# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Grace, Percy

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​GRACE. (Captain, 1825. f-p., 16; h-p., 30.)
Percy Grace is third son of the late Rich. Grace, Esq., M.P., of Boley, Queen’s County (the representative of a family of considerable antiquity, seated in Ireland since the days of Strongbow), by Jane, daughter of Hon. John Evans, of Bulgaden Hall, grandfather of John Evans Freke, sixth and present Lord Carbery. He is younger brother of SirWm. Grace, Bart., of Grace Castle, co. Kilkenny; and also of Sheffield Grace, Esq., D.C.L., F.S.A., K.H., of Knole House, co. Sussex, a gentleman well known in the literary and antiquarian world for his profound and accomplished writings.
This officer entered the Navy, 7 March, 1801, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Ganges 74, Capts. Thos. Fras. Fremantle and Geo. M‘Kinley, under the former of whom he fought, on 2 of the following April, at the battle of Copenhagen. In Dec. 1804, after having further served, as Midshipman, on the Home, West India, American, and Irish stations, Mr. Grace removed from the Ganges to the Greyhound 32, Capts. Chas. Elphinstone and Edw. Thos. Troubridge, in which frigate he cruized for some time off Cherbourg, and then sailed for the East Indies, where, on his return to Poulo-Pinang from Calcutta, whither he had been ordered to conduct a large recaptured vessel, he was received on board the Blenheim 74, bearing the flag of Sir Thos. Troubridge, to await an opportunity of rejoining the Greyhound; which, however, did not present itself until after the former ship had taken the ground and been nearly lost at the entrance of the Straits of Malacca, in April, 1806. In the beginning of the following July, his removal to the Greyhound having been at length effected, Mr. Grace assisted at the destruction of a Dutch armed-brig under the Fort of Manado, and also at the capture of a similar vessel off the island of Tidore; and, on 26 of the same month, he proved himself an officer deserving of promotion by his conduct in a smart action with a Dutch squadron, which terminated in the surrender, to the Greyhound and Harrier sloop, of the Pallas frigate, and two armed and richly-laden Indiamen. The Greyhound, of which he had been nominated a Master’s Mate in Nov. 1806, and an Acting-Lieutenant in June, 1807, being wrecked in Oct. 1808 off the coast of Luconia, Mr. Grace and his companions had to perform a fatiguing march of 12 days over mountains and through rivers and woods hitherto unpassed by European, in a state of utter destitution. They then became captives of the Spanish at Manilla, where they were detained for a period of three months; but it was not until after a further and most cruel imprisonment of eight months at Batavia, whither they were taken by two French frigates, with whom they had unluckily fallen in while on their passage, en parole, from Manilla to Prince of Wales Island, that they were fully restored to liberty. Being then, in Sept. 1809, allowed to depart in the Piedmontaise frigate, Capt. Chas. Foote, Mr. Grace, whose promotion had been confirmed by the Admiralty on 28 of the preceding Feb., was shortly afterwards, on 30 of the same month, placed in command of the boats of that ship, and sent to reconnoitre a flotilla of 20 Malay pirates, two of whom he succeeded in capturing, although not without a loss of 2 men killed and 20, including himself severely, wounded. The effects of the injury he received he still feels, but no compensation, has ever been granted to him. Proceeding subsequently to Madras, he thence took a passage, in the Sarah Christiana Indiaman, to England, where he arrived in Dec. 1810. On 16 of the following March we find him joining the Semiramis 36, Capt. Chas. Richardson, in command of one of the boats of which frigate he had the good fortune, on 24 of the ensuing Aug., to contribute to the capture of five French vessels anchored four miles up the Gironde. On the morning of 25 of the same month he similarly assisted in taking Le Pluvier corvette, of 16 guns and 136 men, under the batteries of Royan, and on that occasion his handsome conduct obtained him the official thanks of his Captain. After an unemployed interval of eight months, Mr. Grace, on 12 Aug. 1812, was appointed to the San Domingo 74, hearing the flag on the coast of North America of Sir John Borlase Warren, under whom he witnessed the attack upon Crany Island, &c., and served until promoted to the rank of Commander, 15 June, 1814. His last appointment was, on 17 Jan. 1822, to the Cyrené 20, fitting for the African station, where he cruized, between the river Gambia and the Bights of Benin and Bianfra, until 14 Dec. 1823, at which period he sailed for England, where he arrived 7 Feb. 1824, after having encountered a hurricane so violent that it had been found necessary to throw 11 of the ship’s guns overboard. The Cyrené, who during the summer of the preceding year had conveyed Sir Chas. McCarthy from the Gold Coast to Bathurst, a new settlement on St. Mary’s Island, in the river Gambia, was next ordered to the Mediterranean, on which station she arrived in time to form part of the force employed before Algiers under Sir Harry Neale, prior to the settlement of the dispute then existing between Great Britain and the Dey. In Nov. 1824 Capt. Grace became Senior officer in the Levant. He attained Post-rank 1 Feb. 1825, and on 20 Aug. in the same year was paid off.
Capt. Grace is Senior of 1825. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1807, p. 423.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1811, p. 1752.
​GRACE. (Captain, 1825.)
Percy Grace and those who had been wrecked with him in the Grethoond were taken from Manilla to Batavia by the French frigates Cannonière and Laurel. When commanding the Cyrené he was the first who commenced the destruction of barracoons or slave-factories on the coast of Africa. Among the vessels which were captured and detained by the Cyrené and her boats were the Aurora Dutch schooner, of 144 tons, 4 guns, and 26 men, L’Hypolite schooner (under French colours), of 95 tons, 2 guns, and 19 men, and the Caroline French schooner, of 78 tons, 2 guns, and 20 men.