Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 51.djvu/334

 part of the time with the flag of Sir [q. v.] on board; and in October Seymour was appointed to the Niémen, the officers and crew of the Amethyst being at the same time turned over to her. In her he continued on similar service, but without any particular opportunity of distinction, till May 1812, when he was appointed to the 74-gun ship Hannibal, which he commanded in the Channel for the next two years, capturing the French frigate Sultane on 26 March 1814.

In September the Hannibal was paid off, and Seymour settled down for the next few years near Kingsbridge in Devonshire. On 3 Jan. 1815 he was nominated a K.C.B.; and in the following December the pension for the loss of his arm was increased to 300l. a year. In September 1818 he was appointed to the Northumberland, guardship at Sheerness; and in August 1819 to the Prince Regent, one of the royal yachts, from which, in 1825, he was moved to the Royal George, the king's own yacht. During this time he lived principally on shore at Blendworth House, which he had bought, within easy distance of Portsmouth. He read much, and occupied himself with gardening. In spite of having only one arm, he was able to dispense with assistance in the ordinary pursuits of life.

In January 1829 he accepted the appointment of commissioner at Portsmouth, which was, by custom, tenable for life; but in 1832 the admiralty abolished the navy board and, with it, the commissionerships at the dockyards. Seymour was offered the choice of holding his office for two years longer and then retiring, or of returning to the active list, taking his flag, and going out to South America as commander-in-chief. This was what he chose to do, his commission as rear-admiral being dated 27 June 1832. With his flag in the Spartiate, he sailed in February 1833 for Rio, where the duties of the station compelled him to remain. In April 1834 he had a severe attack of low fever, and on his partial recovery he was landed for the benefit of his health. On shore, however, he made no satisfactory progress, and died on 9 July 1834. He was buried in the English cemetery at Rio, where there is a monument to his memory. There is also a tablet in the dockyard chapel at Portsmouth. He married, in 1798, Jane, daughter of Captain [q. v.] of the royal navy, and had by her a large family. His third son, Michael (1802–1887), is separately noticed. Seymour's portrait, by Northcote, is in the possession of his grandson, Admiral Sir Michael Culme-Seymour.



SEYMOUR, MICHAEL (1802–1887), admiral, third son of Rear-admiral Sir  (1768–1834) [q. v.], was born on 5 Dec. 1802. He entered the navy in December 1813 on board the Hannibal, with his father; but when she was paid off he was sent back to school, and in March 1816 was entered as a scholar at the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth. On passing out from the college he was appointed, in October 1818, to the Rochefort, going out to the Mediterranean with the flag of Sir [q. v.] In her, and afterwards in the Ganymede, with Captain Robert Cavendish Spencer [q. v.], he continued till his promotion to the rank of lieutenant, 12 Sept. 1822. In July 1823 he was appointed to the Sybille, with [q. v.], and in her was present at the demonstration against Algiers in 1824. On 6 Dec. 1824 he was promoted to be commander, and in August 1825 was appointed to the Chameleon brig in the Channel, from which he was posted on 5 Aug. 1826. In January 1827 he was appointed to the Menai for the South American station, which then included both the east and west coasts of South America and all the eastern Pacific. In September 1827 he was moved into the Volage, in which he returned to England in the spring of 1829. In 1832 his father, on being appointed to the command of the South American station, wished to have him as his flag-captain. This the admiralty refused, but, in accordance with a promise then given, appointed him in June 1833 to the Challenger, in which he joined his father at Rio. He was afterwards sent round to the Peruvian coast, but returned to Rio on the news of his father's death. Later, on his way back to the Pacific, the Challenger, by an abnormal and previously unknown reversal of the current, was wrecked on the coast of Chili, near Leubu, on 19 May 1835. The men were landed, and encamped for about seven weeks on this desolate shore, till assistance could be brought from Concepcion. Seymour returned to England in the Conway frigate, and, being tried by court-martial for the loss of his ship, was acquitted of all blame and highly commended for his conduct subsequent to the wreck. In 1841 he