# Royal Naval Biography/Mudge, Zachary

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ZACHARY MUDGE, Esq [Post-Captain of 1800.]
This officer, a son of the late eminent Dr. Mudge of Plymouth, co. Devon, was made a Lieutenant about 1789; and in that capacity accompanied Captain Vancouver to Nootka Sound, from whence he was despatched to India in an open vessel, with a crew of only 14 men. In 1799, he commanded the Fly sloop of war, and captured la Gleneur French privateer of 6 guns and 32 men, off Portland.
During the ensuing year, the Fly was nearly lost on an immense island of ice, near the banks of Newfoundland, whilst on her passage from Halifax to England, with despatches from H.R.H. the late Duke of Kent. She also captured le Trompeur, a French cutter privateer, off la Hogue. Captain Mudge’s post commission bears date Nov. 15, 1800. His next appointment was to la Constance of 24 guns.
In the spring of 1801, Captain Mudge received the thanks of the British Consuls and Merchants at Lisbon and Oporto, for the services he had rendered them, by convoying a fleet from Falmouth to Portugal in safety, and for his very great activity in collecting some vessels at Viana, laden with brandy, without which the wines could not have been got ready in time to go home under his protection. About the same period he captured El Dduides, a Spanish national cutter of 8 guns and 69 men; a lugger privateer of 2 guns and 27 men; and a brig laden with West Indian produce.
Having seen eighty-two vessels deeply laden with port wine to their destination in safety, Captain Mudge again sailed for Oporto, and on the 27th July, 1801, Cape Ortegal bearing south four miles, he discovered a brig and a lugger rounding the point, within a quarter of a mile of the shore. Relying on the accuracy of the Spanish charts in his possession, he ran la Constance so close to the Firgu rocks, as to oblige the strangers to pass through the inner channel, each receiving a broadside as she passed. The Stork of 18 guns, which had hove in sight to leeward, now stood into the bay, and compelled the brig to run on shore directly under a high ​cliff, from whence the militia of the country kept up a constant though ill-directed fire on the British boats, commanded by Lieutenant Stupart of la Constance, who gallantly pushed in and hove her off without loss. She proved to be El Cantara, Spanish privateer of 22 guns and 110 men: her consort, mounting 10 guns, was also taken, as were two French brigs laden with brandy, soon after.
Towards the latter end of the same year, Captain Mudge conveyed General Count Viomenil and his suite from Portsmouth to Lisbon. On the 27th March, 1802, the Active frigate arrived in the Tagus from Gibraltar, and passing Belem castle, took up an anchorage which appeared to her commander the best and safest in the river. This appears to have offended the Portuguese, who, the same evening, seized the bargemen of the British ships, whilst they were waiting for their respective Captains at the usual landing place, and without assigning any cause, lodged them in a subterraneous cell belonging to the police guard. Upon Captain Mudge and his brother officer demanding the liberation of their boats’ crews, they were themselves conducted to the main guard, and shut up in one of the commanding officer’s apartments, exposed to the insults of the soldiers. As soon as H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex, who happened to be at Lisbon, was informed of this transaction, he went in company with General Fraser and Mr. Frere, to the proper authority, and demanded their release; but, notwithstanding all the zeal and diligence of the Prince and his attendants, the two Captains were kept in custody more than thirteen hours!
After Captain Mudge’s return to England, we find him employed conveying a number of disbanded foreign soldiers from Lymington to the Elbe. He was appointed to the Blanche frigate.about Oct. 1802.
At the close of 1803, the Blanche was attached to a squadron under Captain Loring of the Bellerophon, employed in the blockade of St. Domingo; on which station she captured and destroyed twenty-four of the enemy’s vessels in less than a month, thereby completely checking the intercourse between the different ports of the island. During the ensuing ​eighteen months, she cruised with great activity, and among other prizes, took two French national vessels of 14 guns each; a Dutch schooner of 4 guns; another laden with hollands; a Spanish sloop, with a cargo of horses and Nicaragua wood; and two French privateers.
Captain Mudge was now doomed to experience a sad reverse of fortune. On the 19th July, 1805, the Blanche, being in lat. 20° 20' N., long. 66° 44' W. fell in with a French squadron, consisting of la Topaze frigate of 44 guns and 410 men; one ship of 22 guns and 236 men; a corvette of 18 guns and 213 men; and a brig of 16 guns and 123 men. To escape by sailing was out of the question, the greater part of the copper having been off her bottom nearly nine months. Captain Mudge, therefore, made every disposition for action, which began at 11 A.M., and lasted about forty-five minutes; the frigates constantly within hail of each other, running large under easy sail; the 22-gun ship on the Blanche’s starboard quarter, and the other vessels close astern of her. The British frigate had by this time become ungovernable, her sails being totally destroyed, and her rigging cut to pieces; she had also seven guns dismounted, six feet water in the hold, her fore and main-masts disabled by the enemy’s shot, 8 men killed and 15 wounded. Thus situated, Captain Mudge and his officers considered further resistance unavailing, and at noon the colours were struck.
The Blanche was not destined to wear French colours. At 6 P.M., the officers who had taken possession, reported her to be sinking, and she was consequently set on fire; but the magazine having been long drowned, no explosion took place. She burnt to the water’s edge and then sunk.
On the 14th Oct. in the same year, Captain Mudge was tried by a court-martial at Plymouth, for the loss of his ship, and honorably acquitted of all blame. The President, Rear-Admiral John Sutton, on returning his sword, addressed him in the following words:
“I feel the greatest satisfaction and pleasure in the discharge of this ​part of my duty, having to convey to you the just sentiments vhich the members of this Court entertain of your very able and gallant conduct in the defence made by you of his Majesty’s late ship the Blanche, against a very superior force of the enemy’s ships; and likewise of the spirited support afforded you by the officers of every description, as well as the seamen and royal marines, under your command, in the discharge of their duty; and which reflects upon you and them the highest degree of merit and approbation.”
Captain Mudge subsequently commanded the Phoenix frigate, stationed in the Channel. On the 29th Jan. 1810, the boats of that ship, in company with those of the Jalouse sloop, gallantly boarded and captured le Charles French brig privateer of 14 guns and 90 men. The Phoenix on this occasion had 1 man killed and another wounded.
Our officer’s sister, Elizabeth, married Sir Richard Fletcher, Bart., a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Engineers, who fell in action before St. Sebastian, in Aug. 1813. His brother, Colonel Mudge of the Royal Artillery, and F.R.S., was the author of “An Account of the Operations for accomplishing the Trigonometrical Survey of England and Wales, 3 vols. 4to. 1799–1811.”
Agent.– Thomas Stilwell, Esq.
* ↑ The Mudges are remarkable for their literary and scientific abilities.
* ↑ See p. 200.
* ↑ We shall have occasion hereafter to enter into the particulars of more than one gallant exploit performed by the Blanche’s boats at this period.
* ↑ The Blanche mounted 44 guns, and went into action with only 215 men. The enemy’s squadron, as will be seen above, carried altogether 100 guns and 982 men; of whom 132 were soldiers belonging to the Legion du Midi. Their exact loss we have not been able to ascertain.