# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Higgs, William Henry

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​HIGGS. (Captain, 1846. f-p., 27; h-p., 24.)
William Henry Higgs entered the Navy, 1 Jan. 1796, as a Volunteer, on board the Daphne hired armed lugger, employed in keeping up a communication with the French Royalists on the coast of Normandy. From Sept. following until April, 1797, he served on the Jersey station, on board the Bravo 16, Capt. D’Auvergne, Prince de Bouillon; and he then became in succession Midshipman of the Monarch 74, Capt. John Elphinstone and Queen Charlotte 100, flag-ship of Lord Keith. In June, 1798, he joined the Maidstone frigate, Capt. Ross Donnelly, attached to the force in the West Indies, where, during a continuance of rather more than two years, he was thrice attacked by the yellow fever. Arriving in the Mediterranean, about the commencement of 1801, in the Chichester store-ship, Capt. John Stephens, Mr. Higgs was there received, first on board the Salamine brig, Capt. Thos. Briggs, and then in the Foudroyant 80, bearing the flag of Lord Keith, and, as Master’s Mate, in the Peterel sloop, Capts. Chas. Inglis and John Lambom. While in the latter vessel, which he left in March, 1802, he participated, as he likewise did in the Foudroyant, in the operations of the Egyptian campaign; but it was not until 7 May, 1804 (by which period he had further served, chiefly on the Home station, in the Cambridge 80, flagship of Sir Thos. Pasley, Hunter sloop, Capts. Geo. Jones and Sam. Hood Inglefield, Conqueror 74, Capt. Thos. Louis, and Monarch 74, bearing the flag of his friend Lord Keith), that he succeeded in obtaining his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant. He then joined the Sulphur bomb, Capts. Donald M‘Leod and Matt. Forster, in which vessel he witnessed, 2 Oct. 1804, the celebrated “Catamaran” attack made upon the Boulogne flotilla; and he was next, it appears, appointed – in the course of the same month, to the Cygnet sloop, Capts. D. M‘Leod and Robt. Bell Campbell, with the latter of whom he again proceeded to the West Indies – in Aug. 1806, as First, to the Alligator 26, Capt. R. B. Campbell, in which ship he returned to England – in the spring of 1807, to the Barfleur 98, Capt. Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke, employed in the Channel – and, in June of the same year, as Senior, to L’Espoir sloop, commanded, on the Mediterranean station, by Capts. Henry Hope, Robt. Mitford, and Hon. Robt. Cavendish Spencer, and occasionally, pro tempore, by himself. During nearly seven years of employment in L’Espoir, Mr. Higgs saw a great deal of active service in the Mediterranean, where he assisted, in 1809, at the reduction of the islands of Ischia and Procida; in April, 1810, at the capture and destruction of several Neapolitan vessels on the coast of Italy; and on 8 Aug. 1813, at the taking, in a gallant attack on the town of Cassis, near Toulon, of five land-batteries, three heavy gun-boats, and 25 sail of merchant-vessels. On 25 July, 1814, five months after he had left L’Espoir, the subject of this narrative, who had acquired the highest reputation for his ability and zeal as an officer, became First-Lieutenant to Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan, in the Glasgow 50, in which ship he cruized in the Western Ocean until paid off at Chatham, 1 Sept. 1815. He rejoined Capt. Duncan, 27 June, 1818, in a similar capacity, on board the Liffey 50; and on 11 Oct. 1819, after having made a voyage to the Mediterranean, he was at length promoted to the rank of Commander, in honour of the Prince Regent’s visit to that ship. His next and last appointments were – 11 June, 1831, to the Second-Captaincy of the Revenge 78, Capt. Jas. Hillyar, an appointment he was induced to resign on 20 of the same month – and, 5 Feb. 1839, as Additional-Commander, to the Royal Sovereign yacht, for the purpose of superintending the Packet Service at Pembroke, where he remained until June, 1845. His elevation to Post-rank took place 9 Nov. 1846.
We may here add that Capt. Higgs’ appointments to the Cygnet, Alligator, Espoir, Glasgow, and Liffey were all made at the especial request of their respective Captains. Agents – Collier and Snee.