Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/665

Rh of the frigate, Capt. Leslie, who afterwards assumed command of the  36,  22, and  36, was officially advanced to Post-rank. While in the we find him heading a party of seamen belonging to H.M.S., and co-operating, 28 June, 1813, with a detachment of troops under Colonel Watson, in an attack upon the defences of Sambas, a piratical state on the western coast of Borneo, where, after six hours’ march in an almost impenetrable jungle, five batteries were in succession assaulted and carried with the utmost intrepidity. His zeal and gallantry in this instance also obtained for him the congratulations of his senior officer, Capt. Geo. Sayer, and the thanks of the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Sam. Hood. He was slightly wounded on the occasion in each leg. In Sept. of the same year the Captain, then under the orders of Hon. Geo. Elliot of the, with whom was employed a body of troops under Lieut.-Colonel Macgregor, proved a chief instrument to the re-establishment of the Nagor Ordeen on the throne of Palambang, precluding, by the greatness of his expedition and efforts, and the completeness of the surprise he produced on the enemy, the possibility of resistance. Proportionate, of course, were the acknowledgments of Sir Sam. Hood; to whom, on removing, in Jan. 1814, to the, he became Flag-Captain. He subsequently commanded a squadron in the Java seas. He paid the off in April, 1816; and was lastly, from April, 1823, until April, 1832, employed as an Inspecting Commander in the Coast Guard. His advancement to the rank he now holds took place 1 Oct. 1846.

The Rear-Admiral is a Magistrate for co. Down. He married, in Sept. 1817, Martha, only daughter of the late Geo. Vaughan, Esq., the descendant of an old English family.

 LESLIE. 

entered the Navy, 1 Oct. 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the sloop, Capt. R.J. Neve, stationed in the Channel; and, in Nov. 1804, removed to the  40, Capts. Matthew Henry Scott and John Wentworth Loring, under the latter of whom, on 28 March, 1806, he witnessed the capture of the French corvette Le Néarque of 16 guns and 97 men. Rejoining Capt. Scott, in the following July, as Midshipman, in the 74, he sailed in that ship for the West Indies; on his return whence, in Dec. 1808, he was received on borad the  74, Capt. Sir Rich. King. After co-operating in the defence (during the siege of Cadiz) of Fort Matagorda, where he was wounded, Mr. Leslie, in July, 1810, became Acting-Lieutenant of the 98, bearing the flag on that station of Rear-Admiral Fras. Pickmore. He went back, however, in the following Oct., to a Midshipman’s berth in the ; and he was next, from Feb. 1811 until March, 1813, employed in the North Sea as Master’s Mate of the 74, Capt. M. H. Scott, and  80, and  9&, flag-ships of Admiral Wm. Young, by whom, for a few weeks in the former year, he was lent, as Acting-Lieutenant, to the sloop, Capt. Wm. Buckley Hunt. He then repaired to the Canadian lakes, where he joined in an attack on the enemy’s army and flotilla, and continued to serve as Lieutenant (commission dated 24 Aug. 1814) of the and, bearing the broad pendants of Commodore Sir Jas. Lucas Yeo and Edw. W. C. K. Owen, until Sept. 1815. His last appointment was to the, a Falmouth packet, the command of which he retained from 5 Nov. 1841 until Nov. 1846.

 LESTER. 

is brother of Lieut. Jas. Lester, R.N. (1827), who died in 1844, while commanding the Revenue-vessel.

This officer entered the Navy, 20 April, 1800, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 98, Capts. Albemarle Bertie and Jas. Oughton, bearing the flag for some time of Sir Andrew Mitchell in the Channel, where he served until April, 1802 – the last seven months in the capacity of Midshipman. Re-embarking, in the following June, on board the 18, Capt. Robt. Corbet, he was at first employed in that vessel in cruizing against the smugglers on the Yorkshire coast; after which he proceeded to the Mediterranean, and there assisted at the capture, 10 Sept. 1803, and 28 April, 1804, of the French privateers La Caille, of 6 guns and 60 men, and L’Hirondelle, of 14 guns and 80 men – the latter at the close of an arduous chase with the sweeps during a calm of nearly two days. After further serving for a short time with Capt. Corbet in the frigate, he removed with him, in June, 1805, to the, of 42 guns and 281 men, commanded subsequently by Capt. John Stewart, under whom, on the night of 5 July, 1808, we find him contributing to the capture, after a signally furious engagement, and a loss to the  (30 of whose crew were absent) of 5 men killed and 10 wounded, of the Turkish man-of-war Badere Zaffer, mounting 52 guns, with a complement of 543 men, of whom 170 were killed and 200 wounded. The Alis Fezan, of 26 guns and 230 men, a ship which had been also opposed to the, was at the same time put to flight. Being declared by his Captain very worthy of promotion for his conduct on the occasion, Mr. Lester was accordingly awarded a commission bearing date 6 of the same month, and appointed to the 18, Capt. Chas. Fred. Payne. In the early part of 1809, however, he rejoined the, and while in that ship, in which he remained until 1811, assisted in taking several privateers, co-operated in the reduction of the islands of Gianuti and Pianoza, and commanded the boats at the capture of a large armed merchant-ship on the Roman coast. When afterwards in the 36, Capt. Wm. Mounsey, he witnessed the conquest of the island of Ponza 26 Feb. 1813 – commanded her boats (having gallantly volunteered to do so), in conjunction with Lieut. Walter Croker, at the cutting out, 4 Oct. following, with a loss to the British of 2 men killed and 10 wounded, of 14 out of a convoy of 19 vessels, protected, in the harbour of Marinelo, by the galling fire of 2 gun-boats, a fort of 2 long 24-pounders, and a strong fortified tower and castle – destroyed a privateer under the batteries of Orbitello – was again in charge of the boats during the unsuccessful attack upon Leghorn – beheld the occupation of Santa Maria and of the enemy’s other forts in the Gulf of Spezia – and aided at the reduction of Genoa and its dependencies in March and April, 1814. He left the in Aug. 1815; and was lastly, from 24 June, 1824, until Jan. 1839, employed as an Agent for Transports afloat. He accepted his present rank 6 Feb. 1846.

When Commander Lester was a Midshipman of the, that sloop had her main-topmast and mizen top-gallantmast carried away in a squall in the Faro of Messina, in clearing away the wreck of which he sustained an injury that procured him on his arrival in England a pension of 4l. This ceased on his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, but was restored to him in 1843. We may add that when in the he was on one occasion left at the island of Milo in charge of 14 sail of prizes. He is married.

 LETCH. 

was born in Nov. 1782.

This officer entered the Navy, 8 July, 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 74, Capts. Geo. Campbell, Fred. Lewis Maitland, John Aylmer, and Edw. Griffith, in which ship he continued to serve as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Channel and also in the Mediterranean (where he attended the expedition of 1801 to Egypt), until nominated, in Jan. 1805, Sub-Lieutenant of the 