Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/92

BEVAN—BEVIANS—BEVIS—BICKERSTAFF. He left the in April, 1806, but was afterwards appointed – 24 March, 1808, to the  sloop, Capt. Thos. Innes, employed in the Channel – 24 May following, to the 98, Capt. Sir Chas. Hamilton, flag-ship subsequently of Rear-Admiral Manley Dixon, on the Baltic station – 17 Nov. 1809, to the 80, Capt. Sir C. Hamilton, attached for some time to the force off Cadiz – and, 24 Feb. 1812, after an interval of 15 months, to the  sloop, Capt. Thos. Cuthbert Hitchens, stationed on the north coast of Spain. Not having been employed since Aug. 1813, he at length accepted the rank he now holds, 4 April, 1832.

Commander Betty married, 11 March, 1799, and has issue two children.

 BEVAN. 

entered the Royal Naval College 10 Aug. 1820, and first embarked on board the 46, Capt. Andrew King. Having served his time in that frigate, and in the 46, Capt. Sir Murray Maxwell, and  50, flag-ship of Hon. Chas. Elphinstone Fleeming, on the South American and West India stations, he passed his examination in 1827; and, on 23 May, 1828, was made Lieutenant into the 28, Capt. Henry Gosset. His subsequent appointments were – to the  yacht, Capt. Geo. Berkeley Maxwell – 1 Feb. 1831, to the 76, Capts. Jas. Hillyar and Donald Hugh Mackay, on the Channel and Lisbon stations – 27 Nov. 1833, to the 46, Capt. Nicholas Lockyer, employed on Particular Service – 9 June, 1836, as First-Lieutenant, to the  46, Capt. Sir John Strutt Peyton, in the West Indies – 6 Sept. 1837, to the  74, Capt. Fairfax Moresby, in the Mediterranean – and, 9 July, 1838, to the  yacht, Capt. Lord Adolphus FitzClarence, from which vessel ill health obliged him to invalid early in 1840. During the term of his employment under the last-mentioned officer, Lieut. Bevan commanded the tender, of 10 guns. He has since been on half-pay. – Messrs. Stilwell.

 BEVIANS. 

passed his examination 2 March, 1831; and served in the Coast Guard from 12 Dec. 1839, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 1 July, 1846. He is now unemployed.

 BEVIS. 

entered the Navy, 5 Nov. 1797, at a very early age, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the bomb, Lieut.-Commander Rich. Horsley, from which he removed, in Dec. 1800, to the fire-ship, Capt. Geo. M‘Kinley. In that vessel he attended the expedition to Copenhagen in 1801, and in the battle of 2 April, having been temporarily transferred to the sloop, Capt. John Ferris Devonshire, attached to the division of the fleet under Lord Nelson, was very hotly engaged. He subsequently served with Capt. Geo. M‘Kinley in the 64 – then for a short time in the  frigate, Capt. Jas. Walker, at Spithead – and again under Capt. M‘Kinley, chiefly as Master’s Mate, in the sloop,  54,  74, and  44, all on the Jamaica station, until appointed Acting-Lieutenant, 10 Nov. 1804, of the  18, Capt. Alex. Robt. Kerr, stationed off Boulogne, where, during a period of 12 months, he appears to have been almost daily employed, either on boat service or in actual collision with the enemy. He rejoined Capt. M‘Kinley, in Nov. 1805, as Master’s Mate, on board the, at North Yarmouth; next accompanied him into the 32; and was only officially promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, after a further servitude, as Midshipman, in the  100, bearing the flag off Cadiz of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, 24 Sept. 1806. We then find him joining in succession – 24 Nov. 1806, the 50, Capts. Henry Bazely and Edw. Galway, in which ship he made a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope – 24 April, 1809, the 50, Capt. Woodley Losack, under whom he attended the expedition to Flushing – 29 Jan. 1810, as Senior Lieutenant, the  18, Capt. Wm. Brooking Dolling, employed on the Home station – and, 7 Sept. 1810, the 36, Capt. W. Losack, on the Cape of Good Hope and West India stations, where he served, nearly the whole time in a similar capacity, until July, 1814. On 20 May, 1811, while cruizing off Madagascar in company with the 36-gun frigates and, and 18-gun brig , the whole under the orders of Commodore Chas. Marsh Schomberg, the fell in with the three French 40-gun frigates Renommée, Clorinde, and Néréide, having each 200 troops on board. In the long and desperate conflict which ensued, the, owing to the situation of the combatants from light and variable airs, became peculiarly the recipient of a most destructive fire from the Renommée and Clorinde, which, besides filling the hold with four feet of water, completely riddled her hull, badly wounded her masts, yards, and bowsprit, cut to pieces her rigging of every sort, killed 16 of her crew, and wounded 46 – a loss exceeding that of the and  united. The Renommée and Néréide were ultimately captured, but the Clorinde effected her escape. Among the wounded on board the was Mr. Bevis himself, in the right thigh, but who, nevertheless, could not be prevailed upon to leave the deck for more than a few minutes. Yet – notwithstanding the facts we have stated, although the First-Lieutenants of the two other frigates were promoted, and the Admiralty expressed their satisfaction at the conduct of the – yet was Mr. Bevis, without any one drawback on his gallant and meritorious conduct, passed over, and suffered to continue for a further period of 18 years on the Lieutenants’ list. His succeeding appointments were – 1 Nov. 1814, as First, to the 74, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Vinicombe Penrose in the Mediterranean, whence he returned in July, 1816 – 25 Aug. 1818, to the 42, Capt. Thos. Huskisson, from which frigate he invalided in April, 1819 – 18 Feb. 1821, to a command in the Coast Guard – and 2 Dec. 1828, again as First-Lieutenant, to the 120, bearing the flag at the Nore of Hon. Sir Henry Blackwood. He was at length advanced to his present rank 3 Aug. 1829; and since 5 Feb. 1839, previously to which period he had held the same office at Milford and Holyhead, has been employed as Superintendent of the Packet service at Liverpool. He is also Resident Agent for Transports at the latter port, having received the appointment in April, 1843.

 BICKERSTAFF. 

entered the Navy, 17 March, 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 50, Capts. Robt. Hall and John Ayscough; and, on 2 Jan. 1806, served in the boats of that ship at the destruction, off the island of Cuba (the 18, in company), of the two French privateers, Le Régulateur and Napoléon, of 5 guns each, and a crew united of 146 men, after a well-contested action of an hour and three quarters. On next joining, with Capt. Ayscough, the 32, we agaan find him contributing, in the boats, to the capture, 20 Nov. following, under a destructive shower of grape and musketry from the crew, 50 in number, who had landed on the same island and posted themselves on an eminence, of Le Vengeur, another privateer, lashed to the shore. Being transferred, m May, 1807, to the 74, commanded by the late Sir Rich. Goodwin Keats, Mr. Bickerstaff attended the ensuing expedition to Copenhagen – then went to the Mediterranean in pursuit of a French squadron which had effected its escape from Rochefort – witnessed the embarkation from Nyeborg, in Aug. 1808, of the Spanish army under the Marquess de la Romana – was in the when, frozen up at Gottenborg in Jan. 1809, she was only extricated by a canal being cut through four miles of ice – and,