# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Roberts, Samuel

Layout 4
​ROBERTS, Kt., C.B. (Captain, 1815. f-p., 27; h-p., 23.)
Sir Samuel Roberts, born in 1787, is son of the late Rev. John Roberts, Rector of Passage, near Waterford; and brother (with Capt. Thos. Roberts, R.N.) of Col. Abraham Roberts, C.B., of the Hon.E.I.Co.’s service.
This officer entered the Navy, in Nov. 1797, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Expedition, Lieut.-Commander John Hinton, lying at Waterford. Joining next, 17 Sept. 1798, the Anson of 46 guns and 327 men, Capt. Philip Chas. Durham, he was on board that frigate when she encountered, shortly afterwards, and for 17 days dogged, in company with the Ethalion 38, a French squadron under Commodore Bompart, consisting of La Hoche of 78 guns, eight frigates, a brig, and a schooner, destined for the invasion of Ireland. With five of the frigates, after the three others together with the line-of-battle ship had fallen into the hands of Sir John Borlase Warren, the Anson, on 12 Oct., ​came singly into collision, and sustained a loss, with injury to her masts and yards, of 2 men killed and 13 wounded. On 18 of the same month, being in company with the Kangaroo 18, she endured a similar loss in a very gallant action of an hour and a quarter which terminated in the capture of La Loire of 46 guns and 664 men (including troops), of whom 46 were killed and 71 wounded. Removing, in Dec. 1798, to the Volage 24, Capts. Hon. Philip Wodehouse, Wm. Barker, and Fras. Vesey, Mr. Roberts proceeded forthwith to the West Indies, where he assisted as Midshipman in cutting out many of the enemy’s vessels and was in one instance severely wounded and taken prisoner. From the Volage he was transferred, in March,1802, to the Trusty 50, Capt. Dan. Oliver Guion, lying at Portsmouth; and in the course of the same year he joined the Woolwich 44, Capt. Ulick Jennings, and Echo sloop, Capt. Edm. Boger. In the latter vessel, stationed in the West Indies, he contributed to the capture, in 1804, of a French transport, full of troops, and of a privateer mounting 16 guns with a complement of 50 men. In command of a single boat, with only 13 men, he made prize, on one occasion, of five well-armed vessels, carrying as many as 250 soldiers. On another, having been accidentally left on shore at Jamaica and observing a privateer take possession of the Dorothy Foster, a valuable West India trader, he immediately embarked with some volunteer seamen in another merchant-vessel, pursued the enemy, and compelled him, after an obstinate conflict, to surrender his prey. As a reward for this achievement he received an order (dated 15 Feb. 1804) to act in the capacity of Lieutenant. Being subsequently invested by his Captain with the command of a tender (mounting 1 12-pounder carronade and 2 2-pounders, with a crew of 21 men), and sent on a cruize for the purpose of intercepting some Spaniards about to sail from the Havana for Europe, he fell in with two vessels, one of 12 guns and 60 men, the other of 8 guns and 40 men. Although unable to etfect his escape, and notwithstanding that the force opposed to him was so overwhelming, he maintained for half an hour a most gallant defence. At the end of that period his little craft went down with all the killed and wounded on board, barely allowing time for the remainder to be rescued. On his release, after several months of confinement in a damp dungeon, where he had been kept in a state of utter destitution, he was received by Sir John Duckworth, in Nov. 1804, as Master’s Mate, on board his flag-ship the Hercule 74. In the early part of the following Feb. he was a companion of the present Sir Nesbit Josiah Willoughby when that heroic officer, in a small prize, manned by volunteers, made a brilliant dash past the enemy’s batteries into the harbour of St. Martha, with the intention of cutting out a Spanish corvette of 20 guns and 130 men reported to be there, but which, unfortunately, had sailed a few days before. In the course of the same month Mr. Roberts was again placed under the orders of Capt. Boger on board the Echo. He was confirmed a Lieutenant (after having acted for three months as such) in the Superb 74, flagship of Sir J. T. Duckworth, 22 May, 1806; and was subsequently appointed – 8 Aug. 1806 and 31 Aug. 1809, to the Unicorn 32 and Armide 38, both commanded by Capt. Lucius Ferdinand Hardyman – 24 Nov. 1810, to the Courageux 74, Capt. Philip Wilkinson, stationed in the Baltic – and, 9 April, 181 1, and 29 Jan. 1812, to the Christian VII. 80, and, as First-Lieutenant, to the Impregnable 98, both flagships of Admiral Wm. Young in the North Sea. While serving in the Unicorn he commanded a detachment of 50 seamen at the storming of Monte Video 3 Feb. 1807; and performed the duties of an officer of Artillery until some time after the capture of the city. He was First-Lieutenant of the same frigate at the destruction of the French shipping in Aix Roads in April, 1809. In Jan. and Feb. 1810, being Senior of the Armide, he commanded the boats of that ship, in conjunction with those of a squadron, at the capture and destruction of 15 of the enemy’s coasting vessels, near Rochelle. The steadiness of the fire he maintained on one occasion in face of several gun-boats obtained for him official notice. On 4 May, 1810, with the boats of the Armide, and Monkey and Daring gun-brigs, under his orders, he effected the destruction of 13 out of a convoy of 17 sail, defended, at the Ile de Ré, by batteries on shore, two armed luggers, and several pinnaces – the loss of the British amounting to 3 killed and 3 wounded, all belonging to the Armide, Being awarded a second promotal commission 6 Dec. 1813, Capt. Roberts assumed command, 19 Feb. 1814, of the Meteor bomb. In that vessel he accompanied a detachment of troops under Major-General Ross from the Garonne to North America, where he found frequent opportunities of distinguishing himself, particularly during the expeditions against Alexandria, Baltimore, and New Orleans. Prior to the attack upon the latter place he commanded a division of boats at the capture, on Lake Borgne, 14 Dec. 1814, of five American gun-vessels, after a very desperate struggle, in which the British sustained a loss of 17 men killed and 77 wounded. An armed sloop on the same occasion surrendered to him without much opposition. When Lieut.-Col. Thornton in Jan. 1815 stormed and captured a redoubt on the right bank of the Mississipp, Capt. Roberts with three gun-vessels was as unremitting in his zeal and exertions in covering the right flank of the troops as he had previously been in embarking the troops and keeping the boats together in crossing the river. In Aug. 1815, having been nominated a C.B. and advanced to Post-rank 4 and 13 June preceding, he left the Meteor. His succeeding appointments were – 28 Sept. 1815, for nearly three months, to the Newcastle 50, lying at Woolwich – 24 Jan. 1816, to the Tay 26, in which ship he was wrecked in the Gulf of Mexico 11 Nov. following – 20 March, 1817, for a passage home, to the Lady Hamilton transport – 13 Jan. 1823, to the Egeria 24, employed at Newfoundland and on the West India station, whence she returned in July, 1825, bringing with her Mr. Morier, late British Commissioner in Mexico, and a large quantity of cochineal and specie from Vera Cruz and the Havana – 4 Dec. 1832, to the Druid 46, in the river Tagus – 18 June, 1833, for nearly three years and a half, to the Endymion 50, attached to the Mediterranean and Lisbon squadrons – and, 22 Aug. 1840, to the Calcutta 84, similarly employed. Paralysis of the left side compelled him to relinquish the command of the ship last mentioned in May, 1842. He was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 18 July, 1843; and placed on the Retired List 1 Oct. 1846.
The honour of Knighthood was conferred upon Capt. Roberts in 1833. He has been in the whole 53 times in action; and has been often wounded. He married, in 1818, one of his cousins, a daughter of Benjamin Roberts, Esq., Solicitor. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 406.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 731.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1814, p. 2081.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1814, p. 440.
* ↑ He was fully acquitted of all blame in the catastrophe by a court martial held at Jamaica in March, 1817.