The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-21 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

DEATH OF REAR-ADMIRAL SIR F. A. COLLIER
C. 8., K.C.11., COMMANDER-IN• CHIEF IN THE EAST
INDIES.— Without surprise, but with much regret,
we have received the information of the death of
Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Augustus Collier, C. 8.,
K.C.11., Commander-in-Chief of the East India
station.

The serious illness of the gallant Admiral on his
way out and since his arrival on the station, after his
appointment to the command-in-chief, April 7, 1848,
has filled the minds of his friends with considerable
apprehension, which the conflicting accounts received
from India by every snail rather increased than
allayed. Always most determined in will and pur-
pose, he fought against death with that dauntless
energy which characterised his numerous actions
with the enemies of his country ; and although
his friends and those around him were persuaded
of the result of the struggle, he nevertheless
continued at his post, and resolved, if conquered, at
least to " die in harness." From month to month
he remained alternately better and worse. He pro-
ceeded to China, visited the northern ports,
returned to India, and was about to proceed to
Bombay from Trincomalee, when the depredations of
the pirates, and the necessity for their summary
suppression induced him to proceed once more to
Hong-Kong. He arrived there in Septembei last,
and at once sent forth the expedition against the
pirates which has so ably and successfully accom-
plhhed the Admiral's orders. Sir Francis, however,
continued to decline in physical strength, and from
the 23d October it was observed that he was gradually
failing, and it was evidently a great effort for him to
take his accustomed drive. Ile nevertheless busied
himself with official matters, and commenced a long
letter, by dictation, to his old friend Admiral
Dundas, but which he never lived to finish. His
dissolution, however, was not expected to take
place so soon as it did ; fur on the afternoon of the
27th October, accompanied by Captain Morgan,
his flag captain, he took a short drive. On his
return it appears he felt weaker, and went to bed at
seven o'clock, at which time his medical attendants
(Dr. Scott, of the flag ship Hastings, and Dr. Bankier,
of her Majesty's ship Alligator, and his secretary,
Mr. Price) with the Chief Justice (at whose house
he had taken up his quarters), were present. From
this hour he began to sink very rapidly, and at
eleven o'clock, when Captain Morgan was sent for
on board the Hastings, it was too evident that his
end was approaching, and he continued in an
almost insensible state until a quarter before six
o'clock on the morning of the 28th, when he ex-
pired, without the slightest visible pain or struggle,
the immediate cause of death being serious apoplexy.
Thus has passed away from us another of that
gallant band who contributed to make our country
" great, glorious, and free:" and whose individual
services, as recorded in O'Byrne's valuable "Naval
Biography," will bear quotation and remembrance :-
" This officer entered the navy, in 1794, as first-class
volunteer on board the Magnaninie, 44, Captain Isaac
Schomberg, stationed in the Irish Channel; joined next
the Minotaur, 74, Captain Lewis; and, on becoming at-
tached to the Vanguard, 74, flag-ship of Sir Horatio
Nelson, bore a part in the victory of the Nile, August 1,
1798. Ac..!onapitn)ing his patron, as midshipman, in
1799, into the Fourdroyant, 80, Captain Sir Edward
Berry, he further witnessed, while at the blockade of
Malta, the capture, on the 18th of February, 1800, of
Le Gartereux, 74, and Ville de Marseilles, store-ship; as
also, on the 31st of March following, after a destructive
conflict of an hour and a half, in which the Foudroyant,
then incompany with the Lion,64,and Penelope, 36, had 8
men killed and 69 (including himself) wounded; of Le
Guillaume Tell, 84, flog ship of Rear-Admiral Dectis.
Mr. Collier, who was likewise present at the first land-
ing in Egypt, subsequently joined the Greyhound and
Egyptienne frigates, both commanded by Cap-
tain Charles Ogle ; and on the 11th of April,
1803, was promote, from the Excellent, 74, bear-
ing the broad pendant in the West Indies of Hon.
Robert Stopford, to a lieutenancy in the Osprey, 18,
Captain George Younghusband. In the following June
he appears to have served on shore at the taking of St.
Lucia and Tobago; after which he took charge, on the
26th of October, of a captured privateer, La Resource,
of 4 guns and 43 men, and on the 23d of March, 1804,
signalised himself by his bravery and activity, as first
of the Osprey, in a gallant action of an hour and twenty
minutes, in which that vessel beat off, with a loss to her-
self of 1 man killed and 16 wounded, the French frigate.
built privateer, L'Egyptienne, of 36 guns and 243 men,
8 of whom were blcu and 19 wounded. While iu com-
mand of a prize belonging to the Osprey, Mr. Collier
also took a privateer of 1 gun and 45 men. Having
further served for a few months on board the Centaur,
74, Commodore Sir Samuel Hood, he obtained command,
25th January, 1805, of the Alligator troop-ship; and
next, 25th October following, and 15th January, 1806, of
the Nimrod and Wolverine sloops, in which latter vessel
he captured, in the course of the same
year, La Tremeuse, national schooner, of 3 guns
and 53 men; and the Guadeloupe, Jeune Gabrielle,
and Marianne privateers, carrying he the whole 10 guns
and 163 men. Assuming the acting command, 9th
Nuvemb4r, 1808, of the Circe, 32, and of a small squad-
ron stationed between the Pearl Rock and the town of
St. Pierre, Martinique, Captain Collier, after silencing,
with the assistance of the hiturk, 18, and Morne For-
turfs gun-brig, the fire of two batteries and of a body
of troops which protected an enemy's schooner, came
into successful contact, on 12th December, with four
other batteries, and perseveringly directed the opera-
tions which terminated in the destruction of Le Cygne
corvette, of 16 guns, and of two schooners, including
the one alluded to. We subsequently find him, in com-
mand of the Star sloop, contributing to-the reduction of
Martinique, in February, 1809, and then confirmed to
post rank by commission dated back to the 13th Decem-
ber, 1808. His next appointment was, 3d September,
1810, to the Cyane, 22, which vessel ho commanded
in the Mediterranean, Channel, and West Indies until
February, 1812, when he became flag-captain to Sir
Francis Laforey, in the Dragon, 74. While in
the Cyane he witnessed the destruction, in
December, 1310, of L'Elise frigate, near Tatihou
Island. From the 10Lh of October, 1812, until the 2d
of August, 1815, Captain Collier afterwards commanded
the Grampus, 50, in the \Vest Indies and China ' • and on
the 11th of February, 1818, he was appointed to the
Liverpool, 50. Being invested, towards the close of
1819 with the conduct of the naval part of an expedition
fitted out for the purpose of crushing the pirates of the
Persian Gulf, he rendered the most ardent and efficient
aid to Major-General Sir William Grant Kier, under
whom were 3,000 troops, and fairly succeeded in the
object of their joint mission-Rat-al-Khyma, the head-
quarters of the freebooters, being taken, their fortifi-
cations destroyed, and all their vessels burnt or sunk.
Captain Collier arrived home in October, 1822, and
afterwards joined, 4th of December, 1826, the Sybille,
48, as commodore on the coast of Africa; whence he
returned early in 1830; and, for a few tuunthsi n 1832,
the Vernon, 50, employed 3n particular service. On
the 17th of December, 1841, he was nominated captain
of the William and Mary yacht, and superintendent of
Woolwich Dockyard-appointments which he continued
to hold until nominated commodore; and counuander-in•
chief the 30th of April, 1846, of the Channel squadron
with his broad pendant in the St. Vincent, 120. its
promotion to flag rank took place on the 9th of November
in the latter year.
" Sir Charles Collier was created a C. B. the Bth De-
cember, 1815 ; knighted the 28th July, 1830 ; made a
the Ist of January, 1833 ; and appointed in
1837, a naval aide-de-camp to the Queen, having pre-
viously officiated in a similar capacity at the funeral of
William IV. Ile was also a Knight of the Persian
Order of the Lion and the Sun. Havieg lost his first
wife, he married a second time, the 14th March, 1831,
Catherine, daughter of Thomus Thistlethwaite, Esq., of
Southwick Park, Haute, by whom he had issue. His
eldest daughter, by his first marriage, Julia Augusta,
married the 30th of Juue, 1835, F. P. B. Martin, Esq.,
only son of the late Colonel George Martin, of the Hon.
East India Company's service."
Sir Francis was a protege of the immortal Nelson,
was second son of the late distinguished Vice-
Admiral Sir George Collier, and brother of the

--
piEsent Captain H. T. B. Collier. During his who's
career he had served no less than 33 years on full-
pay. He had a bold, frank, brave, and generous
heart, and eminently possessed those " rough-and-
ready " qualities which made him a general
favourite with all classes of the service, with whom
he was more familiarly known as " Frank Collier."
The much-lamented deceased was buried at Vie-
' toria, Hong-Kong, on the 20th October, when every
honour and respect that could be paid to his rank end
name was shown, the funeral having been attended by
the Governor, the naval, military, and civil authori-
ties, and a host of private friends.
Commodore Plumridge is now, for the second time
since he has been on the station, acting Conimander•
in Chief, and will again hoist a red pendant until a
successor to Sir Francis Collier arrives. The gallant
commander was at Madras in October, whither the
Fury, steam sloop, Nk as to be dispatched on her arrival
at Hong-Kong with the mourn! ul intelligence of the
death of the admiral, when it was expected that he
would at once proceed to Hong-Keng.
PROMOTIONS.
The promotions consequent on the death of Sir
Francis Collier, are the following :
Rear-Admiral of the Blue, Manley Hall Dixon,
Commander-in-Chief at Cork, to be Rear •Admiral of
the White.
Captain Fairfax Morerbv, C.B. (1614), to he Rear-
Admiral of the Blue. He paid off the Canopus last
year, after most ably commanding that ship in various
experimental squadrons, one of which he commanded
as senior officer, when the ships were much more
completely tried than on any previous or future
occasion for the last ten years.
The Right Hon. Lord Byron (1814) is now. the
senior captain on the list. Captain Sir Henry Martin
Blackwood, of the Vengeance, 84, in the hlediterra-
nean, becomes included in the senior list ; and Captain
Sir Philip Broke, Bart., succeeds to the half-pay list
of 12s. 6d. per diem.
Another good-service pension has fallen in hand by
the promotion of Rear-Admiral Moresby ; so that
there are now two pensions to give away, one of
which has been in abeyance for some time.