The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-03 00:00:00

THE CAPTAIN'S RETIRED LIST OF 1846.

(18C3a8p)t ahianvse EdwardedCthhaeppr
ee
tllirementn
(1838)
-----
council of 1846, thereby reducing the active list, but not
creating any vacancies for promotion.
Capt. Edward Chappell has served during his cateer
in the navy 20 years actively afloat and ashore.
The following is from " O'Byrne's Biography
..Edward Chappell was born August 10, 1792. He
entered the navy in -May, 1804, as first-class volunteer, on
board the Kingfisher, 18, Captains Richard Wm. Cribb,
a:dd jr
othhne Monday
order l:1d
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Nathaniel Day Cochrane, George Francis Seymour, and
William Hepenstall, in which vessel he attained the
rating of midshipman, April 23, 1806, and continued
to serve until April, 1807. In the course of 1805, in-
dependently of the capture, in-- West Indies, of Les
Deux Amis, of 6 guns and 40 men, of L'Elizabeth, of 14
guns and 102 men, and of a Spanish register ship, he
distinguished himself at the cutting-out, from under the
fire of heavy batteries on the Spanish main, of the Isa-
bella la Damos, of 4 guns and of 57 men, and, in the
o eu day, of a Spanish merchantman. After partici-
pating in the victory off St. Domingo, February 6, 1806,
the Kingfisher returned to England with the dispatches,
and was then sent to Basque Roads, where she towed
out the Pallas at the close of her action with the Mi-
nerve, May 14, 1806. She subsequently formed part
of the force under Sir Thomas Louis at the capture,
September 27, in the same year, of the French 44-gun
frigate Le President, and was next ordered to the Medi-
terranean. On becoming attached, in April, 1807, to
the Favourite, alias Goree, 26, Capt. William Standway
Parkinson, Mr. Chappell assisted at the ensuing reduc-

tion of the Danish West India Islands of St. Thomas
and St. Croix ; after -which he joined in succession the
Ulysses, 44, Intrepid, 64, and Captain, 74, all com-
manded by Capt. Christ. John Williams Nesham, under
whom, in the Intrepid, he served on shore with a party
of seamen at the capture of Martinique, in February,
1809, and was present when that ship was severely cut
up in an engagement with the French frigates Hen-
/lade and Felicitd, under the guns of Fort Matilda,
Guadeloupe, April 15 following. In December, 1809,
he removed to the Tonnant, 80, Captain Hassard
Stackpoole, and sailed for the port of Cadiz, where,
on being appointed to the command of a gun-boat,
be witnessed the destruction of a Spanish prison-
ship, co-operated in the defence of Fort Matagordo,
lost nearly the whole of his crew in killed and
wounded, was himself severely injured, and obtained
for his services an acting lieutenancy in the T4m4-
raire, 98, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Francis Pickmore,
by whom he appears to have been soon after detached
to assist in navigating the Pernando Septinao, of 120
guns, to Port Mahon. Having been officially promoted
in the Minorca, 18, Captain Ralph Randolp Worme- '
ley, April 18, 1811, and being for some time success-
fully employed in cruising between Tunis and Sicily,
Lieut. Chappell returned to England in t'.A) Implacable,
74, Captain Joshua Rowley Watson, and was paid off
in November, 1812. We afterwards find him appointed
-December 3, 1812, to the Rosamond, 20, Captains
Donald, Campbell, and Edward Stopford, in which he
visited the shores of Newfoundland, Labrador, and Hud-
son's Bay--January 9, 1815, to the Beaver, 10, Captain
Edward O'Brien Drury, lying at Sheerness-and, Jan.
17, 1815, as senior, to the Leven, 20, Captain Buckland
Stirling Bluett, which vessel, after being employed dur-
ing the war of 100 days in supplying arms to the Royalists
in La Vendee, was placed out of commission in Novem-
ber, 1815. From February 8, 1819, until advanced,
in acknowledgment of his effective services, to the
rank of commander, April 19, 1826, Mr. Chappell was
next engaged on the Coast Blockade as supernumerary
lieutenant of the Severn, Ramillies, and Hyperion, Cap-
tains William M'Cullocla and William James Mingaye.
He had, during that period, been strongly recommended
by the grand jury of Sussex, and highly complimented
by the judge, for his exertions in detecting and convicting
a gang of smugglers at Bexhill ; and had also, in 1822,
received the thanks of the East India directors, accom-
panied by a piece of plate, valued at 100 guineas, for
going off in a boat and rescuing the passengers and crew
of the Thames, Indianian, when that ship was wrecked
near Beachy Head. Immediately on his promotion,
Captain Chappell was appointed, under the Post-office,.
to superintend the steam-packet establishment at
ford, whence he was subsequently removed to Liver-
pool, and there, on the packet-service being transferred
to the surveillance of the Admiralty, placed in com-
mand, June 27, 1837, of the Redwing steamer, from
which he was posted, December 27, 1838. In 1840 we
find him, by order of the Board of Admiralty, circumna-
vigating Great Britain in the Archimedes steamer, for
the purpose of reporting on the properties of the screw-
propeller. At present he is on half-pay. Captain
Chappell has been frequently examined by committees of
the House of Commons on matters connected with
steam navigation ; and on one occasion he was employed
by the President of the Board of Trade to prepare the
rough draft of an act of Parliament for the regulation of
steam vessels. In December, 1840, he was appointed
marine superintendent, and in February, 1842, secretary
to the Royal Mail Steam-packet Company, in which
latter capacity he now officiates. We should not omit
stating that Captain Chappell, in 1817, published a nar-
rative of a ' Voyage to Hudson's Bay,' Sze. ; another, in
1838, of one to Newfoundland and the Coast of Labra-
dor ;' and in 1840 the results of his experiments in the
Archimedes."

COMMANDER J. C. PITMAN.
The restoration of this officer to his rank in the navy,

iy Order in Council of the 19th of August, has been the

•
subject of general congratulation throughout the service;
for it is held by all to be an act of gracious justice.
That Commander Pitman deservedly earned that rank
. .

in which, by the just recommendation of the Admiralty,
he has been reinstated, will be seen by the following
brief account of his gallant career :

" John Charles Pitman entered her Majesty's naval ser-
vice in the year 1826, on board her Majesty's ship Asia,
flag-ship of Sir Edward Codrington, and has served afloat
17 years.

`-` Whilst serving as midshipman he was present at the
general action of Navarino, in her Majesty's ship Rose,
Captain Lewis Davies (in which engagement she so greatly
distinguished herself), and had the honour to be strongly
recommended by his captain on that occasion ; he was also
employed in her Majesty's ship Talbot, Captain the Hon.
F. Spencer, at the taking of the Morea Castles in 1828.
He also served whilst a midshipman with Captains Sir
William Parker, B. Maxwell, W. Gordon, and Sir H. Le
Fleming Senhouse.
" When serving as mate in her Majesty's ship St. Vin-
cent, in May, 1831, he received severe injury when on
duty on the quarter deck from the gun tackle purchase
giving way whilst getting the guns on board, for which he
received a pension of 2s. 6d. per diem, from 9th June,
1834, until December the same year, when he was capable ,
of resuming his duties afloat. In 1831 he was appointed
acting lieutenant of her Majesty's ship St. Vincent by the
commander in chief, Sir Josias Rowley, and continued •
such until she was paid off. He also served as mate under
Captains Deans Dundas, Lewis Davies, James Dacres, and
Sir H. Le Fleming Senhouse, in her Majesty's ship Blen-
heim, in which ship he proceeded to China, and on arrival
there was promoted by Lord Minto, having been seven
years and a half a mate. He was appointed junior lieute-
nant of her Majesty's ship Druid, Captain Henry Smith.
" As lieutenant he was actively employed in the open a-
tions in China, and received testimonials from Lord Gough,
Captains Sir Thomas Herbert, Sir Thomas Bourchier, Sir
Edward Belcher, S. Pritchard, J. Pearse, and George
Goldsmith, and others. He was at the taking of the
Ty-cock-tow, Chuenpee, and Anunghoy Forts, and was
present at the first advance on the Canton River ; was lent
to her Majesty's shin Blenheim, to act as naval aide-de-
campt to Sir H. Le F. Senhouse (the senior naval officer)
and General Sir Hugh Gough, and was present during the
whole of the operations on the heights of Canton, which
led to the capitulation of that city ; was at the taking of
Amoy in her Majesty's ship Druid, and remained in China
until the conclusion of the war, and was promoted to the
rank of commander in December, 1842.

" He was appointed to her Majesty's ship Childers Feb.
28, 1846, and during his command of three years and a
half in the China Seas, received testimonials of approba-
tion from the senior naval officers, Captains J. N. Camp-
bell, M'llougall, M`Quhae, and Commodore Plumridge ;
also from Sir Geo. Bonham, as well as the thanks of her
Majesty's consul, and all the foreign residents at Shanghai,
as well as from her Majesty's Government and the Lords
of the Admiralty, for the services his ship performed in
conjunction with her Majesty's ship Espiegle, for block-
ading 800 war-junks until the Chinese made reparation for
their ill-usage of British subjects.
" For his services in getting off her Majesty's ship
agroundChil-
ders,when upon the Pratas Shoal, on which she
was driven by a typhoon in the month of October, 1848,
on her passage from Hong Kong to Shanghai (three of his
commissioned officers being the on the sick-list), he had
also the honour to receive their lordships' approbation, as
well as that of the commander-in-chief, Sir Francis Collier.
" He also received the thanks of the French commodore
and Capt. de Genourtly for services rendered to the crews
of La Glorie and Victorieuse, wrecked in the Gulf of
Corea, for which the King of the French wished to confer
on him the Lenion of Honour, but it being contrary to
the regulations of the service to permit the acceptance of
foreign orders, her Majesty's Government could not accede
to it."

THE BRISTOL AND EXETER RAILWAY.—The guard,
by whose neglect the accident happened on the Tiverton
Junction branch of the Bristol and Exeter line, has been
summoned before the magistrates, who inflicted a penalty
of 101. and the costs.

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