# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Bullen, Charles (a)

Layout 4
​BULLEN, K.C.B., K.C.H. (Vice-Admiral of the Blue, 1846. f-p., 34; h-p., 34.)
Sir Charles Bullen, born 10 Sept. 1769, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is son of the late John Bullen, Esq., Surgeon-General on the coast of North America from 1779 to 1781, by Ruth, daughter of Chas. Liddell, Esq., of the above place, and cousin of the late Lord High Chancellor Eldon. He is uncle of Lieut. Chas. Bullen, R.N.
​This officer entered the Navy, 16 Feb. 1779, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Europe 64, Capt. Wm. Swiney, flag-ship of Vice- Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot, in which, and the Renown 60, Capt. Geo. Dawson, Loyalist sloop, Capt. J. P. Ardesoif, and Halifax, Capt. Bower, he took part, as Midshipman also, in various operations on the American coast, including .the reduction of Charlestown, until he returned home and was paid off, in July, 1781. The Renown, during that period, while escorting a large convoy from New York to Quebec, was caught in a heavy gale and totally dismasted. Mr. Bullen next, in 1786, joined the Culloden 74, Capt. Sir Thos. Rich, employed on Channel service. He removed, in Oct. 1789, to the Leander 50, bearing the flag in the Mediterranean of Rear-Admiral Joseph Peyton; there became Acting-Lieutenant of the Mercury 28, Capt. Augustus Montgomery, 9 Jan. 1791; and, on 9 Aug. following, was confirmed into the Eurydice 24, Capt. Geo. Lumsdaine. He was next appointed, on 22 Dec. 1792, after a twelve-months’ interval of half-pay, again to the Culloden, commanded as before by Sir T. Rich, under whom, in April, 1793, he witnessed the unfortunate attack on Martinique; and he subsequently joined in succession – 12 March, 1794, the Ramillies 74, Capts. Henry Harvey and Sir Rich. Hussey Bickerton, one of Lord Howe’s fleet in the ensuing actions of 28 and 29 May and 1 June – 12 Aug. 1796, the Oberyssel 64, flag-ship of Admiral Peyton – and, 17 Jan. 1797, as First-Lieutenant, in the Downs, the Monmouth 64, Capts. the Earl of Northesk and Jas. Walker. In the latter ship Lieut. Bullen was present during the mutiny at the Nore, on which occasion his life was nearly sacrificed to the fury of the rebels; and, on 11 Oct. in the same year, he served in the battle off Camperdown. For his spirited conduct both inthe action and afterwards, when he took possession of the Delft, one of two 50-gun ships that had struck to the Monmouth, and remained in her, out of humanity to the wounded, until the very moment of her going down, when he sprang into the sea and was providentially picked up, he was most deservedly promoted to the rank of Commander 2 Jan. 1798. From that period, however, Capt. Bullen remained unemployed until appointed, 23 June, 1801, to the Wasp 18, in which he proceeded to the coast of Guinea, where his important protection of Sierra Leone, at a time when its existence as a British colony was threatened by a powerful combination of the native chiefs, procured him a Post-commission dated 29 April, 1802. He returned home from the West Indies in the following Aug.; held afterwards, from 8 May to 3 June, 1803, the temporary command of the Minerve frigate, off Cherbourg, where he captured 23 French merchantmen, and detained a frigate of the largest class; was then appointed to the Plymouth district of Sea Fencibles, and, in Nov. ensuing, to the command of a flotilla fitting out in the Thames; and, on 8 May, 1804, was selected by Lord Northesk to be his Flag-Captain in the Britannia 100, off Brest. Capt. Bullen’s subsequent meritorious conduct, under the latter nobleman, at the battle of Trafalgar, was duly rewarded by a gold medal commemorative of the event. He brought home three of the prizes and was paid off in June, 1806; after which he successively commanded, from 7 Sept. 1807, to 31 Dec. 1810, and from 1 Jan. until 9 Dec. 1811, the Volontaire 38, and Cambrian 40. While in the former frigate he conveyed the Duke of Orleans and his brother, Count Beaujolais, to Malta; occasionally commanded the in-shore squadron off Toulon; at the commencement of the war between France and Spain had the satisfaction, in the execution of an overland mission from Fez to Tangiers, of inducing the court of Morocco to supply the patriots with provisions during the coming hostilities; effected, in 1809, the capture of the island of Pomégue, near Marseilles, and the destruction of Fort Rioux, mounting 14 guns, near Cape Croisette; on 23 Oct. 1809, off Cape St. Sebastian, signalled to Lord Collingwood the information which led to the pursuit by Rear-Admiral Geo. Martin, and annihilation, of the two French line-of-battle ships Robuste and Lion, and the after capture, in the Bay of Rosas, by the boats of a squadron under Capt. Benj. Hallowell (whom he ably assisted by his zeal and experience), of a convoy of three armed and seven merchant vessels and in 1810-11, until the fall of Tarragona, was engaged, both in the Volontaire and Cambrian, with a small squadron under his orders, in a series of active co-operations with the Spaniards on the coast of Catalonia, where he took, on 12 and 14 April in the latter year, the towns of St. Philon and Palamos, of which he destroyed the batteries and embarked the guns. He also captured, at Cadaqués, 19 merchant vessels, and was severely wounded while serving on shore in a battery at Selva. Capt. Bullen’s next appointment was, 4 Nov. 1814, to the Akbar 50, in which we find him employed until paid off, 1 Jan. 1817, first in superintending, under Rear-Admiral Thos. Byam Martin, the partition of the fleet and naval stores at Antwerp, and, next, under Rear-Admiral Edw. Griffith, on the Halifax station. On 12 Dec. 1823, he hoisted a broad pendant on board the Maidstone 42, as Commodore on the coast of Africa, and, between that period and the expiration of his term of service in 1827, he cordially co-operated with Lieut.-Col. Sutherland during the Ashantee war, and had the satisfaction of restoring nearly 10,000 slaves to the free enjoyment of liberty. He was afterwards, on 22 July, 1830, nominated Superintendent of Pembroke Dockyard and Captain of the Royal Sovereign yacht, both which appointments he retained until advanced to the rank of Rear-Admiral, 10 Jan. 1837. He became a Vice-Admiral 9 Nov. 1846.
Sir Chas. Bullen (who was nominated a C.B. 4 June, 1815, and a K.C.H. 13 Jan. 1835) received the honour of knighthood 25 Feb. 1835, was created a K.C.B. 18 April, 1839, and obtained the Good Service pension 12 July, 1843. He married, in 1791, Miss Wood, a distant relative of his own, and by that lady, who died 10 July, 1842, has issue. Residence – Southampton.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1436.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1902.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 1860, and Gaz. 1811, pp. 397, 1588.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1824, pp. 1273, 1636.