# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Saumarez, Richard

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​SAUMAREZ, K.L.A. (Captain, 1824.)
Richard Saumarez is nephew of the late Admiral Lord de Saumarez, G.C.B.; and cousin of Commander Henry Dumaresq, R.N. His brother, Acting-Commander Thos. Saumarez, died at the island of Ascension 19 May, 1823, seven days only after his appointment to the Bann 20.
This officer entered the Navy, in Sept. 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the San Josef 110, Capt. John Conn, bearing the flag in the Channel of his uncle, then Sir Jas. Saumarez, with whom he shortly afterwards removed to the St. George 98. Becoming Midshipman, in Nov. of the same year, of the Spartan, of 46 guns and 258 men, Capt. Jahleel Brenton, he assisted in that ship at the destruction of the castles of Pesaro and Ceseratico, the reduction of Lusin, an island on the coast of Croatia, and the capture of Zante, Cephalonia, and Cerigo. He was also, 3 May, 1810, present in a brilliant and single-handed victory gained by the Spartan, in the Bay of Naples (after a contest of more than two hours, in which the British sustained a loss of 10 men killed and 22 wounded), over a Franco-Neapolitan squadron, carrying altogether 95 guns and about 1400 men. In Aug. of the year last mentioned he removed, as Master’s Mate, to the Daphne 20, Capt. Philip Pipon, attached to the force in the Baltic, where, until Sept. 1812, he had constant charge of a watch, and “conducted himself with so much care and ability, and displayed such knowledge of his profession, both as a sailor and a navigator,” that, on leaving, he had the satisfaction of being strongly recommended by his Captain as “a young officer of great promise, and highly deserving of promotion.” During his servitude in the Daphne he witnessed an attack made by the enemy upon Danzig, and conveyed to the Commander-in-Chief the official despatches relative to the battle ​of Borodino. After serving for a few weeks as Acting-Flag-Lieutenant to Sir Jas. Saumarez in the Victory 100 and Pyramus 36, he was presented with a commission bearing date 5 Dec. 1812; and he was next, 2 Feb. 1813, appointed to the Bacchante 33, Capts. Wm. Hoste and Fras. Stanfell. While under the former of those officers in the Adriatic he conducted a considerable body of Croatian troops from the Bocco di Cattaro to Fiumé, where he arrived at a period when a force of the kind was most urgently required both for the protection of the town and for the purpose of co-operating with the army under General Nugent at the siege of Trieste. On the surrender of the latter place he was sent by Rear-Admiral Thos. Francis Fremantle to Prince Maximilian with the terms of the capitulation. On his passage afterwards with despatches to Capt. Hoste, the transport vessel in which he was embarked not being able, from contrary winds and strong currents, to proceed to the place of rendezvous, he quitted her in an open boat, and by pulling along the coast, from Lissa to the anchorage off Melida, arrived in Nov. 1813, not, however, without having incurred much risk, and been forced by violent gales to take refuge for three days upon a barren and uninhabited island between Lissa and Curzola. Through these means the despatches were delivered, which led to the immediate attack, and ultimate surrender, of the fortress of Cattaro; where Lieut. Saumarez was the chief officer of the Bacchante engaged on shore in the direction of the batteries, and, under the instructions of Capt. Hoste, carried on the capitulation with General Gauthier. In Jan. 1814 he contributed to the reduction of Ragusa; and on proceeding, in the course of the same year, to the coast of North America, was there very actively employed, particularly at the capture of Castine, Belfast, and other places, in Penobscot Bay. In Dec. 1818, Lieut. Saumarez, who had been paid off from the Bacchante about July, 1815, received an appointment to the Sybille 44, bearing the flag of Sir Home Popham in the West Indies. He was there, 19 May, 1819, made Commander into the Beaver sloop -, and on 17 April, 1824, he was advanced to Post-rank. He accepted the Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.
In Aug. 1815 Capt. Saumarez was presented with the Honorary Medallion of the Royal Humane Society, for “his meritorious and highly laudable conduct,” in having, in May, 1814, under circumstances of the greatest peril, risked his own life to save that of Robert Taylor, a seaman, who had fallen overboard between Malta and Sicily; and in 1818 the Cross of the Order of Leopold of Austria was conferred upon him “for the signal services he had rendered during the campaign of 1813.” On his return in the Beaver from the West Indies he submitted to the Admiralty some observations on the yellow fever, by which he had been three times attacked in the course of one year, and had the gratification of receiving their Lordships’ approbation for the attention he had given to the subject. The thanks of the Committee of West India merchants were conveyed to him in April, 1821, “for the interesting information conveyed in his letter of the 16th” of that month, as to the most eligible track to be pursued by their homeward-bound shipping. Capt. Saumarez married 12 Feb. 1825, and has issue three sons and one daughter. His second son, Thomas, is a Lieutenant R.N.