Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/957

Rh ship. Since the paying off of the in 1834 he has been unemployed.

Lieut. Pyke married, 9 Sept. 1835, Emilia Bowen, youngest daughter of the Rev. Conway Stafford. He is now a widower.

 PYM. 

entered the Navy, 20 June, 1809, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 74, Capt. John Erskine Douglas, with whom he continued employed as Midshipman and Master’s Mate in the same ship and in the  98, on the North Sea, Downs, and Mediterranean stations, until July, 1814. In the he witnessed Sir Edw. Pellew’s partial actions with the Toulon fleet 5 Nov. 1813 and 13 Feb. 1814. After serving for six months on the Home station in the 98, Capt. Geo. Fowke, 42, Capt. Rich. Byron, and 10, Capt. Henry Fyge Jauncey, he joined, in Feb. 1815, the  74, flag-ship of his former Captain, then Rear-Admiral Douglas, and sailed for the West Indies, where he successively followed that officer into the, Sabine,  again, and  38. He was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the 4 July, 1815, and confirmed into the  1 Aug. following. He returned to England in Aug. 1816, and was afterwards appointed – 5 Dec. 1825, to the Coast Blockade, as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the 74, Capt. Hugh Pigot – 28 Oct. 1828, to the Coast Guard, in which service he continued until the commencement of 1837 – and, 5 April, 1842, to the command of the  schooner of 6 guns, on the Brazilian station, whence he returned in 1847.

 PYM, K.C.B

, born in 1778, is son of Joseph Pym, Esq., of Pinley, co. Warwick (a descendant of the famous John Pym), by a daughter of Thos. Arnott, Esq., M.D., of Cupar, co. Fife, niece of Sir Wm. Arnott, Bart.; and brother of Sir Wm. Pym, M.D., K.C.H., Inspector-General of Army Hospitals and Superintendent-General of Quarantine.

This officer entered the Navy, in June, 1788, as Captain’s Servant, on board the, Capt. Geo. Lumsdaine, employed at first in the Channel and next in the Mediterranean, where, and on the Irish and Jamaica stations, he served, from the summer of 1791 until Nov. 1793, in the, , and sloops, all commanded by Capt. Wm. Brown. He then joined the 74, Capt. Rich. Boger, guard-ship at Plymouth; and after cruizing for about 12 months in the Channel and North Sea as Midshipman and Master’s Mate in the 74, Capt. Wm. Truscott, and and  frigates, each under the orders of Capt. Wm. Brown, was promoted, 7 March, 1795, to the rank of Lieutenant, and placed in the sloop, Capt. Wm. Grenville Lobb. His succeeding appointments were, as Senior – 4 Sept. 1795 and 7 May, 1798, to 20, Capts. W. G. Lobb and Jemmett Mainwaring, and 32, Capt. W. G. Lobb, both in the West Indies – 12 Nov. 1798, to the  38, Capts. Geo. Countess, Jas. Young, and John Clarke Searle, under the last-mentioned of whom he was wrecked on the Penmark Rocks, 25 Dec. 1799 – 12 Feb. 1800, to the 32, Capt. Robt. Winthrop, which ship was also lost in Vigo Bay 6 Sept. in the same year – and, 25 Oct. 1800, to the 74, commanded in the Channel by his friend Capt. Brown. In the spring of 1796 Mr. Pym, then in, witnessed the surrender of the Dutch colonies of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice; and on 16 Jan. 1798, having in the handsomest manner volunteered his services, he took command of two of her boats, went in pursuit of, and succeeded, with only one of them, in capturing La Désirée French national vessel of 6 guns and 46 men, after a desperate struggle, in which the British sustained a loss of 1 man killed, another drowned, and himself and all the remainder wounded, and the enemy of 94 killed, 8 drowned, and 15 wounded. Prior to the wreck of the he assisted in that ship, under Capt. Young, at the capture, 17 Oct. 1799, of the Spanish 36-gun frigate El Thetis, laden with specie to an enormous amount, his own share alone of  exceeded 5000l. For the assistance he afforded his Captain on the quarterdeck, as well as for his indefatigable exertions in shifting the wounded masts and yards on board the Thetis, Mr. Pym was warmly recommended to the notice of Lord Bridport, the Commander-in-Chief. He had previously, on 10 June, commanded the boats of the, and captured in them, after a fatiguing row, two brigs and five tartans, with wheat and sheep from Barcelona bound to Majorca. On leaving the he was made Commander, 10 Feb. 1801, into the, in which vessel he cruized for about six months on the Portsmouth station. He acquired Post-rank 29 April, 1802; and was subsequently appointed – 29 April, 1804, to the 74, employed at the blockade of Corunna – 29 June ensuing, to the  74, which ship, after serving in the Channel, North Sea, and South America, formed part of the force under Sir John Duckworth in the action off  6 Feb. 1806, and was subsequently stationed off Cadiz – 13 Oct. 1808, to the  36 – 27 Feb. 1812, to the  74, off Cherbourg – 12 May following, to the  38, employed for three years on the Home, Lisbon, Cape of Good Hope, North American, and West India stations – and, 22 July, 1830, to the  78, fitting for the Mediterranean, whence he returned to England and was paid off at the close of 1831. In the Capt. Pym assisted under Commodore Rowley at the capture of the town of St. Paul’s, Ile de Bourbon, 21 Sept. 1809. On that occasion he stood in, anchored within half-musket shot of La Caroline French frigate, two captured Indiamen, and a brig-of-war, and opened so heavy a fire that in 20 minutes the whole of them struck their colours. At the reduction of the Ile de Bourbon in July, 1810, Capt. Pym displayed his usual zeal and ability. He afterwards obtained possession of Ile de la Passe, the key to Grand Port, in the Isle of France; and recaptured, while cruizing off Port Louis, the Wyndham, a British Indiaman recently taken by two French frigates, and a corvette under the orders of M. Duperre. In Aug. 1810, as senior officer of a squadron, consisting, with his own, of the 36-gun frigates, , and , we find Capt. Pym conducting a series of gallant although, from circumstances he could not control, unsuccessful operations, which, in an endeavour to capture the above-named enemy’s vessels and rescue another Indiaman, terminated in the self-destruction of the and , the capture of the , and the surrender to a powerful French squadron of the. In consequence of this disaster Capt. Pym remained in close captivity until the reduction of the Mauritius in the ensuing Dec. On his release he was tried by court-martial and honourably acquitted. In the Capt. Pym made prize, 14 July, 1814, after a chase of 14 hours, of the Henry Gilder, American privateer, of 12 guns and 50 men. He was nominated a C.B. 4 June, 1815, and a K.C.B. 25 Oct. 1839; advanced to Flag-rank 10 Jan. 1837; and made a Vice-Admiral 12 Feb. 1847. From 16 Dec. 1841 until Dec. 1846, he filled the post of Admiral-Superintendent at Plymouth. In Sept. and Oct. 1845, he had command of an experimental squadron consisting of the 120,  120,  110,  92,  90,  84, and  80.

For his conduct in the action off, Sir Sam. Pym was presented by the Admiralty with a gold medal. He married, in 1802, a daughter of