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COOKESLEY—COOKNEY—COOPER—COOTE.  squadron near Cadiz, 12 July, 1801 – shared in Lord Nelson’s pursuit of the combined fleets to the West Indies in the summer of 1805 – was present under Sir John Thos. Duckworth in the battle of St. Domingo, 6 Feb. 1806 – and attended the expedition against Copenhagen in Sept. 1807. From Nov. 1808, until Oct. 1810, Mr. Cooke next officiated as Acting-Lieutenant of the sloop, Capts. Joseph James and Benjamin Crispin, on the Baltic station. He then, for a few months, joined the 110, flag-ship in the Mediterranean of Sir Chas. Cotton; and, in Feb. 1811, was again appointed to an Acting-Lieutenancy in the 74, Capts. John Halliday and Rich. Hussey Moubray, on the latter station, where he was confirmed by the Admiralty, 12 Oct. 1812. Since 8 June, 1814, when the was paid off, Lieut. Cooke has been on half-pay.

 COOKESLEY. 

entered the Navy, 29 Jan. 1791, as a Boy, on board the 32, Capt. Geo. Murray, employed off Halifax; became attached, in June, 1794, to the 64, flag-ship on the Irish station of Vice- Admiral Robt. Kingsmill; and was promoted, 16 Dec. 1799, immediately after passing his examination, to a Lieutenancy in the 50, armée en flûte, Capts. Geo. Bowen, Alex. Wilson, and Dan. Oliver Guion. Attending the expedition to Egypt in 1801, for which he received the Turkish gold medal, this officer landed with the troops in Aboukir Bay, commanded a gun-boat on the Nile, fought some of the enemy’s batteries, accompanied the British army to Cairo, and was present at the capitulation of the French army. Between April, 1803, and the summer of 1805, he next served, as First Lieutenant, on board the bomb, and  24, Capts. Wm. Beauchamp and Anselm John Griffiths, under whom we find him successively employed at the bombardment of Havre in July and Aug. 1804, and the subsequent blockade of the Elbe. He then joined the 80, Capts. John Whitley, Wm. Lukin, Willoughby Lake, John Halliday, and Henry Lidgbird Ball, and was Senior Lieutenant of that ship on 11 April, 1809, when Lord Gambler made his celebrated attack on the French squadron in Basque Roads. On the evening of that day Mr. Cookesley enacted a very conspicuous part as commander of one of the five successful fire-vessels, and behaved with so much gallantry and judgment that he induced two of the enemy’s line-of-battle ships, La Ville de Varsovie and L’Aquilon, to cut their cables and run on shore, where they were soon afterwards destroyed. So highly, indeed, did Lord Mulgrave, then First Lord of the Admiralty, estimate this feat, that he gave Mr. Cookesley a Commander’s commission bearing the same date, and otherwise promoted the whole of his crew, seven in number, two of whom (one, the present Lieut. Robt. Tucker, R.N.) were advanced, as Midshipmen, to the quarterdeck. The subject of this sketch, who subsequently, from 10 May, 1810, until 16 Dec. 1816, commanded the and  sloops on the Newfoundland station, was advanced to Post-rank 7 Dec. 1818. He accepted the retirement 1 Oct. 1846.

Capt. Cookesley is the inventor of a very simple and efficacious species of raft, fully described and illustrated in the fourth volume of the ‘Nautical Magazine.’ He married, in 1809, Miss Nash, of Anthony, near Torpoint.

 COOKNEY. 

entered the Navy, 23 June, 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 74, Capt. Pulteney Malcolm, under whom he attained the rating of Midshipman 21 Feb. 1807, and served until paid off in Feb. 1811. During that period he escorted the army under Sir Arthur Wellesley from Cork to Portugal; witnessed the destruction, in April, 1809, of the French shipping in Aix Roads; and took part, while at the blockade of Cherbourg, in an attack made on the two French 40-gun frigates Amazone and Eliza, protected by the heavy fire of several formidable batteries, 15 Nov. 1810. After a further attachment of a few months to the 98, flag-ship at Portsmouth of Sir Harry Burrard Neale, and  38, Capt. Sir Peter Parker, he joined, in Dec. 1811, the  36, Capt. Hood Hanway Christian, and was for a considerable time employed in active co-operation with the patriots on the north coast of Spain, where he assisted at the capture of Castro. On 12 Jan. 1815, he became Acting-Lieutenant of the 74, bearing the flag of Sir John Poo Beresford on the South American station, whence, on being officially promoted, 19 June following, he returned to England. Lieut. Cookney has not been afloat since.

 COOPER. 

entered the Navy 7 July, 1821; obtained his commission 10 Jan. 1837; and has been employed in the Coast Guard since 12 Dec. 1842.

 COOPER. 

, born 28 July, 1814, is third son of the late Sir Geo. Cooper, Puisne Judge at Madras, by Mary Justina, daughter of Col. Lloyd, of Dale Castle, co. Pembroke.

This officer entered the Navy, 5 Oct. 1827, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 18, Capts. Geo. Lloyd and Rich. Keane, on the West India station, where he assisted in capturing, in Sept. 1828, and June, 1830, the piratical schooner Las Damas Argentinas, and slaver Emelio. He afterwards served, as Midshipman, on the same and home stations, in the 28, Capt. Wm. Walpole, 18, Capt. Robt. Deans, and 110, flag-ship of Sir Wm. Hargood; passed his examination 4 Feb. 1835; and, until promoted, 7 March, 1842, was further employed, as Mate, on board the 74, commanded off the north coast of Spain and in the Mediterranean by Sir Wm. Henry Dillon, and and  120’s, flag-ships at Portsmouth of Sir Philip Durham and Sir Edw. Codrington. His appointments have since been – 2 April, 1842, to the 16, Capt. Sir Wm. Daniell, in the West Indies – 3 Sept. 1844, to the 120, Capt. Alex. Milne, employed on Particular Service – and, 10 Feb. 1845, to the 26, Capt. Henry Kellett, with whom he is now surveying the Pacific.

 COOPER. 

entered the Navy 26 March, 1819; passed his examination in 1825; obtained his first commission 25 Sept. 1834; served for nearly four years in North America and the West Indies, on board the 52, Capt. Jas. Scott, 44, Capt. Watkin Owen Pell,  16, Capt. John Sam. Foreman, again, Capt. Pell, and  28, Capt. Thos. Bennett; and was subsequently appointed – 12 Nov. 1839, to the 16, Capts. Edw. Harris Butterfield and Philip Geo. Haymes, in which vessel he sailed for the Cape of Good Hope – and, 22 May, 1843, to the 86, Capt. Chas. Howe Fremantle, fitting for the Mediterranean. Since the attainment of his present rank, 14 Sept. 1843, Commander Cooper has been on half-pay. – J. Hinxman.

 COOTE. 

entered the Navy 18 Aug. 1833; passed his examination 5 Feb. 1840; and until the receipt of his commission, 25 Sept. 1843, served, as Mate, on board the 18, Capt. John Windham Dalling, in the Mediterranean, and in the  and, both commanded by Lord Adolphus FitzClarence. He was then appointed to the steam-frigate, Capt. Wm. Fred. Lapidge, employed on Particular Service; and, since 11 March, 1845, has been attached to the, also a steam-frigate, Capt. John M‘Dougall, on the East India station.

