​PITTS, K.T.S. (Commander, 1830. f-p., 14; h-p., 25.)

Edward Pitts, born 7 Oct. 1795, is eldest surviving son of John Pitts, Esq., Lieutenant-Colonel and Commandant of the Bridlington Light Infantry and Artillery from the commencement of the French Revolution until the year 1809, by Frances, eighth daughter of Jas. Heblethwayte, Esq., of Bridlington. His eldest brother, Thos. Jas. Heblethwayte Pitts, Captain and commanding officer of the Royal Engineers attached to the 4th division of the army in the Peninsula under Sir Lowry Cole, was killed in Feb. 1814; and his second, Wm. Pitts, was drowned in 1806 off Dungeness in one of the boats of the Pomone frigate, Capt. Robt. Barrie. His maternal uncle, Edw. St. Quintin Heblethwayte, First-Lieutenant of the Arrogant 74, having been mortally wounded in an action fought between that ship and the Victorious 74 on one side and six heavy French frigates under M. Sercey on the other, died and was buried at sea 21 Sept. 1796.

This officer entered the Navy, 4 May, 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Leopard 50, Capt. Jas. Johnstone, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Albemarle Bertie at the Cape of Good Hope; became Midshipman, in Sept. 1810, of the Vengeur 74, Capt. Thos. Brown, lying at Sheerness; and, from 10 Nov. following until Oct. 1815, was employed, again at the Cape and on the West India and Newfoundland stations, in the Galatea 42, Capt. Woodley Losack. While cruizing in the latter ship off Madagascar, in company with the Astrea and Phoebe, frigates about equal in force to the Galatea, and 18-gun brig Racehorse, we find him participating, 20 May, 1811, in a long and trying action with the French 40-gun frigates Rénomée, Clorinde, and Néréide, in which the Galatea, besides being much damaged in her hull, masts, and rigging, sustained a loss of 16 men killed and 46 wounded. He took up, on leaving the Galatea, a commission bearing date 7 March, 1815; and was subsequently appointed – 11 March, 1823, to the Windsor Castle 74, Capts. Chas. Dashwood, Hugh Downman, and Edw. Durnford King, on the Lisbon and Home stations – 15 Nov. 1825, as First, to the Nimrod 18, Capts. Rich. Pridham and Sam. Sparshott, attached to the force on the coast of Ireland, where he remained until that vessel, by the breaking of her anchor, was driven on the rocks in Holyhead Bay 17 Jan. 1827 – 4 Nov. 1828, in a similar capacity, to the Dispatch 18, Capt. Wm. Bohun Bowyer – and, on 10 of the same month, again as First, to the Ariadne 28, Capt. Fred. Marryat, employed on general service. He was advanced to his present rank 22 July, 1830; and has since been on half-pay.

In commemoration of John VI. of Portugal having taken shelter on board the Windsor Castle when off Lisbon in 1824, the order of the Tower and Sword was by that sovereign conferred upon the subject of the present narrative in common with the other officers of the ship. Commander Pitts was left a widower 16 Feb. 1847.

​PLACE. (Lieutenant, 1842.)

Lionel Read Place entered the Navy 31 Oct. 1829; passed his examination 5 July, 1836; served in the East Indies as Mate in the Melville 72, Capt. Hon. Rich. Saunders Dundas; and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 29 March, 1842, in honour of a visit paid by her Majesty to the Queen 110, on the eve of the departure of that ship for the Mediterranean, with the flag of Sir Edw. W. C. R. Owen. His appointments have since been – 5 April, 1842, again to the Queen, in which ship he returned to England under the command of Sir Chas. Sullivan, and was paid off in 1844 – 4 Dec. 1846, to the Amphion steam-frigate, of 300-horse power, Capt. Woodford John Williams, fitting at Devonport – and, 8 Feb. 1847, to the President 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Jas. Rich. Dacres at the Cape of Good Hope, where he is now serving.

PLUMRIDGE. (Captain, 1822. f-p., 28; h-p., 20.)

James Hanway Plumridge entered the Navy, 6 Sept. 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Osprey sloop, Capt. Watts, on the Home station; where, and in the Mediterranean, he served as Midshipman, Master’s Mate, and for a short time as Acting-Lieutenant, in the Leda 38, Capts. Geo. Hope and Robt. Honyman, Defence 74, Capt. G. Hope, Melpomène 38, Capt. Peter Parker, and Theseus 74, Capt. G. Hope, from Dec. 1800 until presented, 20 Aug. 1806, with his first commission. The Leda formed part of the force engaged in the expedition to Egypt in 1801; and the Defence of the victorious fleet at the battle of Trafalgar 21 Oct. 1805. For upwards of seven years after his promotion Mr. Plumridge was employed on the Home, West India, Baltic, Cape of Good Hope, and Mediterranean stations, chiefly as First-Lieutenant, in the Repulse 74, Capt. Hon. Arthur Kaye Legge, Zealous 74, Capts. John Giffard and Pierrepont, Melpomène again, Capt. P. Parker, Tartar 32, Capt. Joseph Baker, Menelaus 38, Capt. Parker, Tonnant 80, Capt. Sir John Gore, Tremendous 74 and Hibernia 120, flag-ships of Sir Wm. Sidney Smith, Resistance 36, Capt. Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew, Royal Sovereign 100, Capt. Thos. Gordon Caulfeild, and Caledonia 120, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Pellew. On 1 May, 1809, we find him commanding the Melpomène’s boats and effecting the destruction, with admirable gallantry, of a Danish cutter-of-war of 6 guns and several merchantmen lying under the protection of a tremendous fire in the harbour of Huilbo, on the coast of Jutland, where the British sustained a loss of 1 Lieutenant, George Rennie, and 5 men severely wounded;^[1] and, not long afterwards, contributing to the Repulse, by the same ship, of a flotilla of 20 gun-boats, whose fire in the course of a vigorous action killed and wounded 34 of her people, besides inflicting considerable damage on her hull, sails, and rigging. In Dec. 1810 he assisted in the Menelaus at the reduction of the Isle of France; on 5 Oct. 1813 he commanded the boats of the Resistance at the destruction of the enemy’s batteries and the capture of a convoy in Port d’Anzo; and, in April, 1814, he officiated as Aide-de-Camp to Sir Edw. Pellew at the reduction of Genoa. He was made Commander, 7 June, 1814, into the Crocus sloop; and on 6 of the following month was appointed to the Philomel 18. Proceeding, in that vessel, to the East Indies, he was there, 29 April, 1816, nominated Acting-Captain of the Amphitrite 38, in which frigate, in Feb. 1817, he returned to England. While commanding next, from 10 Feb. 1818 until 15 March, 1821, the Sappho 18, he visited St. Helena, and made prize, on the Irish station, of three American smugglers, one of which had on board 400 bales of tobacco. His appointments since his promotion to Post-rank, which took place 9 Oct. 1822, have been – 18 July, 1831, to the Magicienne 24, on the East India station, whence he returned in the early part of 1835 – 7 April, 1837, to the Superintendentship (which, with his name on the books of the Astraea 6, he retained until 1841) of the Packet establishment at Falmouth – and, 5 Aug. 1847, to the Cambrian 40, again in the East Indies, where, since 13 Oct. following, he has had a broad pendant flying as second in command.

From 1841 until 1847 Capt. Plumridge sat in Parliament as Member for Falmouth. On 23 June, 1842, he was appointed Storekeeper of the Ordnance; and, on 29 June, 1847, awarded the Good Service Pension. His first wife having died 31 July, 1827, he married, a second time, in 1835, Harriet Agnes, daughter of the Right Hon. H. Elliot, by whom he has issue. He was again left a widower 17 April, 1845. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.

PLUNKETT. (Captain, 1846.)

The Honourable Edward Plunkett, born 29 Nov. 1808, is second son of Lord Dunsany, by his first wife, Charlotte Louisa, youngest daughter of Nicholas, first Lord Cloncurry; and nephew, by marriage, of Capt. Jas. Ryder Burton, R.N. This officer entered the Navy 4 Oct. 1823; served as Midshipman in the boats of the Sybille 48, Capt. Sam. John Brooke Pechell, in a severe encounter with the pirates in the Grecian Archipelago in 1826; passed his examination in 1830; and obtained his first commission 24 Aug. 1834. His succeeding appointments were, 10 Sept. 1834, to the Castor 36, Capts. Lord John Hay and Wm. Robertson, and, 19 Jan. 1837 and 16 July, 1838, to the command of the 10-gun brigs Royalist and Savage. In the three vessels last mentioned he served on the coast of Spain during the civil war from 1835 until promoted to the rank of Commander 1 Aug. 1840. He was subsequently, from 9 Oct. 1843 until June, 1845, employed on particular service in the Stromboli steamer; and, on 9 Nov. 1846, was advanced to his present rank.

Capt. Plunkett, in 1846, published a pamphlet much prized, entitled ‘The Past and Future of the British Navy.’ Agent – Joseph Woodhead.

POAD. (Lieut., 1812. f-p., 23; h-p., 21.)

James Poad was born 11 Jan. 1789 at Devonport. This officer entered the Navy, 14 June, 1803, as Third-cl. Vol., on board the Conqueror 74, Capts. Thos. Louis and Israel Pellew, stationed at first in the Channel and afterwards in the Mediterranean. Removing as Midshipman, in March, 1805, to the Victory 100, bearing the flag of Lord Nelson, he accompanied the hero in his celebrated pursuit of the combined squadrons to the West Indies and back, and fought under him in the action off Cape Trafalgar. From 16 Jan. 1806 until May, 1812, he served on the Mediterranean and Lisbon stations, part of the time in the capacity of Master’s Mate, in the Ocean 98, Ville de Paris 110, and Barfleur 98, flag-ships of Lord Collingwood, Rear-Admiral Thos. Fras. Fremantle, and Hon. Geo. Cranfield Berkeley. He was then nominated Acting- Lieutenant of the Mermaid troop-ship, Capt. David Dunn, on the eve, at the time, of her departure for England; where on his arrival, 12 days afterwards, he had the mortification to be superseded. Being, however, 5 July following, appointed Admiralty Midshipman of the Impétueux 74, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Geo. Martin off Lisbon, he was again, 31 of that month, ordered to assume the rank of Lieutenant, and, with it, the command of No. 7 gun-boat at Cadiz. On 24 Aug. in the same year his promotion received oflicial sanction. He was next, from 14 Dec. 1812, until paid off in Nov. 1814, employed in the Mediterranean on board the Union 98, Capt. Robt. Rolles, and Leviathan and Scipion 74’s, Capts. Patrick Campbell and Henry Heathcote; and was subsequently appointed – in 1829, to the office of Agent for Transports Afloat, in which service he continued until wrecked