Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 52.djvu/167

 the Excellent with the view of competing for the commission at that time offered as a prize to young officers passing through a course of gunnery and mathematics; but as the advent of a seventh wrangler seemed likely to kill all competition, the admiralty promoted him at once, on 1 April 1842. He was then appointed to the Columbia steamer for surveying duties on the coast of North America. As lieutenant, as commander (20 Jan. 1848), and as captain (1 Jan. 1859), he continued on the same station till 1865, making a complete survey of the coast of Nova Scotia, including the Bay of Fundy, on the completion of which he received the special thanks of the admiralty. He was then appointed to the Hydra for surveying service in the Mediterranean, but in 1867 was sent out to the East Indies to take a line of soundings from Aden to Bombay. The Hydra was paid off in 1868, and Shortland, at the request of the admiralty, wrote ‘A Sounding Voyage of H.M.S. Hydra’ (8vo, 1868), a work highly esteemed both in England and the United States. On attaining the age of fifty-five in 1870, he was placed on the retired list. He then qualified as a barrister and was called to the bar, from Lincoln's Inn, on 27 Jan. 1873. He became a rear-admiral on 21 Sept. 1876, and a vice-admiral on 3 Jan. 1881. He died at Plymouth on 18 Oct. 1888. He married in 1848 Emily, daughter of Captain Thomas Jones, 74th regiment, and left issue. He was the author of ‘A Short Account of the Laws which govern H. M. Navy’ (1886), and of ‘Nautical Surveying’ (8vo, 1890), published by his widow and children, much of the matter of which had already appeared in ‘Naval Science,’ 1873–4–5.



SHORTLAND, THOMAS GEORGE (1771–1827), captain in the navy, younger brother of Captain [q. v.], was born at Portsea on 10 May 1771. In January 1785 he entered the navy on board the Irresistible, then flying the broad pennant of Sir Andrew Snape Hamond in the Channel. In March 1787 he was moved to the Alexander, one of the little squadron going out to New South Wales with Commodore [q. v.], and served in her till her return to England in May 1789. He was then employed in the Channel and North Sea, and on 19 Nov. 1790 was promoted to be lieutenant of the Speedy sloop. In January 1793 he was appointed to the Nemesis frigate, which accompanied the fleet under Lord Hood to the Mediterranean. In September 1794 he was moved into the Romney, with Sir [q. v.], whom, in April 1795, he followed to the Melpomene. On the night of 3–4 Aug. 1798 he commanded the boats of the frigate in cutting out the Aventurier armed brig from under the batteries in the bay of Corréjou, on the north coast of Brittany—a gallant exploit, for which he was promoted to the rank of commander on 20 April 1799, and appointed to the Voltigeur sloop on the Newfoundland station. In the summer of 1801 he was appointed temporarily to the 80-gun ship Donegal, then in dock at Plymouth, and, as a reward for his extraordinary exertions in fitting her for sea, was made acting captain of the Dédaigneuse frigate, in which rank and command he was confirmed on 1 March 1802. He then took the ship out to the East Indies, but was compelled by ill-health to return to England in the spring of 1803. He was afterwards for a short time captain of the Britannia, and of the Cæsar, bearing the flag of Sir [q. v.] In the summer of 1806 he joined the Canopus, as flag-captain to Sir [q. v.], and commanded that ship when she led the squadron of Sir [q. v.] through the Dardanelles in February and March 1807. After the death of Louis, Shortland continued for some months in command of the Canopus, but in September 1807 was moved into the Queen, still in the Mediterranean, and remained in her till the end of 1808. In 1809 he commanded the Valiant in the expedition to the Scheldt; in 1810–11 the Iris frigate, off Cadiz and in the West Indies; and in 1812–13 the Royal Oak as flag-captain to Lord [q. v.] In November 1813 he was appointed agent for prisoners-of-war at Dartmoor; from April 1816 to April 1819 he was captain-superintendent of the ordinary at Plymouth; and for the next three years was comptroller-general of the preventive boat service. On 14 July 1825 he was appointed resident commissioner at Jamaica, where he died towards the end of 1827. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Peter Tonkin of Plymouth, and by her had a large family. Three of his sons, Edward, Peter Frederick, and Willoughby, are separately noticed.



SHORTLAND, WILLOUGHBY (1804–1869), acting governor of New Zealand, born in 1804, was the son of Captain Thomas George