Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/165

BURSLEM—BURSTAL—BURT. 28 guns, in June, 1760, fought, on one day, a most gallant action with two French frigates, one of whom was sunk, and the other, La Mouche, taken; and great-grandson of Jas. Burslem, Esq., M.P., who married a heiress of the Godolphin family.

This officer entered the Navy, 15 Dec. 1823, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 42, Capt. Wm. Elliott. He afterwards obtained, in common with others, a medal for his services off Lisbon during the commotions created by Don Miguel, whom he ultimately escorted to Brest; and he then proceeded, as Midshipman, to the West Indies. In Dec. 1826, he joined the 18, Capt. John Milligan Laws, and, after visiting the East Indies, New South Wales, the Friendly and Society Islands, New Zealand, &c., and receiving a severe injury from the natives of an island to which he had been detached in search of deserters from Sydney, joined, in Oct. 1829, the  18, Capts. John Edw. Griffith Colpoys and Jas. Lamport Parkin, and was for some time very actively employed on the River. He passed his examination 13 Jan. 1831, and, returning the next day, as Mate, to the, Capts. John Parker and Marcus Theodore Hare, at Trincomalee, came home and was paid off in May, 1832. Mr. Burslem was subsequently appointed, in Nov. of the same year, to the 3, Lieut.-Commander Wm. Henry Quin; and, in March, 1833, in consequence of the serious damage experienced by that vessel on the Scilly Islands, where she had been recently cast away in a violent hurricane, he was turned over, with the same officer, to the 10. In the latter we find him serving for three years on the coast of Africa in suppression of the slave-trade, and, during a conflict with the Apolonians, employed in her cutter covering the landing of the troops. He invalided home from an attack of fever in Aug. 1836, but returned to the coast of Africa in the Dolphin 3, Lieut.-Commander Campbell, in March, 1837, and on 15 Jan. 1838, obtained his commission. He was confirmed in the command of the 6, at the Cape, in July following; paid that vessel off in Jan. 1841; and was afterwards appointed – 11 May, 1841, to the  50, fitting at Portsmouth for the flag of Rear-Admiral Rich. Thomas – and, 20 Aug. ensuing, to the command of the 3, employed on the Lisbon and Irish stations. A return of the African fever obliged him to invalid in Aug. 1843, and he has since been on half-pay. – Collier and Snee.

 BURSTAL. 

passed his examination 27 Oct. 1840, and served, as Mate, in the, , and steam surveying-vessels, all commanded by Capt. Fred. Bullock, with whom, since his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, 9 Jan. 1846, he has continued employed in the, on the river Thames.

 BURT. 

is half-brother of the late Lieut. Chas. Burt, R.N., who, when Midshipman, was the messmate and companion of Nelson and Troubridge in India.

This officer entered the Navy, 12 Aug. 1795, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 100, Capt. Sir Andrew Snape Douglas, flag-ship in the Channel of Lords Bridport and Howe, and, about June, 1797, removed, as Midshipman, to the  38, Capt. Sir Fras. Laforey. For many months afterwards he was constantly in action with the batteries and mortar-boats near Havre-de-Grace; and, on 1 May, 1798, he was present when the, in company with the bomb and  cutter, drove on shore, after an engagement of three-quarters of an hour, and by her boats destroyed, the French frigate La Confiante, of 36 guns and 300 men, besides putting to flight La Vésuve corvette, of 20 guns. He next joined, in succession, the 80, and  32, both flagships of Lord Hugh Seymour in the West Indies, where, having passed his examination in 1801, he was promoted into the  74, bearing the flag of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, 28 Dec. 1802. Under Capts. Wm. Cumberland and Henry Whitby he subsequently, until July, 1804, served in the and, and in those frigates assisted at the blockade of Cape François and in an action with the Duguay Trouin. He then joined Rear-Admiral Jas. Rich. Dacres in the 74, and, on 29 June, 1805, was transferred from the  74, into which ship that officer had shifted his flag, to the command of the  schooner, of 12 guns. In the latter vessel Lieut. Burt was afterwards shot through the hand while chasing a privateer into a port of Cuba; and, on 4 Nov. 1806, when off New Providence, he had the misfortune to be wrecked – a calamity, however, of any share in which he was by court-martial fully acquitted. His next appointments were – 1 May, 1807, to the command of the schooner, and, 1 April, 1808, to that of the  sloop – on 18 of the same month, as Acting-Captain, to the  frigate – and, on 25 May following, to the  16. During the long blockade of the city of St. Domingo, which ultimately capitulated on 6 July, 1809, he frequently signalized himself by his “great promptitude, zeal, and ability,” both under Capts. Stephen Thos. Digby and Wm. Pryce Cumby, but especially on two occasions – the first, in landing, through a tremendous surf, eight of the lower-deck guns, two of which he conveyed to the east battery, a distance of nearly 30 miles, over an almost impassable country – and the second, in gallantly attacking and silencing the fire of a fort to the westward. Commander Burt, who afterwards escorted a convoy to England, and returned with another to Jamaica, was obliged to invalid, in 1810, from the effects of long service in a tropical climate. He has since that period been on half-pay.

Commander Burt, the only officer of his rank bearing a commission of 1808, was awarded the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 25 June, 1842. He has an eldest daughter, Charlotte Elizabeth, married to Commander L. H. Wray, R.N.; and a second, Anna, married, 28 Feb. 1842, to John Lewis, Esq., of the Madras Army, son of the late Rear-Admiral J. M. Lewis.

 BURT. 

(a) entered the Navy in 1813; served for six years and eight months in the West Indies; was there promoted, 6 Dec. 1824; and since 1825 has been on half-pay. – J. Hinxman.

 BURT. 

(b) was born in 1799 at Plymouth. This officer entered the Navy, 13 Nov. 1811, as a Supernumerary, on board the 98, Capt. Nash, flag-ship at Plymouth of Sir Robt. Calder; removed, 1 Aug. 1812, as Fst.-cl. Vol., to the 18, Capt. John Palmer, on the Newfoundland station; and, on 3 March, 1814, became Midshipman of the  110, bearing the flag in the Channel of Sir Harry Burrard Neale. He afterwards served in the 36, Capt. Fras. Newcombe – 74, Capt. Chas. Ekins, under whom he participated, 27 Aug. 1816, in the bombardment of Algiers – and 104, flag-ship of Sir John Thos. Duckworth and Lord Exmouth at Plymouth. Being discharged 31 Oct. 1817, Mr. Burt continued unemployed until Dec. 1821, when, joining the 18, Capt. John Edw. Walcott, he proceeded to the West Indies. In Oct. 1823, a few months after passing his examination, he was transferred to the schooner, Lieut.-Commander Henderson, and in that vessel he appears to have been strenuously employed in the suppression of piracy. In Dec. 1825, he became Mate of the 74, Capt. Walter Bathurst. He officiated, as Chief,