Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/930

916 PORTER. 

entered the Navy, 14 Nov. 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 74, Capt. Rich. Dacres, attached to the Channel fleet; removed, in Jan. 1808, to the sloop, Capt. Geo. Adey Creyke, employed on the Lisbon, West India, and Home stations; served from June, 1810, to Feb. 1813 in the 74, Capts. Adam Mackenzie, John Ferris Devonshire, and Chas. Grant, in the North Sea and Mediterranean; then joined the 120, bearing the flag of Sir Wm. Sidney Smith off Toulon; and on 27 July, 1814, was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant. His succeeding appointments were – 7 Sept. 1814, to the 38, Capt. John Quilliam, in the West Indies – 29 Sept. 1815, to the  10, Capt. Augustus Baldwin, in the Channel – 5 Sept. 1817, after nearly 12 months of half-pay, to the  44, Capt. Wm. Henry Shirreff, fitting for South America – and, 10 May 1821, to the 78, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Thos. Masterman Hardy on that station. On 26 Aug. 1822 he was made Commander into the sloop, in which vessel, in July, 1823, he returned to England with 1,000,000 dollars. He has not been since afloat. – Hallett and Robinson.

 PORTER. 

entered the Navy, in Nov. 1804, as li.M., on board the 74, Capt. John Clarke Searle, bearing the flag of Lord Keith in the Downs. From Feb. 1805 until Feb. 1810 he served in the Channel, Baltic, and North Sea, chiefly in the capacity of Midshipman, in the 12, Lieutenant-Commander John Stokes; he then joined the  18, Capt. Thos. Dench, attached to the force in the Mediterranean; and in March, 1813, after a servitude of two years on that and the Home stations, part of the time as Second Master, in the 110, and  100, flag-ships of Sir Chas. Cotton and Lord Keith, was again placed under the orders of Lieut. Stokes in the. . From the following April until confirmed in his present rank 10 Aug. 1814, he was a second time employed, as Master’s Mate and Acting Lieutenant, in the, under the flag, in the Mediterranean, of Sir Rich. King. Subsequently to Feb. 1820 he held an appointment in the Water Guard.

 PORTMAN. 

, born 4 June, 1804, is third son of Edw. Berkeley Portman, Esq., of Bryanston, co. Dorset, and Orchard Portman, co. Somerset, by Lucy, daughter of the Rev. Thos. Whitby, of Creswell Hall, Staffordshire; and brother of the present Lord Portman.

This officer entered the Navy 7 Aug. 1817; passed his examination in 1823; and was made Lieutenant, 26 Jan. 1826, into the 10, Capt. Hon. Wm. , on the Mediterranean station; where we find him, in 1827-8, serving in the 28, Capt. Hon. Fred. Noel. Since the year last mentioned he has been on half-pay.

He married, in Oct. 1829, Sarah, only daughter of Thos. Thornhill, Esq., of Riddlesworth Hall, co. Norfolk, by whom he has issue.

 POSTLE. 

passed his examination in 1831; and on the occasion of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, 6 July, 1836, was appointed Additional of the 120, flag-ship of Sir Josias Rowley on the Mediterranean station, where he next, 7 Jan. and 1 Nov. 1837, joined the  80 and  52, Capts. Sam. Jackson and David Price. His succeeding appointments were – 4 Aug. 1838, to the 16, Capt. Geo. Ramsay, on the North America and West India station, where he was superseded in Aug. 1839 20 April, 1840, for a few months, to the 80, Capt. Sir David Dunn, again in the Mediterranean – 30 July, 1841, to the Coast Guard – and, 12 Jan, 1842 and 6 Oct. 1843, to the command of the  and  steam-vessels, the former of which was run down and sunk by the French steamer Véloce 24 July, 1843. Preparatory to his return to England Lieut. Postle had the gratification, in Dec. 1845, of receiving a most complimentary and flattering address, signed by the Chairman, Deputy- Chairman, and members of the Exchange Committee of Gibraltar, expressive of the deep sense they entertained of the numerous obligations they owed him for the prompt and efiicient manner in which he had at all times, both in the and, rendered protection to the trade of the place; and of their admiration of the spirited manner in which he had, when occasion offered, exacted a proper respect for the British flag. The humane and devoted nature of the exertions he afforded, in the course of the same month, to the crew of the French steamer Pepin, wrecked between Azamoor and Mazagan, on the coast of Barhary, had the effect of eliciting a glowing letter of thanks as well from the Consul-General for France in Morocco as from the Consul of France at Gibraltar. The King of the French, too, being desirous of publicly testifying his appreciation of the noble conduct exhibited by Lieut. Postle, expressed his intention of conferring upon him the Cross of the Legion of Honour. The regulations of the British service, however, not permitting him to accept it,’ His Majesty presented him instead with a pair of valuable pistols, appropriately inscribed. He was promoted to the rank of Commander 12 Dec. 1845; and has been employed since 15 Aug. 1846 as an Inspecting-Commander in the Coast Guard at Dundalk, where, on 28 Jan. 1846, he again found means of rendering himself conspicuous by the services he performed on the occasion of the wreck of the cutter Lord Nelson, the owners of which, Messrs. Horsfall and Sons, of Liverpool, presented him with a silver box of great intrinsic value and of exquisite workmanship. – Messrs. Stilwell.

 POTBURY. 

died at the commencement of 1848.

This officer entered the Navy, 1 Nov. 1805, as Second- cl. Vol., on board the 40, Capt. Rich. Dalling Dunn, under whom he fought in the action off St. Domingo, 6 Feb. 1806. Between Dec. in the latter year and July, 1808, he served on the Plymouth station, part of the time as Midshipman, in the 24, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan, in another ship, the name of which has escaped us, and in the, Capt. Wells. He was next, from June, 1810, to March, 1811, employed in the North Sea on board the 80; and in May, 1812, he joined the  74, stationed at first on the coast of North America, and then in the West Indies; where, prior to his return to England in April, 1817, we find him serving for two years and 10 months in the  16, Capt. Rich. John Lewin, sloop,  14, Capt. R. J. Lewin,  again, Capt. Thos. Wren Carter, a second time in the, Capt. Hunter, 36, Capt. Jas. Haldane Tait, 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral John Erskine Douglas, and  18, Capt. Chas. Geo. Rodney Phillott. In May, 1822, until within a few weeks of which period he had been further employed, on Home service, in the 104, flag-ship of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, 74, Capt. Sir Michael Seymour, and, for two years and five months as Admiralty Midshipman, in the  and  sloops, Capts. Stewart Blacker and Hon. Geo. Rolle Walpole Trefusis, he was appointed, in the capacity last mentioned, to the 28, Capt. Thos. Alexander, fitting for the East Indies. Being there confirmed a Lieutenant 22 Oct. 1823 – six months and 17 days after he had been ordered to act as such – in the 26, Capt. Thos. Coe, he was afforded an opportunity, both in that vessel and in the 50, commanded by the same officer, of