Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/151

BRUCE. Lieut. Brownrigg married, 19 Jan. 1830, Maria, only daughter of Colonel Blake. – Messrs. Stillwell.

 BRUCE. 

died 23 Aug. 1843.

This officer entered the Navy, in May, 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 64, Capt. Thos. Briggs; and, on ultimately accompanying the same Captain to the West Indies in the 32, was wrecked, as Midshipman, 22 Jan. 1807. He then joined the, Capt. John Parish, but removed in the following Sept. to the 32, Capt. Sir Wm. Hoste. While in the latter frigate, Mr. Bruce, on 12 May, 1808, shared in a very spirited engagement of many hours with several batteries in the Bay of Bosas, in an attempt to cut out the French frigate-built 800-ton store-ship Balleine, mounting from 26 to 30 guns, with a crew of 150 men. He also, on 27 Aug. 1809, served with a detachment, under Lieut. C. G. K. Phillott, at the storming of the strong fort of Cortellazzo, near Trieste; the capture of which occasioned the simultaneous surrender, within sight of the Italian squadron off Venice, of 6 of the enemy’s gun-boats, and a large convoy of merchant-trabacolos anchored for protection under its walls. On 29 June, 1810, Mr. Bruce further landed near the town of Groa, and, after defeating a large body of French troops, assisted at the capture and destruction of a convoy of 25 vessels. He was eventually captured by the enemy in Nov. 1810, and taken to Italy, where he was detained a prisoner until Jan. 1812. Being then released, he successively joined, in the course of the same year, the 36, Capt. Edwin Henry Chamberlayne,  74, Capt. Chas. Rowley, and 38, Capts. Sir Wm. Hoste and Fras. Stanfell. On 14 Feb. 1813, we find him serving in the ’s barge, armed with a 12-pounder carronade, and manned with 23 officers and men, under Lieut. Silas Thomson Hood, at the boarding and capture, near Otranto, of the French gun-vessel Alcinous, of 2 long 24-pounders and 45 men; and, on 5 Jan. 1814, his emulous conduct appears to have been spoken of in high terms by Sir Wm. Hoste, in his despatch announcing the surrender, after a ten days’ cannonade, of the fortress of Cattaro, in the Adriatic. Mr. Bruce – who we believe witnessed the ensuing reduction of Ragusa, and, by his unwearied exertions, as Master’s Mate, in command of a party of 30 seamen, attached to the army at the capture of Machias, in Sept. 1814, obtained the official notice of Lieut.-Colonel Pilkington – was confirmed to a Lieutenancy, 15 Feb. 1815, in the sloop, Capts. Jos. Pearce and Sam. Malbon. He left that vessel, of which he acted for two months as Commander, 6 Sept. 1815; and was not afterwards employed.

 BRUCE. 

, born 2 Feb. 1792, is third and only surviving son of the late Rev. Sir Henry Hervey Aston Bruce, Bart., by Letitia, daughter of the late Rev. Dr. Henry Barnard, granddaughter of Wm. Barnard, Bishop of Derry, and niece of Thos. Barnard, Bishop of Limerick. He is uncle of the present Sir Henry Hervey Bruce, Bart.

This officer entered the Navy, towards the close of 1803, as a Boy, on board the 36, Capt. Hon. Henry Blackwood, and, on 21 Oct. 1805, was present, as Midshipman, at the battle of Trafalgar. In 1806 he joined the 74, commanded by the same officer, and, on her destruction by fire off the Dardanells, 14 Feb. 1807, became attached to the  40, Capt. Hon. Thos. Bladen Capel, part of Sir John Thos. Duckworth’s force at the passage of those straits. After further assisting at the embarkation of Sir John Moore’s army at Corunna in Jan. 1809, Mr. Bruce rejoined Capt. Blackwood in the 74, stationed in the North Sea, and, on 5 Jan. 1810, he was promoted, from the  74, Capt. John Erskine Douglas, into the  sloop, Capt. John Hardy Godby, from which he was, however, removed, on 17 of the same month, to the  36, Capt. Rich. Byron. While in that ship he in part commanded her boats, in conjunction with those of the 28, at the very gallant capture, off the coast of Norway, of 2 Danish gun-vessels, the Bolder and Thor, of 8 guns and 45 men each, and destruction of a third, 23 July, 1810 – obtained the official notice of his Captain for his skilful management of the ’s main-deck stem-chasers, when she ably escaped, after a long running fight, and a loss of 2 men killed and 22 wounded, from a powerful American squadron under Commodore Rodgers, 23 June, 1812, on which occasion he was himself slightly wounded – again served in the boats, with those of a squadron under Lieut. Kelly Nazer, at the boarding and capture, on 8 Feb. 1813, after a most obstinate resistance, of the American letter-of-marque lottery, of six 12-pounder carronades and 28 men, an exploit which was acknowledged by the especial thanks of the Commander-in-Chief – and subsequently aided in taking and destroying the privateers Bunker’s Hill of 7 guns and 72 men, and Mars of 15 guns and 70 men. Capt. Bruce, who was advanced to the command of the brig, 27 May, 1814, next, in Aug. of that year, accompanied Rear-Admiral Cockburn up the Patuxent as far as Nottingham, and, on the return of the British army from Washington, there hoisted the flag of that gallant officer, whose acknowledgments for his services he had the honour, with others, to receive. In Sept. following, the Manly was employed up the Patapsto river during the advance of Major-General Ross on Baltimore. We soon afterwards find Capt. Bruce returning to England with despatches in the sloop, and, until paid off in Sept. 1815, successively employed in escorting the outward-bound East India trade to the southward of the equator, in convoying home a fleet of merchantmen from Barbadoes, and cruizing off Dieppe for the purpose of intercepting Napoleon Buonaparte, should occasion offer. On 16 March, 1821, he was appointed to the  sloop, and, being the Senior Commander on the Cork station at the time of George the Fourth’s visit to Ireland, was promoted to Post-rank, by commission dated 16 Nov. in the same year. He subsequently, from 4 Oct. 1823, until 3 April, 1824, officiated as Flag-Captain, in the 120, to the Hon. Sir Alex. Inglis Cochrane, Commander-in-Chief at Plymouth; commanded the 26, on the South American station, from 7 June, 1836, until paid off at the close of 1839; and, on 1 Feb. 1842, was selected by his brother-in-law. Sir Thos. John Cochrane, to be his Flag-Captain in the 72, on the East India station. He has been on half-pay since May, 1845.

Capt. Bruce married, first, 9 Feb. 1822, Jane, second daughter of Admiral Hon. Sir Alex. Inglis Cochrane, sister of Rear-Admiral Sir Thos. John Cochrane, and sister-in-law of Rear-Admiral Sir Edw. Thos. Trowbridge, Bart., by whom, who died 22 June, 1830, he has issue two sons and two daughters. He espoused, secondly, 13 March, 1832, Mary Minchin, youngest daughter of the late Col. Geo. Dalrymple, and by that lady he also has issue. – John P. Muspratt.

 BRUCE. 

obtained his commission 9 Feb.; and has not since been afloat. Pettet and Newton.

 BRUCE. 

is son of the Rev. T. Bruce, of Westbere, near Canterbury. This officer was employed throughout all the operations on the coast of Syria, including the capture of St. Jean d’Acre. He passed his examination 2