# Royal Naval Biography/Mather, William

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WILLIAM MATHER, Esq. [Commander.]
Obtained his first commission in 1799; and repeatedly distinguished himself whilst serving as lieutenant of the Mercury frigate, Captain Thomas Rogers, by which a letter to the following effect was addressed to Vice-Admiral Lord Keith, May 26th, 1801:
“My Lord,– Having received information, by a small vessel I captured ​yesterday from Ancona, that H.M. late sloop Bull-dog was lying in the mole of that port ready for sea, with supplies on board for the French army in Egypt, I judged it necessary to make an attempt to take or destroy her with the boats of the Mercury; and as our success depended upon surprising the enemy, who was ignorant of our arrival in the Adriatic (the fortifications about the mole being too formidable to justify the attempt in any other way), I therefore made sail directly for Ancona, and came to anchor, soon after it was dark, off the mole; the boats were accordingly prepared, and left the ship at half-past ten o’clock, under the command of Mr. Mather, first lieutenant, from whose good conduct the Bull-dog was surprised, and carried about midnight, the boats having got alongside, without being hailed by the sentinels; the alarm was, however, immediately given along the mole, to which the ship’s stern was secured by the two ends of a bower-cable, and three cables out ahead: these were soon cut by the people appoint«rd for that purpose, and the boats began to row, exposed to a heavy fire of cannon and musketry from the mole; but as there was a favorable light breeze, the sails were set, and, in less than an hour, the ship got without reach of the batteries, and was completely ours: – unfortunately it fell calm, and the current setting her along the coast near the shore, a crowd of boats (some of which were gun-boats), filled with men, came out to attack her: Mr. Mather now found his situation extremely critical, having the hatchways to guard to prevent the enemy rising from below, the boats’ crews fatigued with rowing all night, and the gun-boats approaching fast, and raking the ship, he had therefore the mortification of feeling himself obliged to relinquish his prize, after being in possession of her above three hours; and unfortunately failed in several attempts, before he retreated, to set her on fire. The moment I could discover the Bull-dog was out of the mole, I got the Mercury under weigh; but it was almost a calm, and impossible to get near her, as she had drifted with the current to a considerable distance from where the Mercury lay, and we experienced the mortifying disappointment of seeing her towed back to the very spot from whence she had been so gallantly taken: it is nevertheless some degree of satisfaction to know, that her voyage must be at least delayed for a considerable time, if not quite defeated, her masts and yards being shot through, and disabled in many places, and she has received considerable damage in her hull and rigging. The gallant conduct of the officers and men employed upon this enterprise will. I trust, meet with your lordship’s approbation; and it is from a desire of doing justice to their merits that I have been drawn into this, otherwise unnecessary, long detail. I have to regret the loss of two brave fellows killed, and four wounded, upon this occasion. The enemy had above twenty killed, wounded, and drowned. I have the honor to be, &c.
(Signed)“T. Rogers.”
In the following month, a piratical vessel named le Tigre, ​of eight guns and sixty men, was captured among the Tremiti islands, by a detachment of boats belonging to the Mercury and El Corso, the whole under the command of Lieutenant Mather; whom we next find serving under Captain William Bolton, in l’Aimable frigate, stationed off Ostend; where he was wounded in an action with the Gallo-Batavian flotilla, May 16th, 1804. His promotion to the rank of commander took place on the 23d Feb. 1807 ; and he appears to have been afterwards successively appointed to the Combatant, Rapid, and Tweed; which latter sloop he had the misfortune to lose, in Shoal Bay, Newfoundland, Nov, 5th, 1813.