Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/102

BLAKE. 36, Capt. David Atkins, for passage to the West Indies, and the and  74’s, flagships of Vice-Admiral Jas. Rich. Dacres, on the Jamaica station. He then became Master’s Mate of the 18, Capt. Geo. Le Geyt, and, among other valuable services performed in her tender, cut out a convoy near the Havana. He was promoted, immediately on passing his examination, to a Sub-Lieutenancy, 26 Feb. 1806, in the 18, Capt. John Lamborn, and was made Full Lieutenant into the  36, Capt. Chas. Dashwood, 7 April following. After enduring a brief attachment to the 64, Capt. Andrew Fitzherbert Evans, and  74, Capt. Barrington Dacres, Mr. Blake, on 17 Jan. 1807, was appointed to the  18, Capts. Philip Carteret, Fras. Stanfell, Richard Harward, and Hon. John Gore. In the course of the same year he assisted at the capture, in the Channel, of three heavy French privateers, Le Bourgainville, La Glaneuse, and Le Glaneur, carrying together 42 guns and 233 men; and, in Jan. and Feb. 1810, he was the ’s Senior Lieutenant when, under Capt. Stanfell, she took the French 14-gun brig L’Oreste, beneath the batteries of Guadeloupe, and contributed to the reduction of that island. As Lieutenant, his subsequent appointments appear to have been – 7 Dec. 1810, to the 64, Capt. Askew Paffard Hollis, lying at Plymouth – 13 March, 1811, to the  18, Capt. Wm. Peake, in the Channel – 14 May, 1813, as Senior, to the 74, commanded by Capt.Graham Eden Hamond, for a short time by himself as Acting-Captain, and by Capt. Edw. Stirling Dickson, in the Mediterranean – 22 March, 1816, to the 74, Capt. Thos. Alexander, guard-ship at Portsmouth – 18 Aug. 1818, as Senior again, to the 100, bearing the flag at the same port of his old Admiral, Sir Geo. Campbell, at whose request he obtained the appointment – and, 1 July, 1819, to the yacht, Capt. Hon. Chas. Paget. While in the Lieut. Blake aided at the capture, 30 April, 1815, of the French 44-gun frigate Le Melpomène after a brave defence of 15 minutes; and for his services as Senior Lieutenant of the, in which vessel he had the honour of attending for several weeks on the Prince Regent, he was advanced to the rank of Commander 11 Oct. 1819. He was afterwards, in April, 1828, appointed to the 20, under Rear-Admiral Hon. C. Paget, his former Captain, whose flag he always hoisted on that officer’s proceeding to sea, and on one of those occasions he received the Marquis of Anglesey, then Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, on board. Capt. Blake continued in the three years, and was lastly, from 28 Sept. 1832, until the autumn of 1835, employed as an Inspecting Commander in the Coast Guard. He obtained Post-rank 28 June, 1838.

Capt. Blake was nominated, in March, 1841, Gentleman Usher to H.R.H. Prince Albert. He is married, and has issue four children, of whom the eldest son, Chas. Paget Blake, M.D., a surgeon, R.N. (1845), is now serving on board the steam-sloop, commanded in the Mediterranean by Capt. J. S. A. Dennis.

 BLAKE. 

, born in Aug. 1791, is son of the late Capt. Geo. Blake, R.N. (1802), who died in April, 1822.

This officer entered the Navy, in Aug. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 38, Capts. Graham Eden Hamond and Geo. M‘Kinley. On 5 Oct. following we find him present, under Capt. Hamond, at the capture of three Spanish frigates laden with treasure, and the destruction of a fourth, off Cape St. Mary; and on 29 May, 1805, participating in the ’s single-handed and self-sought skirmish with the Spanish 74-gun ship Glorioso. While in charge, as Midshipman, of a prize, Mr. Blake was unfortunately, on 14 Oct. 1807, captured and taken to France, where he was detained a prisoner until the conclusion of the war in 1814. He then successively joined the 98, flagship at Portsmouth of Sir Richard Bickerston, and  74, Capts. Adam Drummond and Thos. Briggs, attached to the fleet in the Mediterranean, whence, having been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 22 of the preceding Feb., he returned to England in Dec. 1815. His next appointments were – 18 March, 1817, to the 16, Capt. Andw. Mitchell, in which vessel he was wrecked off the coast of Ireland on 8 Dec. in the same year – and, 5 Aug. 1819, to the 50, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch, lying in the Downs for the purposes of the Coast Blockade. He left that service in April, 1822, and has since been on half-pay.

Lieut. Blake married, 17 March, 1827, Harriette, second daughter of the late Wm. Leeke, Esq., and grand-daughter of the late Rear-Admiral Isaac Vaillant.

 BLAKE. 

is second son of the late Sir Jas. Henry Blake, Bart., by Louisa Elizabeth, daughter of General Sir Thomas Gage, the celebrated commander of the British forces during the first American war; brother of the present Sir Henry Chas. Blake, Bart., of Langham, co. Suffolk; nephew of Admiral Sir Wm. Hall Gage, G.C.H., one of the late Lords of the Admiralty; and first cousin of Viscount Gage.

This officer entered the Navy, in April, 1813, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 74, commanded by his uncle, Capt. W. H. Gage, on the North Sea and Mediterranean stations; attained the rating of Midshipman in May following, and from Sept. 1814, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 19 July, 1823, served as Midshipman on the Home, West India, and South American stations, in the  38, Capts. Robt. Bloye and Jas. Lillicrap,, Malta, and , all commanded by Capt. Chas. Ogle, 36, Capt. Robt. Henderson, 38, Capt. Wm. Henry Shirrefi’, 26, Capt. Basil Hall, and  42, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Thos. Masterman Hardy. His next appointments were – 2 Feb. 1824, to the 28, Capt. Fred. Hunn, with whom he again sailed for South America – and, 13 Dec. 1825, to the 74, in which ship, and the  52, he served, a great part of the time as Flag-Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Gage, on the East India station, until advanced to the rank of Commander, 15 Jan. 1830. On 9 March, 1837, we find Capt. Blake commissioning the 18, and shortly afterwards returning to the East, where he continued for five years, and was actively employed during the campaign in China, particularly in the attack, 7 Jan. 1841, on the forts and batteries at Chuenpee, for his able support of Capts. Herbert and Scott on which occasion he was officially mentioned by Sir Gordon Bremer. He attained Post-rank 6 May, 1841, and has been in command, since 3 Sept. 1845, of the 26, in the Pacific. – Messrs. Halford and Co.

 BLAKE. 

entered the Navy, 27 Feb. 1802, as Midshipman, on board the 32, Capt. Jas. Giles Vashon, on the East India station, where he removed, as Master’s Mate, in Jan. 1805, to the (afterwards ) 36, Capt. Walter Bathurst The latter ship, while blockading Port Louis in Jan. 1806, took several prizes; and on 20 of that month was much injured by a fire from Fort Canonnier, to which she lay exposed for 20 minutes without being able to return a shot. Mr. Blake who subsequently proceeded to the Baltic, and was attached for a brief period to the, bearing the flag in the Thames of Hon. Henry Edwin Stanhope, obtained a Lieutenancy, 23 Sept. 1808, in the 20, Capt. John M‘Keslie, under whom he witnessed the reduction of Flushing in Aug. 1809, and the capture, besides numerous other vessels, of the Comtesse d’Hambourg, French privateer,