The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-19 00:00:00

REAR ADMIRAL CHADS, C.B.

The following is O'Byrne's summary of the services of
Rear-Admiral Chads, C. 8., just; promoted to his flag
rank :

" Henry Ducie Chads is eldest son of Capt. Henry
Chads, R.N., who died October 10, 1799.
" This officer entered the Royal Naval Academy at
Portsmouth, Oct. 25, 1800, and embarked in Septem-
ber, 1803, as A. 8., on board the Excellent, 74, Captain
Frank Sotheron, in which he attained the rating of
midshipman in August, 1804, and served until August,
1806, on the Mediterranean station, where he latterly
contributed to the defence of Gaeta, and the capture cif.
Capri. After an intermediate attachment, on the home
station, to the Zealand, 64, Captain Robert Hall, and
Polyphemus, 64, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral George
Murray, he was promoted Nov. 5, 1808, into the
Illustrious, 74, Captains William Shield and William
Robert Broughton, employed at the blockade of Cadiz;
and in July, 1808, joined the Iphigenia, 36, Captain
Henry Lambert, with whom he went to Quebec, and
then to India. Passing over many events of minor im-
portance, although fraught with danger, in which Lieut.
Chads bore an active part, we find him in July, 1810,
ceivin
regthe public thanks of Lieutenant Col. Keating,
for his conduct at the landing of the troops previous to
the conquest of Isle Bourbon ; and, on being subse-
quently lent, 'with the Iphigenia's launch and cutter, to
the. Sirius, 36, Captain Samuel Pym, particularly dis-
tinguishing hihuself at the capture, Aug. 13 following,
of ',lle de la Passe, the key to Grand Port in the Isle of
France, on which occasion Lieutenant George It. Nor-
man, the leading officer, having been killed in the onset,
he succeeded to the command of the storming party, and
had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy fly on all sides.
In the course of the same month he assumed a share in
a series of gallant but unfortunate operations, which, by
the 28th, terminated in the self-destruction of the
British frigates, Sirius, bearing the broad pendant
of Commodore Samuel Pym, and Magicienne, the cap-
ture of the Nereide, and the surrender, to a power-
ful French squadron, of the Iphigenia herself, after
incurring an individual loss of at least 5 men killed
and 13 wounded, at the entrance of Port Sud-Est.
From the date last mentioned, Lieutenant Chads re-
mained subject to all the horrors of a dreadful capti-
vity, until released at the subsequent reduction of the
Mauritius, when he was reappointed first of the,
Iphigenia, . Captain Thomas Gordon Caulfeild, with
whom he returned to England, and was paid off in.
May, 1811. On Dec. 6 ensuing he became attached
to the Semiramis, 36, Captain Charles Richardson,
employed off Cork and in the Channel ; and on August
17 following rejoined Captain Lambert, as his senior
lieutenant in the Java, of 46 guns, and a crew of 397
raw and inefficient men, in which ship, with Lieutenant
General Thos. Hislop, the newly-appointed commander-
in-chief at Bombay, on board, and two East Indiamen
in escort, he sailed from Spithead, Nov. 12. Being off
the coast of Brazil on Dec. 29,,the Java, whose anomalous
crew had by this time been reduced to 377 men, fell
in and came to a close action with the powerful and
ably-equipped American ship Constitution, of 55 guns,
and a complement of 480 veterans. After a desperate
struggle of 3 hours and 40 minutes, in the midst of
which, Captain Lambert being mortally wounded, the
command devolved upon Lieutenant Chads, the Java
having had 22 men killed and 102 wounded, and being
withal reduced to the state of a sinking bulk, was forced
to strike to her comparatively giant antagonist, but not
until she had also inflicted a very serious loss. It is
scarcely necessary here to add, that Lieutenant Chads,
and the whole of his surviving officers and men, were
most honourably acquitted by a court-martial (which on
their return home in April 13, 1813, assembled to try
them for the loss of their ship) of all blame in that
disaster, the former personally obtained the highest en-
comiums for his "zeal, ability, and bravery,' and was
most deservedly rewarded by commission' dated May
23, 1813, with the command of the Columbia, sloop of
war. He afterwards signalised himself at the reduction
of Guadaloupe in 1815, and on Nov. 24 in that year
was paid off. We next find Captain Chads appointed
Nov. 22, 1823, to the Arachne, 18, in which he pro-
ceeded to India, and there, on his own responsibility,
joined in the expedition against Rangoon, under Major-
General Sir Archibald Campbell, to whom, by his won-
derful exertions, he rendered, as commandet-in-chief for
a considerable time of the flotilla on the river Irrawaddy,
the most conspicuous and effective co-operation ; inso-
much, indeed, that he was advanced to post rank July
25, 1825, confirmed in the command of the Alligator, of
28 guns, And' 277 1826, and nominated a C.B. Dec. 26
following ; besides calling ,forth the thanks of the Su-
preme Government in India, and the praise of the
House of Commons at home. Having finally affixed
his signature as senior naval officer and civil commis-
sioner, to the treaty of peace concluded with the Bur-
mese, he conveyed the first instalment of the indemnifi-
cation paid by them from Yandaboo to Calcutta, and
then returning to Plymouth paid the Alligator off, Jan.
3, 1827. He subsequently, from Jan. 2, 1834, until the
close of 1837, and from Aug. 20, 1841, until the sum-
mer of 1845, commanded, on the East India station, the
Andromache, 28, and Cambrian, 36, in the former of
which, when in company with the Imogene, 28, Captain
Price Blackwood, he forced the passage of Bocca Tigris,
in China, Sept. 7 and 9, 1834. He has been employed
since Aug. 26, 1845, as captain superintendent of the
Royal Naval College, and captain of the Excellent gun-
nery ship. Captain Chads married Nov. 26, 1815, Eliza-
beth Townshend, eldest daughter of John Pook, Esq.,
of Fareham, Hants."