# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Pell, Watkin Owen

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​PELL, Kt. (Captain, 1813. f-p., 23; h-p., 2.5.)
Sir Watkin Owen Pell, born in 1788, is son of Sam. Pell, Esq., of Sywell Hall, co. Northampton, by the daughter of Owen Owen, Esq., of Llaneyher, co. Denbigh.
This officer entered the Navy, in April, 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Loire 38, Capt. Jas. Newman Newman; and on 6 Feb. 1800 was deprived of his left leg while assisting, in company with the Danaé 20, and Fairy, Harpy, and Railleur sloops, at the capture of the French 38-gun frigate Pallas, under the heavy fire of a battery on one of the Seven Islands. Being in consequence obliged to leave his ship, he did not again go afloat until Jan. 1802. He then rejoined Capt. Newman, as Midshipman, on board the Loire; and on 11 Nov. 1806, after a servitude of four years and a half on the Home and West India stations in the Acasta 40, Capt. Jas. Athol Wood, Veteran 64, and Vanguard 74, both commanded by Capt. J. N. Newman, Pompée 74, Capt. Rich. Dacres, and Virginie 38, Capt. Edw. Brace, he was made Lieutenant into the Mercury 28, Capts. Chas. Pelly, Jas. Alex. Gordon, and Hon. Henry Duncan, employed at first at Bermuda and Newfoundland, and afterwards in the Mediterranean. On 4 April, 1808, being then First of the Mercury, we find him commanding the boats of that vessel, in company with those of the Alceste 38, under Lieut. Allen Stewart, at the capture of seven Spanish tartans under the very muzzles of the guns in the batteries at Rota, and in the presence of numerous armed barges and pinnaces sent from Cadiz to assist in their defence. The prizes had formed part of a fleet of merchantmen originally under the protection of 20 gun-boats, whom the Mercury, with her consorts, the Alceste and Grasshopper 18, had defeated in the teeth of 11 French and Spanish ships-of-the-line. The next exploit recorded of Lieut. Pell was the capture by him in the boats, 1 April, 1809, of a Venetian gunboat, La Leda, of 1 long 24-pounder and 6 large swivels, lying in the harbour of Rovigno, under a very heavy fire of great guns and musketry. “More bravery,” says Capt. Duncan, “I do not think was ever displayed than by the officers, seamen, and marines employed on this occasion. They were commanded and led on in the most gallant manner by the First-Lieutenant, Watkin Owen Pell, who received two severe wounds in boarding, and has before lost a leg in the service of his country.” The wounds alluded to were inflicted, as suggested, while Mr. Pell was endeavouring to get through La Leda’s boarding-nettings – he received the contents of a blunderbuss in his right hand and arm, and had them perforated by not less than seven balls. On the night of 7 Sept. 1809, being off the harbour of Barletta, he again took command of the boats of the Mercury, and, in the most gallant style, boarded and carried, near that place, the French schooner-of-war La Pugliése, pierced for 10 guns, but carrying only 5 6-pounders and 2 18’s, commanded by an Enseigne de Vaisseau, and having on board 31 out of a complement of 50 men, who were so prepared for the attack as to be able to fire twice before the boats got alongside, “It gives me sincere pleasure,” Capt. Duncan reports in his official account of the affair, “to add, that this service has been performed without a man being hurt on our side; and as, besides her own means of defence, the vessel was moored with eight cables inside, and almost touching a mole lined with musketry, and within musket-shot of a castle mounting 8 guns, and two armed feluccas, from under which fire she was towed without rudder or sails, I must principally attribute this good fortune to the judicious and prompt manner in which the attack was made, which strongly marks the judgment and gallantry of the First Lieutenant, Pell, who directed it.” For his conduct on the two occasions last mentioned Lieut. Pell had the satisfaction of receiving the thanks of his Commander-in-Chief. In Aug. 1809 he was voted 80l. for the purchase of a sword by the Patriotic Society; he was subsequently presented with one by Capt. Duncan; and on 29 March, 1810, he was promoted to the rank of Commander. Being next, 22 Oct. 1810, appointed to the Thunder bomb, Capt. Pell was in that vessel actively employed at the defence of Cadiz from 11 of the following month until 5 Dec. 1811. He was then detached, in company with the Stately 64, Druid frigate, and several gun-boats, to co-operate with the garrison of Tarifa, then besieged by 10,000 French troops under Marshal Victor. He afterwards resumed his former station before Catalina; and continued to protect Isla de Leon until the whole of the enemy’s works were abandoned in ​Aug. 1812. On 9 Oct. 1813, on her return from the coast of Valencia, and while proceeding from Portsmouth to Woolwich for the purpose of being paid off, the Thunder was attacked and boarded by Le Neptune privateer, of 16 guns and 65 men; the enemy, however, were driven back, and their own vessel boarded in return and captured. Capt. Pell’s Post commission bears date 1 Nov. 1813. His succeeding appointments were – 4 Oct. 1814, to the Menai 24, in which vessel, prior to being paid off in Feb. 1817, he served on the Irish station, cruized with a small force under his orders in the Bay of Fundy, and was employed off the Chesapeake and in visiting different American ports – 6 May, 1833, to the Forte 44, fitting for the West Indies, where he had command of the Jamaica station from Dec. following until ordered home in March, 1837, a period rendered important by the emancipation of the slaves – 1 Oct. 1840, to the Howe 120, equipping for service in the Mediterranean – 24 Aug. 1841, to the Superintendentship of Deptford Victualling Yard – next, to that of the Dockyard at Sheerness – and, 17 Dec. in the same year, 1841, to the command of the Royal Sovereign yacht, and the office of Superintendent of Pembroke Dockyard. While in command of the Forte, Capt. Pell had the honour of receiving on board Her present Majesty, then the Princess Victoria, together with the Duchess of Kent, and the Earls of Yarborough and Durham, and of making an excursion with them to view the Eddystone. He resigned his appointment at Pembroke on being appointed a Commissioner of Greenwich Hospital 18 Feb. 1845.
During his command of the Thunder, Capt. Pell received the thanks of the Admiralty for his services at Cadiz and Tarifa, and also for the capture of Le Neptune. In Jan. 1813, the Duke of Wellington addressed a letter to Lord Melville, from which the following is an extract: – “I enclose a letter from General Cooke, in regard to the services of Capt. Pell of the Thunder bomb during the late blockade of Cadiz. I assure your Lordship that when I was at Cadiz all descriptions of persons concurred in their praises of that officer, and of those under his command; and I therefore take the liberty of drawing your attention to his merits during a most harassing service of nearly three years’ duration.” In April, 1837, Capt. Pell received from Sir Herbert Taylor a notification of his late Majesty’s intention of conferring upon him the honour of Knighthood and the insignia of a K.C.H. The King’s illness and death prevented the royal wish from being carried into effect; but upon the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne, Capt. Pell had the gratification of being the first naval Knight created by her Majesty. The K.C.H. was also conferred upon him by the King of Hanover. Sir Watkin is in the receipt of a pension of 300l. per annum for the loss of his leg. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1800, p. 155, where he is styled, in error, “Watkins Oliver Pell.”
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1808, p. 570.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 2006. – Here again Mr. Pell is misnamed “Pall.”
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1813, p. 2011.