# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Sandom, Williams

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​SANDOM. (Capt., 1828. f-p., 32; h-p., 17.)
Williams Sandom is uncle of Lieut. Robt. Maccure Sandom, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, in April, 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Diomede 50, commanded by the late Hon. Chas. Elphinstone Fleeming, under whom, with the interval of a few months, occasioned by the peace of Amiens, he continued to serve, the greater part of the time in the capacity of Midshipman, In the same frigate and the Egyptienne 40, on various stations, until Jan. 1806. While in the latter ship he assisted at the capture, 27 July, 1803, of L’Epervier brig of 16 guns, and, in the course of 1805, of La Colombe of 16, L’Actéon of 16, and La Libre of 40 guns – which last-mentioned vessel maintained a close action of 20 minutes, productive of a loss to the Egyptienne of 1 man killed and 9 wounded. On 22 July, 1805, Mr. Sandom took part in Sir Robt. Calder’s action, and on that occasion was sent on board El Firme, a captured 74. When afterwards in the Pompée 74, successive flag-ship of Admirals Sir Wm. Sidney Smith and Edwin Henry Stanhope, he served on shore at the defence of Gaeta, the capture of the island of Capri, and the battle of Maida – commanded some gunboats at the taking of Scylla – acted as Lieutenant at the passage of the Dardanells, and in command of a division of boats at the destruction of the Turkish squadron at Point Pesquies – and attended Lord Gambier’s expedition to Copenhagen, where he became Sub-Lieutenant of the Tigress gun-brig attached to the in-shore squadron under Capt. Peter Puget. On the surrender of the Danish capital he was appointed by the Commander-in-Chief to a Lieutenancy in the Waldemaar, one of the prizeships, from which he removed to the Leyden 64 Capt. Wm. Cumberland. Being confirmed in the rank of Lieutenant 30 April, 1808, and appointed to the Bonne Citoyenne of 20 guns and 127 men Capt. Wm. Mounsey, he contrived, 6 July, 1809 to distinguish himself by his able exertions at the capture of La Furieuse French frigate of 20 guns and 200 men, armée en flûte, which did not surrender until a hard-fought action of nearly seven hours had occasioned the British a loss of 1 man killed and 5 wounded, and herself of 35 killed and wounded. 37 After with difficulty conducting the shattered prize to Halifax, Mr. Sandom (who had previously witnessed the destruction, off Brest, of the French 40-gun frigate Artémise) next, 8 Sept. 1810 joined the Fawn 18, Capt. Hon. Geo. Alfred Crofton, and on 19 Nov. 1811 was a second time placed under the command of Capt. Mounsey, in the Furieuse, which had been added to the British Navy as a 36-gun frigate. On 7 May, 1813, having assumed the joint command of the boats with Lieut. Walter Croker, he signalized himself afresh at the cutting out, under a most galling fire from the tower and batteries of Orbitello, of a xebec mounting 2 6-pounders; and, in the course of the same and of the following year, he contributed to the capture of the island of Ponza and of the town of Via Reggio, took part in the unsuccesful attack on Leghorn, assisted at the occupation of Santa Maria and of the enemy’s other forts in the gulf of Spezia, and beheld the fall of Genoa. On the cessation of hostilities with France he sailed for North America, where, as Senior Lieutenant of the Furieuse, he commanded her boats up the Penobscot. He was subsequently appointed, generally as First- Lieutenant – 23 Oct. 1815, to the Iphigenia 36, Capt. Andrew King, on the East India station, whence he returned home with the same officer in the Cornwallis 74 – 7 Sept. 1818, to the Spencer 74, flag-ship of Sir Josias Rowley at Cork – 27 Oct. 1819, to the Liffey 50, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan, employed on different services – and, in the course of 1822, to the William and Mary yacht, Capt. Chas. Malcolm, Apollo yacht, Capt. Sir Chas. Paget, and Sparrowhawk 18, Capt. Edw. Boxer. Attaining at length the rank of Commander, 26 Dec. 1822, Capt. Sandom was in succession appointed in that capacity – 4 May, 1824, to the Aetna bomb, which vessel (afterwards selected by Sir Harry Neale to lead the squadron in his meditated attack on Algiers) was fully manned, equipped for service, and at Gibraltar, on the fourteenth day after she had been launched from the stocks at Chatham – 18 June, 1825, to the Bustard 10, fitting for the Jamaica station – and, in May, 1827, to the Espiègle 18. As a reward for his zeal and alacrity on an occasion of emergency, Capt. Sandom was promoted to Post-rank 23 March, 1828, and appointed to the Magnificent receiving-ship at Port Royal. In Oct. 1829, having for a period of 17 months commanded the Druid 46 on the same station, he returned to England and was paid off. He thenceforward remained unemployed until 21 April, 1838. He was then ordered to hoist his pendant in the Niagara 20, as Commander-in-Chief of the naval force on the Canadian lakes, where the activity and energy infused by him into the movements of the force under his orders enabled him, during the tenure of his appointment, to frustrate the designs of the rebels, and save from destruction the towns of Brockville and Prescott, the latter of which was attacked, 13 Nov. 1838, by several hundred persons, who, with the aid of the military, were driven back and ultimately forced to surrender. The establishment on the lakes being eventually broken up, Capt. Sandom, in Sept. 1843, returned to England. He has since been on half-pay.
Capt. Sandom, who has established a character for proficiency in the art of steam navigation, received, in 1835-6, the thanks of Lords Auckland and Minto, successively First Lords of the Admiralty, for a system proposed by him of steam-tug communication at the different naval ports, outer anchorages, and public establishments connected with the Navy. He married, 12 March, 1844, Jane, second daughter of John Chas. Constables, Esq., of Oak House, Battersea, Surrey. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1496.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1838, p. 2975.
* ↑ Beyond the receipt of the Good Service pension, granted 14 Jan. 1848, Capt. Sandom’s Canadian services still remain unrewarded, although they were identical with those of Lieut.-Col. Dundas, who commanded jointly with himself, and was in consequence made a C.B.