Charles Austen
Encyclopedia
Rear Admiral
Sir Charles John Austen CB
(1779 – 7 October 1852) was an officer in the Royal Navy
. He served during the French Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars
, and beyond, eventually rising to the rank of rear-admiral
.
also joined the navy and eventually rose to be Admiral of the Fleet
. Their sister was the famous novelist Jane Austen
. Charles joined the Royal Naval Academy
in July 1791, and by September 1794 he had become midshipman aboard . He subsequently served aboard and . While serving aboard the Unicorn Austen assisted in the capture of the 18-gun Dutch brig
Comet, the 44-gun French frigate
Tribune
and the French transport ship Ville de l'Orient.
After transferring to the Endymion he helped in the driving into Hellevoetsluis
of the Dutch ship of the line
Brutus. As a result of the latter action Austen was promoted to lieutenant on 13 December 1797, and appointed to . He was aboard the Scorpion long enough to be present at the capture of the Dutch brig Courier, after which he transferred to . Aboard the Tamar Austen was frequently involved in attacks and engagements with gunboat
s and privateer
s out of Algeciras
. On one occasion he set off in a small boat in a gale with only four other men, and succeeded in boarding and taking possession of the 18-gun Scipio, with 140 men aboard. He kept control of her until the following day. He returned to the Endymion in April 1803. After continued good service he was promoted to commander
by Captain Charles Paget and given command of the sloop
on 10 October 1804.
on 10 May 1810 when he was given command of the 74-gun , which was then the flagship
of Sir John Borlase Warren. Austen moved again the following September, joining . Between November 1811 and September 1814 Austen served as captain of , based at the Nore
and flying the flag of Sir Thomas Williams
. He was then given command of the 36-gun frigate and after the outbreak of hostilities with France
Austen was dispatched in command of a squadron with and to hunt a Neapolitan squadron suspected to be at large in the Adriatic. After Naples had surrendered Austen was active in the blockade of Brindisi
. Lord Exmouth
then sent him on to search of a French squadron, but with the end of the war with France in the intervening period he briefly turned his attention to suppressing piracy in the region. He successfully captured two pirate vessels in the port of Pavos, but disaster struck when the Phoenix was wrecked off Smyrna
on 20 February 1816, through the ignorance of her pilots
.
Austen was appointed to the 46-gun on 2 June 1826, and was sent to the Jamaica
Station as the second in command. He was active in combating the slave trade and had considerable success, intercepting a number of slave ship
s. He commanded the Aurora for two and a half years, until she was paid off in December 1828. Sir Edward Griffith Colpoys
nominated Austen to become his flag captain
aboard on the North American and West Indies Station. Austen remained here until being forced to be invalided home after a severe accident in December 1830. Austen recovered and returned to service, being appointed to HMS Bellerophon
on 14 April 1838. He was awarded a pension on 28 August 1840. He sailed with the Bellerophon to the Mediterranean, and was active at the bombardment of Acre
on 3 November 1840. As a result of his good service during the bombardment he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 18 December 1840. Austen and the Bellerophon returned home, where the latter was paid off in June 1841.
on 14 January 1850, hoisting his flag the following day. He commanded the British expedition during the Second Anglo-Burmese War
but died of cholera
at Prome on 7 October 1852, at the age of 73. On 30 April 1852 Austen had been thanked for his services in Burma by the Governor-General of India
, The Marquess of Dalhousie
, who subsequently also formally recorded his regret for Austen's death.
, in 1807. The two had three children together. After the death of Frances, Charles married his late wife's sister in 1820. The couple produced another two sons, one of whom followed his father into the navy.
Rear Admiral (Royal Navy)
Rear Admiral is a flag officer rank of the British Royal Navy. It is immediately superior to Commodore and is subordinate to Vice Admiral. It is a two-star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-7....
Sir Charles John Austen CB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(1779 – 7 October 1852) was an officer in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. He served during the French Revolutionary
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, and beyond, eventually rising to the rank of rear-admiral
Admiral (United Kingdom)
Admiral is a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, which equates to the NATO rank code OF-9, outranked only by the rank Admiral of the Fleet...
.
Family and early life
Charles was born in 1779 as the sixth and youngest son of the Reverend George Austen. His elder brother, Francis AustenFrancis Austen
Sir Francis William Austen, GCB was a British officer who spent most of his long life on active duty in the Royal Navy, rising to the position of Admiral of the Fleet.-Background:...
also joined the navy and eventually rose to be Admiral of the Fleet
Admiral of the Fleet
An admiral of the fleet is a military naval officer of the highest rank. In many nations the rank is reserved for wartime or ceremonial appointments...
. Their sister was the famous novelist Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
. Charles joined the Royal Naval Academy
Royal Naval Academy
The Royal Naval Academy was established at Portsmouth Dockyard as a facility to train officers for the Royal Navy. The founders' intentions were to provide an alternative means to recruit officers and to provide standardised training, education and admission.-Training:In 1773, a shore side...
in July 1791, and by September 1794 he had become midshipman aboard . He subsequently served aboard and . While serving aboard the Unicorn Austen assisted in the capture of the 18-gun Dutch brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
Comet, the 44-gun French frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
Tribune
HMS Tribune (1796)
HMS Tribune was a Royal Navy 36-gun fifth rate. This frigate was originally a French ship captured and commissioned into service in the Navy. She only served for a year before being wrecked off of Herring Cove, Nova Scotia with the loss of all but 12 of her crew.-Capture:Tribune was originally the...
and the French transport ship Ville de l'Orient.
After transferring to the Endymion he helped in the driving into Hellevoetsluis
Hellevoetsluis
Hellevoetsluis is a small city and municipality on Voorne-Putten Island in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland...
of the Dutch ship of the line
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
Brutus. As a result of the latter action Austen was promoted to lieutenant on 13 December 1797, and appointed to . He was aboard the Scorpion long enough to be present at the capture of the Dutch brig Courier, after which he transferred to . Aboard the Tamar Austen was frequently involved in attacks and engagements with gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
s and privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s out of Algeciras
Algeciras
Algeciras is a port city in the south of Spain, and is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar . Port of Algeciras is one of the largest ports in Europe and in the world in three categories: container,...
. On one occasion he set off in a small boat in a gale with only four other men, and succeeded in boarding and taking possession of the 18-gun Scipio, with 140 men aboard. He kept control of her until the following day. He returned to the Endymion in April 1803. After continued good service he was promoted to commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
by Captain Charles Paget and given command of the sloop
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
on 10 October 1804.
Command
Austen spent the next five years serving on the North American Station, before his promotion to captainCaptain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...
on 10 May 1810 when he was given command of the 74-gun , which was then the flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of Sir John Borlase Warren. Austen moved again the following September, joining . Between November 1811 and September 1814 Austen served as captain of , based at the Nore
Nore
The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Thames Estuary, England. It marks the point where the River Thames meets the North Sea, roughly halfway between Havengore Creek in Essex and Warden Point in Kent....
and flying the flag of Sir Thomas Williams
Thomas Williams (Royal Navy officer)
Admiral Sir Thomas Williams GCB was a senior British Royal Navy officer of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, who served in numerous theatres during the American Revolutionary War, French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars...
. He was then given command of the 36-gun frigate and after the outbreak of hostilities with France
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
Austen was dispatched in command of a squadron with and to hunt a Neapolitan squadron suspected to be at large in the Adriatic. After Naples had surrendered Austen was active in the blockade of Brindisi
Brindisi
Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...
. Lord Exmouth
Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary, and the Napoleonic Wars...
then sent him on to search of a French squadron, but with the end of the war with France in the intervening period he briefly turned his attention to suppressing piracy in the region. He successfully captured two pirate vessels in the port of Pavos, but disaster struck when the Phoenix was wrecked off Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
on 20 February 1816, through the ignorance of her pilots
Maritime pilot
A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbours or river mouths. With the exception of the Panama Canal, the pilot is only an advisor, as the captain remains in legal, overriding command of the vessel....
.
Austen was appointed to the 46-gun on 2 June 1826, and was sent to the Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
Station as the second in command. He was active in combating the slave trade and had considerable success, intercepting a number of slave ship
Slave ship
Slave ships were large cargo ships specially converted for the purpose of transporting slaves, especially newly purchased African slaves to Americas....
s. He commanded the Aurora for two and a half years, until she was paid off in December 1828. Sir Edward Griffith Colpoys
Edward Griffith Colpoys
Vice Admiral Sir Edward Griffith Colpoys KCB was a senior officer of the British Royal Navy during the early nineteenth century...
nominated Austen to become his flag captain
Flag captain
In the Royal Navy, a flag captain was the captain of an admiral's flagship. During the 18th and 19th centuries, this ship might also have a "captain of the fleet", who would be ranked between the admiral and the "flag captain" as the ship's "First Captain", with the "flag captain" as the ship's...
aboard on the North American and West Indies Station. Austen remained here until being forced to be invalided home after a severe accident in December 1830. Austen recovered and returned to service, being appointed to HMS Bellerophon
HMS Waterloo (1818)
HMS Waterloo was an 80-gun third rate ship of the line, launched on 16 October 1818 at Portsmouth. She was designed by Henry Peake, and was the only ship built to her draught. She had originally been ordered as HMS Talavera, but was renamed on the stocks after the Battle of Waterloo.In 1824...
on 14 April 1838. He was awarded a pension on 28 August 1840. He sailed with the Bellerophon to the Mediterranean, and was active at the bombardment of Acre
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
on 3 November 1840. As a result of his good service during the bombardment he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 18 December 1840. Austen and the Bellerophon returned home, where the latter was paid off in June 1841.
Flag rank and death
Austen was advanced to rear-admiral on 9 November 1846, and was appointed commander-in-chief in the East Indies and China StationEast Indies and China Station
The East Indies and China Station was a formation of the British Royal Navy from 1831 to 1865.-History:The Station was formed in 1831; it ceased to exist when it was separated into the East Indies Station and the China Station in 1865. Its area covered the Indian Ocean and the coasts of China and...
on 14 January 1850, hoisting his flag the following day. He commanded the British expedition during the Second Anglo-Burmese War
Second Anglo-Burmese War
The Second Anglo-Burmese War was the second of the three wars fought between the Burmese and the British Empire during the 19th century, with the outcome of the gradual extinction of Burmese sovereignty and independence....
but died of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
at Prome on 7 October 1852, at the age of 73. On 30 April 1852 Austen had been thanked for his services in Burma by the Governor-General of India
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...
, The Marquess of Dalhousie
James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie
James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie KT, PC was a Scottish statesman, and a colonial administrator in British India....
, who subsequently also formally recorded his regret for Austen's death.
Family and issue
Austen married Frances Palmer, the youngest daughter of the late Attorney-General of BermudaBermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
, in 1807. The two had three children together. After the death of Frances, Charles married his late wife's sister in 1820. The couple produced another two sons, one of whom followed his father into the navy.