Brisbane

Brisbane. 1. Sir Charles, a British naval officer of distinction, the fourth son of Admiral John Brisbane, who died in 1807, was born in or about the year 1769, and having entered the service in 1780, was a midshipman in the Hercules, 74, at Rodney's action on April 12th, 1782, off Dominica, and was wounded. In 1790 he was promoted to be lieutenant, and in 1793, in the Meleager, he was present at the operations at Toulon, and subsequently at those on the coast of Corsica. At the siege of Bastia he served under Nelson, and received a severe head wound, which involved the almost total loss of the sight of his left eye. In 1794 he was promoted by Lord Hood to be commander of the Tarleton, and in her he was present on March 14th, 1795, in Lord Hotham's action off Genoa; and in the following year, in the Moselle, he was able to obtain for Lord Keith the information which led to the capture, in Saldanha Bay, on August 18th, of three Dutch ships of the line, two frigates, and four other vessels. For this service he was posted into the Dortrecht, 66, one of the prizes, though his official commission, dated July 22nd, 1796, was to the Nemesis. He was afterwards despatched in the Oiseau, 36, to cruise off the River Plate, where he most gallantly fought and beat off two Spanish 38-gun frigates. Having returned to the Dortrecht, he distinguished himself by his personal courage in quelling a mutiny on board, and, in consequence, he was transferred to the Tremendous, another mutinous ship, in which he was equally successful. In the Doris, 38, he assisted the Beaulieu and Uranie in cutting out the French ship Chevrette, in July, 1801. Thenceforward, for several years, he served in the West Indies, capturing the Mignonne and other vessels, and, as captain in 1805 of the Arethusa, 38, obtaining most valuable information concerning the movements of the enemy. In 1806, assisted by the Anson, he captured the Spanish frigate Pomona, 38, and destroyed nine out of twelve gunboats which were with her, and a castle under the guns of which she had sought refuge. Once more Captain Brisbane was wounded. Next year, at the head of a small frigate squadron, he very brilliantly attacked and captured Curacoa, a service for which he was rewarded with a knighthood, a medal, and an augmentation of arms. In 1808 he was made governor of St. Vincent, in 1815 a K.C.B., and in 1819 a rear-admiral. He died in 1829.

2. His brother, Sir James, fifth son of Admiral John Brisbane, was born in 1774, and entered the navy in 1787. He was signal midshipman of the Queen Charlotte, 100, flagship of Lord Howe on the glorious First of June, 1794, was promoted in the same year to be lieutenant, and as such was present at the reduction of the Cape of Good Hope and at the capture of the Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay. For these services he was in 1796 made commander. In 1801 he assisted in buoying the channel preparatory to Nelson's attack on Copenhagen, and being in that year posted, he was appointed to the Saturn, 74, flagship in the West Indies. In the Belle-Poule, 38, he captured the Var, 32, under the guns of Valona, and assisted in the reduction of Zante, Santa Maura, etc., besides making many prizes. He served for many years in the Mediterranean, always with distinction, and in 1816 was Lord Exmouth's flag-captain in the Queen Charlotte, 108, at the bombardment of Algiers. He had already, in 1815, been made a C.B., and he was now knighted. He died in 1829 from the effect of disease contracted while he was employed in command of the flotilla engaged in the Burmese war.

3. Another son of Admiral John Brisbane, namely, William Henry, who died in 1796, was a captain in the navy.