The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-03 00:00:00

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illy ~ -- -

April, 1795, of the French corvette Le Jean Bart, and4o
seen frigates La Gloire and La Gentile ; took part, June
23 following, in Lord Bridport's aistion sin& the French
fleet off Ile de Groix, and was present, in nril, V 97 in the
mutiny at Spithead. He served subsequently off the port
of Cadiz; and in the couse of the year la,t mentioned and
of 1799 cud 1:.00 he joined the Cerfaerus, 32, Capts. John
Drew and Jas. Macnamara, Cambrian, 40, Capt. Hon.
Arthur Kaye Legge, and Endymion, 40, Capt. Philip
Chas. Durham. In those ships he cruized with great
activity on tbo western and Iris!' stations, in the Chan-
' e'. and Bay of Biscay, and on the coast of Spain. In the
Cerberns he ecntributed to the capture, among other ves-
sels, cf L'Epervier, of 16 guns and 141 men, and Le
Renard, of 18 guns and 189 men ; and on Oct. 20, 1793,
he participated in a very gallant action fought near Cape
Ortegal between that ship and Live Spanish frigates, one of
whom was completely beaten. The enemy on this occasion
had a merchant fleet of 80 sail under their convoy, pro-
tected also by two brig-corvettes. 'ln the Cambrian Mr.
Symonds accompsnied the expoditiou sent under Sir E.
Pellew and Maj. r-General Mait!a id to co-operate with the
French Royalists and Chouans in Quiberon Bay and the
Morbil an. Attaining. the rank of lieu+ enant Oct. 14, la? 01,
be was appoibted in that capacity-June 21, 1802, to the
Belleisle, 74, ecployed in the blockade of Toulon and in
chasing the French fleet-March 13, 1834, to the Royal
Sovei. igu, 100, stationed in the Mediterranean, under the
flag of Sir R. Bickerton, and for some time off Corwilia-
;-ept. 9, I'os, to the Inconstant, 36, Capt. E. S. Dickson,
ing at Portsmouth-Jan. 13, 18 ,6, as senior to the Szor-
ph 18, Captains Philip Carteret and Fras. Stanfell-
March 9, 1808, to the command of the Violet, lugger, on
the Guernsey station-Nov. 22 following, again as senior
to the Brilliant, 23, Capt. Thos. Smith, on the coast of
Brazil, whence he returned to England and was paid off in
Oct., 1.409- April 1, 1811, to the San Domino, 74, flag-
ship of Sir R. Strachan, off Flushing-Nov. 2 in the same
year, to the Pique, 36, Capt. Hon. A. Maitland, under
whom ho served as first lieutenant in the Channel, off
Lisbon, and iu the West Indies, until Jan. 1816, and as-
sisted in making several captures-and Jan. 1, 1855, is
the capacity last mentioned, to the Royal George, y(cht,
Captains Hon. Thos. Bladen Capel and Sir Michael Sey-
mour. In the summer of Iso6, Mr. Symonds, then in the
Scorpion, was actively engaged iu the West Indies in
watching the movements of the celebrated French squa-
dron, under Rear-Admiral Willautnez, in which Jerome
Bonaparte had embarked. He aided in the same vessel at
the destruction of several forts on the Spanish main ; and
was in her at the capture, near Scilly, of several famous
privateers, includina. La Favorite, of 14 guns and 70 men,
Le Bourgainville, of guns and 93 men (taken after a lung
chase and a running fight of 45 minutes), La Glaneuse, of
16 guns and 80 men, and Le Gleneur, of 10 guns aid 60
men. From 1819 until appointed, as above, to the it•yal
George, Lieutenant Symonds filled the situation of magis-
trate and inteudent of the police, and captain of the ports,
at Malta ; and on Oct. 4, 1825, he was promoted to the
rink of commander. About this period he was allowed,
n o'er, we are told, a very unusual and restrictive pen,lty,
to construct a corvette, the Cowin Woe. To her he was
appoint. (1 Dec. 4, 1826 ; and so great was the success which
attended him in the different experimental cruiaes he made
during the twit twelve months, that he was advanced, as a
reward, to post-rank by a commi,,.iiin bearing date Dec. 5,
1827. At the commencement of 1831 Captain Symonds was
enabled, through the munificence ..f the Duke of Portlan 1,
to build, as an improvement upon the Columbine, the 10-
gun brig Pantaloon; the triumph of which vessel led to the
construction, under his superintendence, cf the Vernon,
50; Vestal, 25 ; Snake, 16, and others. On June 9, 1812, he
was offered and accepted the appointment of Surveyor of
the Navy, which he continued to fill until 1817. It is here
worthy of remark that out of 180 vessels of different kinds
built during that period (all of them upon the principle of
the Pantaloon) nut one has yet foundered. In June, 1836,
Captain Symonds received a very flattering letter from
Mr. Tufuell, private secretary to the Earl of Minto, then
First Lord of the Admiralty, enclosing an extract from
one addressed to his lordship by Sir Herbert Taylor, of
which the following is a copy :-'His Majesty has ordered
me to state to your lordship that, considering the situation
wl-ich Captain Symonds holds, the able manner in which
he fills it, and the necessity of upholding him in it, his
Majesty conceives your lordship will concur with him in
the propriety of conferring upon him the honour of knight-
hood, which was given to his predecessor; and his Majesty
wishes you would desire him to attend his levee on Wed-
nesday next for the purpose of receiving it.' On 15th of
the same month Captain Symonds was accordingly invested
with this mark of Royal favour. We may add that he
received the thanks of the Admiralty in July, 1830, for a
`Memoir containing Sailing Directions for the Adriatic
Sea;' and again, in October, 18'47, for `the valuable qua-
lities of his several ships, and for improvements introduced
by him into the navy.' He was elected a F.R.S., June 4,
1835, and nominated a C.B. on the civil list May 1, 1848."