotte was so much cut up in her sails and rigging, the enemy firing high on purpose to disable her, as rendered the subsequent pursuit of them a very perplexing one. The Cyane was defended in a very gallant manner, and sustained a loss of 3 men killed and 9 wounded. The Princess Charlotte had 7 wounded, 2 of whom died soon after. The Naiad was taken by the Jason frigate on the 13th of the same month^[7].

In the summer of 1806, Captain Tobin was attached to a homeward bound convoy; and soon after his arrival in England he received orders to proceed to the Irish station; from whence he escorted a fleet of merchantmen to Barbadoes and Jamaica, in the spring of 1809. On his return from the West Indies he was sent to St. Helena, to bring home the trade collected at that island; for which service he was presented by the Hon. East India Company with 200 guineas, for the purchase of a piece of plate, “as an acknowledgment of his care and attention.”

The Princess Charlotte having rejoined the flag at Cork, Captain Tobin had the gratification of receiving a handsome piece of plate from the Commercial Insurance Company of Dublin, accompanied with a document, of which the following is a copy:

“At a meeting of the Directors of the Commercial Insurance Company of Dublin, on Thursday, Oct. 5, 1809,

“Alderman Nathaniel Hone in the chair.

“Resolved,– That the sum of one hundred pounds be laid out in the purchase of a piece of plate to be presented to George Tobin, Esq., commander of H.M.S. Princess Charlotte, with an address and suitable inscription, expressive of the high opinion the Directors of the Commercial Insurance Company entertain of his very active services in saving the ship Maria, John Murphy Master, on the 11th day of March last, when under his convoy, laden with a cargo of merchandise, bound from Dublin to Madeira, after being run down by a ship in the fleet.

“Resolved, That Alderman Hone, Mr. Wilkinson, and Mr. Sparrow, be a Committee for carrying the foregoing resolution into effect.

“Signed by order of the Directors,
“Samuel Bruce, Secretary.”

Mr. Bruce’s letter accompanying the above present, was replied to by Captain Tobin in the following terms:

“H.M.S. Princess Charlotte, Cove of Cork, June 3, 1810.

“Sir,– I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 26th ult., accompanied with the very handsome piece of plate voted to me on the 5th Oct. last, by the Directors of the Commercial Insurance Company of Dublin.

“Be assured, Sir, that such a mark of attention was unexpected on my part, as the affair of relieving the Maria had been passed in my mind as one of those casualties frequent in a large convoy; but I shall appreciate the gift the more, as the ‘Resolution of the Directors of the Commercial Insurance Company of Dublin’ is the only acknowledgment I ever received, notwithstanding it has been my good fortune, by the zeal and exertions of the officers and men I have had the happiness of commanding, to have frequently given aid to vessels in distress.

“In begging your acceptance of my thanks for the polite manner in which you have communicated the ‘Resolution’ of the Company, I am, Sir, &c. &c.

(Signed)“George Tobin.”

“To Samuel Bruce, Esq.
&c. &c. &c.”

During the remainder of the French war Captain Tobin was actively employed on the Irish and Channel stations, and in the Bay of Biscay, where he was fortunate enough to capture several of the enemy’s armed vessels. In Jan. 1812, his frigate was ordered to be called the Andromache, her former name being transferred to a first rate, building at Portsmouth.

The Andromache formed part of the squadron under Sir George Collier, during the siege of St. Sebastian; and after the fall of that strong fortress^[8] she escorted the French garrison to England. On the 23d of the following month, Oct. 1813, Captain Tobin fell in with a large frigate, under jury-masts, which surrendered after a short action, and proved to be la Trave, mounting twenty-eight French 18-pounders, and sixteen 18-pounder carronades, only nine months off the stocks, with a complement of 321 men.

Captain Tobin, in his official letter, detailing the capture of la Trave, says, “such was the disabled state of her masts previously to our meeting, that any further opposition would have been the extreme of rashness;” and it is but an act of justice towards a brave enemy to add, that her commander, finding it impossible to escape by sailing, and after endeavouring for a considerable time to dismantle the Andromache with his stern-chasers, received that ship in a manner creditable to him as a gallant man, and sustained a close action for fifteen minutes, until a destructive fire obliged him to surrender. In addition to the disadvantageous circumstance of his being under jury-masts^[9], a strange ship of war was approaching from the N.E. quarter, which he had no doubt of being an enemy, and which indeed proved to be the Eurotas frigate, Captain John Phillimore^[10].

La Trave had 1 man killed; her commander, Jacob Van Maren, Capitaine de Vaisseau, and Member of the Imperial Order of Reunion, the second Lieutenant, 2 Midshipman, (one of them mortally) and 24 seamen wounded. The Andromache had only her first Lieutenant^[11] severely, and 1 seaman slightly wounded.

Captain Tobin was in company with Rear-Admiral Penrose on the 27th Mar. 1814, when that officer, in a most skilful and gallant manner, forced the passage of the Gironde, and anchored in that river with the Egmont 74, the Andromache, and other ships of war; an event which will be more particularly described in our memoir of Captain John Coode, C.B.

The Andromache formed part of the fleet assembled at Spithead during the visit of the allied sovereigns in June 1814; and was paid off at Deptford on the 23d of the following month.

Captain Tobin was nominated a C.B. Dec. 8, 1815. He married, in 1804, the widow of Major William Duff, of the 26th regiment, daughter of the late Captain Gordon Skelly, R.N., by whom he has one son and a daughter. Mrs. Tobin’s only child by her first husband is married to Captain Rowland Mainwaring, R.N.

Agents.– Messrs. Maude.

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1. Captain Tobin’s eldest brother, and three others junior to himself, are deceased.
2. See Vol. II, Part I, note † at p. 52; and Vol. I, note at p. 35 et seq.
3. The Providence sailed from Spithead in company with her tender, the Assistant brig of 6 guns, commanded by Lieutenant Nathaniel Portlock, Aug. 2, 1791; and proceeded to Otaheite, for the purpose of taking on board a cargo of bread-fruit and other plants for the use of the West India colonies. The object of this voyage was accomplished in the most satisfactory manner, 300 plants being landed in excellent order at the island of St. Vincent, and the remainder at Jamaica, in Jan. and Feb. 1793. Captain Bligh returned to England in Aug. following, bringing with him two of the natives of Otaheite, one of whom died soon after his arrival.
4. The following extracts from Nelson’s letters to his wife, will serve to corroborate what we have said respecting the intended appointment of Lieutenant Tobin to the Agamemnon:– June 13, 1796, “What is become of George Tobin? he is a fine young man: it is a pity he has not got more forward.” July 12, 1797. “I am sure the time is past for doing any thing for George Tobin; had he been with me he would long since have been a Captain, and I should have liked it, as being most exceedingly pleased with him.” See Clarke and M‘Arthur’s Life of Nelson, 4to edit. Vol. I, p. 290: and Vol. II, p. 28.
5. The Dasher was built of cedar, at Bermuda.
6. Lieutenant Bedford, now the senior officer of his rank on the establishment of the Royal Hospital at Greenwich, lost his leg whilst serving under the orders of Captain Tobin. As the official letter relating to his misfortune never reached the public, it may not be amiss in this place to give a brief statement of the circumstances that led to that very respectable officer’s secession from active service. We do so the more readily, in consequence of our being personally unacquainted with him, although by no means ignorant of his private worth. The energetic manner in which we have often heard him plead in favour of the distressed widows, orphans, and parents of deceased officers, at the quarterly meetings of the Naval Charitable Society, and the sight of his honorable scars, have long caused us to view him with more than common regard.

   In June 1801, the Dasher, while chasing a French convoy on the coast of Poitou, got on shore near le Pont d’Yeu, but without receiving any material injury. In consequence of this untoward accident, the boats under Lieutenant Bedford, who but too readily met Captain Tobin’s wishes, (supported by Lieutenant Nicholson in the Suwarrow schooner), were sent in pursuit. Two brigs were set on fire by the enemy to prevent their being captured; but one of the boats was unfortunately sunk by a shot from the stern-chaser of a national schooner, which deprived her gallant and persevering commander of his left leg, and at the same time slightly wounded a seaman and three marines. Lieutenant Bedford had once before been obliged by wounds to seek a temporary retirement} but this last severe one closed all his hopes of ever being again actively employed; and he reluctantly withdrew from service, by accepting an appointment to Greenwich Hospital.

7. The Princess Charlotte was 30 men short of complement.
8. See p. 528 et seq.
9. La Trave had been dismasted in a gale of wind on the 16th Oct. and engaged by a British brig of war two days previous to her capture by the Andromache. See Captain Isaac Hawkins Morrison.
10. The Saintes at this time bore E. by S., distant 14 leagues.
11. See Commander Thomas Dickinson, (b).