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1226 one at the time of a squadron under the orders of Sir Wm. Sidney Smith, was for many hours in close action with a powerful division of their flotilla and, besides being much damaged, sustained a loss of 7 men killed and 14 wounded. After serving for about 10 months in the on the Cork and West India stations, Mr. Vans removed, 20 June, 1806, for a passage home, to the  38, Capt. John Bligh. In her, when in company, off the Havana; with several other ships, he witnessed the destruction of two Spanish guarda-costas and of about 20 sail of vessels deeply laden with sugar, under the protection of a 74-gun ship, which succeeded in making off. On his arrival in England in Aug. 1806 he was received, as a Supernumerary, on board the Royal. William, Capt. Hon. Courtenay Boyle, lying at Spithead. Towards the close of the following month he was discharged. He joined next the 74, Capt. John Irwin, at Spithead – the  50 and  50, flag-ships of Vice-Admiral John Holloway, Commander-in-Chief at Newfoundland, whither in the  he escorted convoy – the  74 and  frigate, Capts. Thos. Dundas and Wm. Maude, lying in Portsmouth Harbour, – and again the. Of the latter ship, in which he returned with the flag of Sir J. T. Duckworth to Newfoundland, he was nominated, as a reward for his “active and zealous services,” Acting-Lieutenant 23 June, 1810 – a few weeks only after he had passed his examination. In the following Oct., with a view to ensuring his promotion, he exchanged with an invaliding Lieutenant into the sloop, Capt. Wm. Elliott; in a boat belonging to which vessel, having volunteered his services, he had the good fortune, 22 Dec. in the same year, to rescue, during a gale, the crew of a Bermudian brig which went down head foremost while he was in the act of doing so. In the early part of 1811, having returned to England, he sailed with Rear-Admiral Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke as Supernumerary-Midshipman in the 74 for Lisbon; where he was received, on his arrival, into the  98, flag-ship of Hon. Geo. Cranfield Berkeley; and where, on 1 April, in the same year, he was again ordered to act as Lieutenant in the 10. While attached to the he was employed 100 miles up the Tagus with a division of boats under the command of Lieut. Christopher Claxton. His appointment to the being confirmed by a commission dated 18 April, 1811, he was present in the following Nov. in that vessel, under the temporary command of Lieut. Herbert John Jones, in a 12-hours’ pursuit after a French brig of 16 guns, who, on being fired into, cut adrift a prize she had in tow, valued at 24,000l., and effected her escape. Quitting the in Feb. 1812, Mr. Vans, in the following June, was appointed to the  74, Capt. Hugh Downman, on the Channel station. In March, 1813, a severe injury received in the execution of his duty caused him to be invalided and be sent to the hospital at Deal. For six months he was obliged to remain on shore; and he had the mortification in consequence to forego an opportunity that presented itself to him of proceeding to India with Admiralty and private recommendations for promotion to the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Sam. Hood. The officer who was sent in his stead returned home a Commander in less than 12 months. Mr. Vans’ last appointment was, 19 Oct. 1813, to the 74, Capts. Adam Dmmmond and Sir Thos. Briggs; in which ship he served on the West India, Cork, and Mediterranean stations, until July, 1816. He was a volunteer during that period in several boat-expeditions; in one of which, having after a pull of 29 miles distanced the rest, he boarded, just as a breeze was springing up, and captured a fine American schooner. For this service he was thanked, on returning to the, by his Captain publicly on the quarter-deck.

A serious accident sustained by Mr. Vans when serving in the West Indies in the, in consequence of one of a convoy running on board that ship, resulted in his being ordered home, as above stated, in the. He was unable for seven months to leave his bed; and 18 elapsed before he could recover the partial use of his left leg. He was prevented thus from passing his examination so soon as he otherwise would have done. In consideration of his sufferings he was granted a pension of 4s. a-day 27 April, 1842.

 VANSITTART. 

entered the Navy in 1834; passed his examination 6 Nov. 1841; and in the following year sailed, as Mate of the 50, flag-ship of Hon. Josceline Percy, for the Cape of Good Hope; where he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 10 Feb. 1845, and appointed, 24 of the same month, to the   16, Capt. Robt. Fitzgerald Gambier. He returned to England in 1846; and was employed for a few months in 1847 in the gunnery-ship at Portsmouth, Capt. Henry Ducie Chads.

 VANSITTART. 

entered the Navy 3 June, 1831; passed his examination 2 Aug. 1837; and for his conduct as Mate of the 72, flag-ship of Sir Wm. Parker, during the operations on the coast of China, where he served on shore at the capture of the Woosung batteries, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 16 Sept. 1842. His appointments have since been – 20 Feb. 1843 and 25 Dec. 1846, to the 16 and  steam-sloop, Capts. Wm. Nevill and Wm. Maitland, both in the East Indies – 24 Dec. 1846, to the 104, bearing the flag of Sir Wm. Parker in the Mediterranean – and, 1 Jan. 1848, to the steam-yacht, Capt. Lord Adolphus FitzClarence, with whom he is now serving. – Messrs. Stilwell.

 VANSITTART. 

is fifth son of the late Arthur Vansittart, Esq., of Shottesbrook, co. Berks, by Caroline, fourth daughter of William, first Lord Auckland, and sister of the late First Lord of the Admiralty. One of his brothers, Arthur, the eldest, is married to a daughter of General Sir John Crosbie, K.C.B., of Watergate, co. Sussex; another, Francis, is a First-Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery; and two more, William and Henry, are in the civil service of the Hon.E.I.Co. He is brotherin-law of Lord Vaux of Harrowden; and cousin of the present Lord Bexley and the late Vice-Admiral Henry Vansittart. Vice-Admiral Vansittart entered the Navy in 1791. At the siege of Toulon by the republican army in 1793, he was very severely wounded while serving in a floating battery. In the fallowing year he assisted, in a boat belonging to frigate, Capt. Sam. Hood, at the redaction of Calvi. As a reward for his conduct and his sufferings he was made Lieutenant, in Feb. 1794, into the 64. In that ship he was present at the capture of the Cape of Good Hope and the Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay. He was promoted in Aug. 1798 to the command of the sloop; was advanced to Post-rank 3 Feb. 1801; was employed during that year and the following in the  54,  74, and  frigate; and held command from 1803 until 1812, and from the latter period until 1814, of the  36 and  74. When off the Havana, in the summer of 1806, in company with the 38,  74, an armed schooner, and a homewarcL-bound convoy, he fell in with a number of Spanish vessels under the protection of a 74-gun ship and two guarda-costas. Being detached in pursuit, he succeeded, with the aid of the schooner, in capturing the guarda-costas and upwards of 20 sail, deeply laden with sugar, &c. With a noble spirit of disinterestedness he destroyed the whole of his valuable prizes, in order that the convoy might not be detained, although the Spaniards offered to bring off from the shore in twelve hours a sum sufficient to ransom them. Among the captures made by him at various times was Le Vice-Amiral Martin of 18 guns and 140 men, a most notorious privateer. She was taken 11 Oct. 1811. With the exception of a few months in 1802-3 Capt. Vansittart was not a day out of commission from the time he entered the Navy until the Peace of 1814. He became a Rear-Admiral 22 July, 1830, and a Vice-Admiral 23 Nov, 1841. He died in March, 1843.

