# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Glascock, William Nugent

Layout 4
​GLASCOCK. (Capt., 1833. f-p., 24; h-p., 23.)
William Nugent Glascock entered the Navy, in Jan. 1800, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Glenmore frigate, Capt. Geo. Duff; on removing with which officer to the Vengeance 74, he is reported to have commanded a launch at the battle of Copenhagen, 2 April, 1801. Being paid off on his return from a voyage to the West Indies, in 1802, he next, on the renewal of hostilities, became successively attached, as Midshipman, to the Colossus 74, Barfleur 98, and Fortunée 36, Capts. Geo. Martin and Henry Vansittart; under the first of whom, in the Barfleur, he officiated as Signal-Mate in Sir Robt. Calder’s action 22 July, 1805; and also ​witnessed Admiral Cornwallis’ ensuing pursuit of the French fleet into Brest. He obtained a Lieutenancy, 8 Nov. 1808, in the Dannemark 74, Capt. Jas. Bissett, and was afterwards successively appointed, chiefly on the Home, but latterly on the Mediterranean and Newfoundland stations — 17 Jan. 1810, to the Theban 36, Capt. Stephen Thos. Digby — 23 April, 1811, to the Medusa 32, Capt. Hon. Duncombe Pleydell Bouverie — 1 July, 1812, to the Clarence 74, Capt. H. Vansittart — 5 July, 1814, to the Tiber 38, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres — 24 Nov. 1815, and 24 Oct. 1816, to the Madagascar and Maeander frigates, Capt. Sir Jas. Alex. Gordon — 1 April, 1817, to the Ganymede 26, Capt. Hon. Robt. Cavendish Spencer — and 4 May, 1818, to the Sir Francis Drake 38, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Hamilton. While in the Dannemark, Mr. Glascock appears to have suffered much from Walcheren fever during the operations of Aug. 1809; and by his coolness and presence of mind he was greatly instrumentai in saving the Maeander, when that vessel struck on the Garbard Sand near Orfordness, in a gale of wind, 19 Dec. 1816. Being conflrmed in the command, 31 Dec. 1818, of the Carnation 18, Capt. Glascock continued to serve both in that sloop and in the Drake 10, until Dec. 1819, when he was compelled to invalid. His next appointment, we find, was, on 10 March, 1831, to the Orestes 18; a vessel whose arduous services in the river Douro procured her Commander, who there acted as Senior Officer for nearly twelve months of a small squadron employed for the protection of British commerce during the hostilities carried on between Pedro and Miguel, a Post-commission dated 3 June, 1833. Capt. Glascock was subsequently, from 18 April, 1843, until Jan. 1847, employed in the Tyne 26, on the Mediterranean station. He has since been on half-pay.
This officer is well known in the literary world as the author of the ‘Naval Sketch Book’, ‘Talcs of a Tar’, ‘Land-Sharks and Sea-Gulls’, ‘Sailors and Saints’, &c. He was appointed, immediately after the paying-off of the Tyne, to act as one of the Inspectors of Relief in Ireland; and he has since received the thanks of the French Government for his conduct in having, when on his passage home in the Tyne, rescued from destruction, during a hurricane in the Bay of Biscay, the French bark Marie et Pauline, on board of which was a cargo worth 20,000l. The bark, it appears, was in such a perilous condition, that the Tyne was obliged to remain by her for five days and nights. Agents — Messrs. Ommanney.