# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hole, William

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​HOLE. (Lieutenant, 1815. f-p., 30; h-p., 12.)
William Hole, born 10 Nov. 1793, is only son of the late W. B. Hole, Esq., of the island of Jamaica; and nepliew of Rear-Admiral Lewis Hole.
This officer entered the Navy, 5 Oct. 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Star sloop, Capt. John Simpson; on accompanying whom, after an active servitude on the Lisbon, Channel, and Newfoundland stations, into the Wolverene 18, he co-operated as Midshipman in the reduction of Martinique in Feb. 1809. While next attached, between March in the latter year and June, 1811, to the Bacchus schooner, Lieut. Commander Chas. Dayman Jermy, he commanded one of the boats of a squadron at the cutting-out, 12 Dec. 1809, of 'Le Nisus', a French 16-gun brig-corvette, lying, vigorously defended, under the protection of a fort in the harbour of Hayes, Guadeloupe – shared, also, in a gallant action, in which the Bacchus, with a loss of 5 men badly wounded, beat off two French schooner-privateers – and contributed, in Feb. 1810, to the reduction of the island of Guadeloupe. He was likewise twice engaged with French row-boats who had designedly approached the Bacchus; and was on more than one occasion invested with the navigation of prizes into port. In June, 1811, Mr, Hole, who had been for nearly two years in discharge of the duties of Acting-Master, was transferred, as Master’s Mate, to the Ganymede 26, Capts. Robt. Preston and John Brett Purvis. During the two following years we find him employed both in the West Indies and Mediterranean; at the expiration of which period he assumed the charge of a watch on board the Bacchus sloop, commanded by his uncle, Capt. Lewis Hole, on the Cork station. Being subsequently, in April, 1814, appointed to the Trave armée en flûte, Capts. Rowland Money and John Codd, he proceeded in that vessel to North America, where, after having commanded a boat at the destruction of Commodore Barney’s flotilla up the Patuxent, he landed and served with the army in the attack upon Baltimore. On 14 Dec. 1814 he next commanded one of the boats of a squadron at the capture, on Lake Borgne, of five American gun-boats under Commodore Jones, which did not surrender until the British, after a stern conflict, had endured a loss of 17 men killed and 77 wounded. Joining then in the hostilities against New Orleans, he again had charge of a boat, an 8-oared cutter, on the river Mississippi, and bore an active part in all the scenes which were there enacted, including the storming and capture of a heavy battery. During six whole weeks he was in consequence exposed, in his unsheltered boat, to the inclemency of the season which then prevailed, undergoing the greatest hardships, and being often, with his men, severely frost-bitten. Having passed his examination in Sept. 1812, Mr. Hole was at length, on 3 Feb. 1815, rewarded with a Lieutenant’s commission. Since 3 March, 1827, he has been continuously employed in the Coast Guard – a service in which his exertions have been of a very signal nature, as testified by numerous high testimonials from his superior officers, as well as by various letters of thanks addressed to him by Lloyd’s for salvage of property in cases of shipwreck. He has been instrumental, we understand, in the conviction of an extraordinary number of smugglers.
Lieut. Hole married, 28 Oct. 1816, Eliza, daughter of the late Rich. Mallard Herbert, Esq., of co. Somerset, by whom he has issue a son and a daughter.