# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Westphal, Philip

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​WESTPHAL. (Capt., 1830. f-p., 22; h-p., 31.)
Philip Westphal is brother of Capt. Sir Geo. Augustus Westphal, R.N., Kt.
This officer entered the Navy, 10 Dec. 1794 (under the patronage of H.R. H. the Duke of Kent), as Fst.cl. Vol., on board L’Oiseau 36, Capt. Robt. Murray. After serving for about 12 months in that frigate on the coast of North America and in the West Indies, the latter part of the time in the capacity of Midshipman, he joined in succession, in Feb. and April, 1796, the Albatross 16 and Shannon 32, Capts. Geo. Scott and Alex. Fraser, on the Home station. In the following May he was again placed under the command of Capt. Murray in the Asia 64, in which ship he continued employed, again in North America, the last two years under the flag of Vice-Admiral Geo. Vandeput, until Dec. 1800. He then became Master’s Mate of the Blanche 36, Capt. Graham Eden Hamond; and in her he had the good fortune to share in the action off Copenhagen 2 April, 1801. Three days after that event he was made Lieutenant, through a death vacancy, into the Defiance 74, flag-ship of Sir Thos. Graves, with whom he remained until paid off in Oct. of the same year. His next appointment was, in May, 1802, to the Amazon 38, Capts. Sam. Sutton and Wm. Parker. Under the latter officer we find him, at the re-commencement of the war with France, escorting the Duke of Kent home from Gibraltar; and, on his return to the Mediterranean, uniting in the very spirited pursuit of a French frigate into Toulon. Besides contributing to the capture, 16 July, 1803, and 12 Sept. 1805, of the privateers Le Félix of 16 guns and 96 men, and Principe de la Paz of 24 9-pounders, 4 brass swivels, and 160 men, he accompanied Lord Nelson to the West Indies and back in search of the combined fleets of France and Spain; and in Feb. 1806, while cruizing among the Canary Islands, he commanded the boats of the Amazon and Raven at the cutting out of an English merchant-vessel, recently captured by the enemy, from under the fire of two batteries and of musketry in the Bay of Santa Cruz. As the sails of the prize had been unbent and sent on shore, she was taken in tow by the boats, against a heavy swell, which exposed her so long to the enemy’s shot that, soon after she reached the Amazon, she foundered from the effects of the damage she had experienced. On 13 March following the Amazon, in company at the time with a squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren, took part in a long running fight, which, after she had incurred a loss of 4 men killed and 5 wounded, terminated in the surrender to her and the London 98, the only ships engaged, of the Marengo 80, bearing the flag of Admiral Liuois, and 40-gun frigate Belle Poule. On this occasion her First-Lieutenant, Rich. Seymour, being among the slain, Mr. Westphal became his successor, and was immediately nominated Acting-Captain of the Belle Poule. Having partially refitted her at St. Jago, one of the Cape de Verde Islands, he sailed for England with the Marengo and the other ships under Sir J. B. Warren, several of which, in a gale encountered on reaching the Azores, sustained much injury, while the Belle Poule escaped without the loss of a single spar or a yard of canvas. On the storm subsiding, Mr. Westphal was signalled on board the Foudroyant, the flag-ship of the Admiral, who highly comphmented him for his conduct, and promised, on arriving in England, to recommend him to the Admiralty. Nevertheless he had the mortification, after dismantling the Belle Poule at Portsmouth, of being sent back to the Amazon, while the First-Lieutenants of the London and Foudroyant were each advanced to the rank of Commander. He was afterwards actively employed on the coast of France and on the north coast of Spain. He was present, 23 March, 1811, at the capture of Le Cupidon French privateer of 14 guns and 82 men; and on 30 July in the same year, having gallantly attacked a convoy of eight vessels near the Penmarck Rocks, he succeeded, without loss, in destroying five of them, and in bringing away the remainder, although exposed in so doing to a smart fire of grape from the enemy’s batteries, and of musketry from a considerable body of troops in trenches and on the beach. The Amazon being paid off in Feb. 1812, Mr. Westphal, who had been serving in her for nearly ten years, the last six as First-Lieutenant, was appointed in that capacity, in the following month, to the Junon 38, Capts. Jas. Sanders and Clotworthy Upton, on the North American station, where he saw much active service both in the ship and her boats, and contributed to the capture of several vessels. On 29 July, 1813, being in Delaware Bay, and observing that the Martin 18, Capt. Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, which had grounded on a shoal at the first of a strong ebbing tide, lay exposed, without the power of offering much resistance, to the attack of a flotilla of 10 vessels (two of them carrying 6 long 18-pounders and 60 men, and the remainder a long 32 and a 4-pounder on traversing carriages and 35 men), he volunteered to make a diversion in her favour, and for this purpose, with four boats belonging to his own ship, containing 100 officers and men, and three others who joined him from the Martin with 40 officers and men, he gallantly pulled towards the Americans, with the apparent design of attacking their centre. As soon as, by this manoeuvre, he had drawn the enemy’s fire from the sloop to his own party, he made a dash, under round and grape, at their stern-most vessel (one of the smaller ones), and, after a short but severely contested hand-to-hand struggle, boarded and took her, with a loss to the British of 3 killed and mortally wounded, and 4 slightly wounded, and tp the assailed of 7 wounded. Although pursued for five or six miles, the prize was carried off in triumph, in sight, too, of hundreds of mortified spectators from the shore. On the return of the tide the Martin, which in the mean while had been lightened, floated, and was allowed to get clear without further obstruction. On the following day Mr. Westphal had the gratification of being assured by Capt. Senhouse, “that but for the conduct of the boats, the Martin must inevitably have been lost to the service.” As an account, however, of the exploit was never, from some cause unexplained, laid in an official form before the Admiralty, he obtained no reward. He continued in the Junon until 21 Jan. 1815. He then became First-Lieutenant of the Albion 74, bearing the flag of Sir Geo. Cockburn; and on 13 June following, a few weeks after his return to England, he was at length promoted to the rank of Commander. His last appointments were, 1 Nov. 1828 and 22 Jan. 1829 to the Warspite 76 and Kent 78, commanded at Plymouth by his former Captain, Parker, and by Capt. John Ferris Devonshire. He was advanced to his present rank 22 July, 1830; and admitted to the Out-Pension of Greenwich Hospital 11 Oct. 1847. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.