Royal Naval Biography/West, Christopher
CHRISTOPHER WEST, Esq.
[Commander.]
Entered the royal navy, in Mar. 1800, under the auspices of the late Commissioner George Henry Towry[1]; and first went to sea in the Thetis frigate. Captain Henry Edward Reginald Baker, under whom he served in the memorable expedition to Egypt. On his return from thence to Malta, he joined the Wassenaer 64, armed en flûte, which ship, commanded, we believe, by Captain John Larmour, was paid off in Sept. 1802. We next find him in the Minotaur 74, Captain John Moore Mansfield, at the capture of la Française, a French 44-gun frigate, May 28th, 1803. He was also on board the same ship at the battle of Trafalgar and siege of Copenhagen; on which latter occasion she bore the flag of Rear-Admiral William Essington.
From the Minotaur, Mr. West was sent, on promotion, to the flag-ship of Admiral Gambier, who soon appointed him sub-lieutenant of the Desperate gun-brig. His first commission bears date Feb. 9th, 1808; from which period he served, for several months, as senior lieutenant of the Fury bomb, Commander John Sanderson Gibson; and for nearly three years, as third of the Blake 74, Captain Edward Codrington. In the spring of 1809, the Sea-Lark schooner, sailing in company with the Blake, on the North Sea station, shipped a heavy sea, and immediately went to the bottom, taking with her the whole of the officers and crew, except one man, who was saved through the exertions of Lieutenant West, assisted by a good boat’s crew.
After the reduction of Flushing, on which occasion she bore the flag of Rear-Admiral Lord Gardner, the Blake was employed in the defence of Cadiz, (from whence she escorted four Spanish line-of-battle ships to Minorca) and subsequently in co-operation with the patriots of Catalonia[2]. While on the latter service, Mr. West had a severe attack of pleurisy, which compelled him to return home in Sept. 1811. When recovered, he was appointed flag-lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Thomas Surridge, commander-in-chief at Chatham, where he continued until the end of the European war; previous to which he had the honor of steering and attending on our present most gracious monarch, during his inspection of the Russian fleet, sent over to England for safety in 1812[errata 1]. He obtained his present rank through the very strong recommendation of Rear-Admiral Surridge, June 4th, 1814; and married, in 1815, his first cousin. Miss S. Ware, of Camden Town, near London. One of his brothers, Matthew Thomas West, is a lieutenant in the royal navy.
- ↑ Original: for safety was amended to for safety in 1812