William Howe Mulcaster

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir William Howe Mulcaster Kt CB KCH (* 1786 ; † March 2, 1837 in Dover ) was a British naval officer who was used in the coalition wars against France and in the war of 1812 against the USA .

biography

William Howe Mulcaster was the son of a major general in the Royal Engineers and entered the Royal Navy at the age of fifteen . In 1800 he received the rank of lieutenant , distinguished himself in 1806 as Lieutenant of the frigate HMS Minerve (32 cannons) in two risky boat attacks on Spanish privateers and in 1809 was an officer on board the HMS Confiance (20 cannons), which was under the command of James Lucas Yeo played a key role in the conquest of Cayenne . For his role in these successful battles against superior French troops, in which he distinguished himself several times, the Portuguese Prince Regent awarded him a gold-plated sword of honor, and he was also promoted to Commander . In the fall of 1810, Mulcaster was given command of the sloop HMS Emulous (18 cannons) stationed in Halifax ( Canada ). With this he brought down the French privateer L'Addle on August 26, 1811 and took the American privateer Gossamer on July 30, 1812, after the outbreak of war with the USA in 1812 . On August 3rd of this year he lost his ship in a stranding at Sable Island .

Mulcaster turned down an offer to take command of the British flotilla on Lake Erie due to the poor prospects - there was a lack of both sufficient equipment and experienced sailors to manned the ships. In fact, Robert Heriot Barclay , who was appointed in his place, was defeated in the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813 . Instead, Mulcaster received the sloop HMS Royal George , with which he was second in command on Lake Ontario under Yeo. In this capacity he took part in several unsuccessful battles with the American squadron under Isaac Chauncey in 1813 . In particular, he distinguished himself on September 28, 1813 in a battle in Yorke Bay, in which he covered the withdrawal of the disabled flagship HMS Wolfe with the HMS Royal George .

In March 1813, Mulcaster was given command of the still under construction frigate HMS Princess Charlotte , which was followed on December 29, 1813 by promotion to "Post captain" (corresponds to today's sea ​​captain ). Before the ship was completed, Mulcaster led a flotilla of river gunboats that escorted supply convoys on the Saint Lawrence River that fall . Here he met Major General James Wilkinson's army transported by boat , which was to advance across the river to Montréal and, together with another army under Wade Hampton, was to lead a two-pronged attack on Lower Canada . Mulcaster carried out disruptive attacks on the Americans, alerted the British High Command in Kingston, and with a small flotilla of gunboats and armed schooners brought up a small army under Colonel Joseph Wanton Morrison . Mulcaster and Morrison molested the Americans in such a way that they let themselves be carried away into a hasty and poorly executed attack on the British on November 11th, suffered a heavy defeat in the battle of Chrysler's Farm and then broke off their invasion.

Shortly after his ship was launched, on May 5, 1814, Mulcaster was involved in the successful amphibious assault on the American fortress Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario. He led a landing command of 200 sailors against the American positions, but was seriously wounded by a grape shot and lost a leg. This ended his active career, but he received a pension of £ 300 and was named Companion of the Order of the Bath .

In 1831 he was promoted to the nobility as a Knight Bachelor , awarded the command of the Guelph Order and received the position of Adjutant to King William IV.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 2, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 330.
  2. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 457.
personal data
SURNAME Mulcaster, William Howe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British naval officer
DATE OF BIRTH 1786
DATE OF DEATH March 2, 1837
Place of death Dover