# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Rayner, Edmund

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​RAYNER. (Retired Commander, 1831. f-p., 24; h-p., 41.)
Edmund Rayner died 12 Jan. 1846 at Plymouth.
This officer entered the Navy, in Feb. 1781 (under the auspices of Admiral Leveson Gower), as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Assistance, Capt. Jas. Worth, stationed in the Channel; and from Sept. following until Oct. 1783 was employed on the coast of North America in the Vestal and Jason, both commanded by Capt. Wm. Fox. During the peace he served at Chatham, at Newfoundland, and in the East Indies, as Midshipman, in the Irresistible, Commodore Bowyer, Leocadia, Capt. Alex. Edgar, Echo, Capt. Robt. Carthew Reynolds, Phoenix, Capts. Geo. Anson Byron and Sir Rich. Strachan, and Crown, Capt. Robt. Manners Sutton. In 1793 he joined the Queen 98, Capts. Wm. Hutt and Wm. Bedford, employed at first in the West Indies, and then on the Channel station; where, under the flag of Rear-Admiral Alan Gardner, he fought in Lord Howe’s actions, 29 May and 1 June, 1794. He was made Lieutenant, 25 July, 1794, into the Zealous 74, Capts. Wm. Mason, Jas. Young, Lord Hervey, and Sam. Hood, in which ship he made a voyage to the Mediterranean; and he was subsequently appointed – 19 July, 1796, as First, to the Lowestoffe 32, Capt. Robt. Plampin, also in the Mediterranean – 20 Jan. 1797, in a similar capacity, to the Tartar 28, Capt. Hon. Chas. Elphinstone, in the West Indies – 21 Nov. 1797, 7 Feb. 1798, 29 April, 1799, and 20 April, 1803, to the Triton 32, Capt. John Gore, Mermaid of 40 guns and 208 men, and Loire 38, both commanded by Capt. Jas. Newman Newman, and Doris 36, Capt. Rich. Harrison Pearson, all in the Channel – 28 Nov. 1804 (after nine months of half-pay occasioned by ill health), to the Cerberus 32, Capt. Wm. Selby, off Guernsey – 1 March, 1805, to the Thalia 36, Capt. Jas. Walker, fitting for the East Indies – 18 Sept. 1806 (on his return home), to the Resolution 74, Capt. Geo. Burlton, attached to the force in the North Sea – and 4 Aug. 1807, to the Sea Fencibles at Dartmouth. When First of the Tartar Mr. Rayner assisted, after an action of about three-quarters of an hour, in silencing, 30 June, 1797, the fire of two batteries, one mounting 8 the other 6 guns, at Port-au-Paix. He then landed, took possession of the fort, spiked and knocked the trunnions off the guns, threw them over the cliffs, and destroyed all the enemy’s ammunition. For his conduct on this occasion he was led by the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Hyde Parker, to expect promotion; but the packet charged with the Admiral’s despatches being lost on her passage home, he was doomed to disappointment. In the Mermaid he witnessed, 29 June, 1798, the surrender of the 40-gun frigate La Seine to the Jason and Pique; and took part, 17 Oct. following, in a gallant action of two hours and a half with the French Loire of 46 guns and 330 men, which terminated in the separation of the combatants, each being much disabled. When La Seine surrendered, she lay aground totally dismasted, and, an attempt to get her off having failed, Mr. Rayner was sent with orders to destroy her. It appearing, however, to him certain that she might be recovered, he prevailed upon Capt. Newman and Capt. Milne of La Pique to allow a second trial to be made; and he had the satisfaction of perceiving his exertions crowned with success. To his extreme gratification also he received from both the Captains alluded to an acknowledgment that the experiment had been alone attempted through his representation. In 1798 Mr. Rayner, then First of the Loire, was the instrument, while Capt. Newman was confined by illness to his cot, of rescuing the Atlas 98 from a perilous position at Drake’s Island, Plymouth, where she had been driven on the rocks, and had cut away all her masts. His efforts on the occasion were witnessed and applauded by Admiral Collingwood and Commissioner Fanshawe. On 6 Feb. 1800 we find him wounded, and highly spoken of by Capt. Newman for his conduct, at the capture, when in company with the Danaé 20, and Fairy, Harpy, and Railleur sloops, of the French 38-gun frigate Pallas, under the heavy fire of a battery on one of the Seven Islands. We may add that on occasions of service Mr. Rayner was ever a volunteer. He continued in the Sea Fencibles until that corps was disbanded in 1810; and was not afterwards employed. Impressed with a full sense of the claims which service had conferred on Mr. Rayner, Lord Spencer had, during his tenure of office, made him frequent and specific promises of promotion; and in 1805 Lord Melville had expressed his wish to effect the same object. The retirement, however, of both those noblemen from the Admiralty again blasted his hopes. He accepted the rank of Retired Commander on the Senior List 22 April, 1831.
Commander Rayner was married and has left issue.