Richard Lane

Lacking any significant influence, Lane was fortunate to secure the command of the crack new frigate Acasta in 1798, but after a profitable period cruising in the Jamaican station, he died of a tropical disease in the following year.

Born on 6 June 1761, he was a son of John Lane of Bentley Hall in Staffordshire, and of his wife, Sarah Fowler. The Lane family was famous for their support of Charles II during the Civil War a century earlier.

Nothing is known of Lane’s first years in the Navy, but he was commissioned lieutenant on 16 January 1781. During the Spanish Armament in 1790 he was the first lieutenant of the Sandwich 90, Captain Thomas Tonken, the flagship of Rear-Admiral John Dalrymple at the Nore. During his time on the Sandwich, he was involved in the testing and approval of a new device for ‘extracting of Foul Air, and introducing Fresh Air on board His Majesty’s ship’. When the Spanish dispute was resolved, all of the first lieutenants of the flagships were promoted commander: Lane’s commission (to the Serpent 16 for purposes of rank only) was dated 22 November. He was fortunate to obtain active employment in his new rank, joining the Speedy 14 on 22 December. He appears to have commanded her in the customs service until she was paid off in October 1791.

Captain Lane’s final command, HMS Acasta, depicted at the Battle of San Domingo several years after his death.

At the beginning of the French Revolutionary War in February 1793, he was commanding the sloop Martin 16 at Leith, and in March his vessel convoyed a troop convoy to Helvoetsluys in Holland. Seeing further service in the North Sea through the summer, the Martin brought home an Oporto convoy in August, and apparently continued cruising in the Channel for another eight months.

On 24 May 1794 (at the relatively advanced age of 32) Lane was posted captain of the Narcissus 20 for purposes of rank only, but immediately joined the Astrea 32 in place of Captain Lord Henry Paulet. He commanded that vessel at the Battle of Groix on 23 June 1795, but as was customary, his frigate was not involved in the fighting. In early August the Astrea arrived at Plymouth with a number of American vessels that had been detained in Quiberon Bay by the Channel Fleet whilst attempting to deliver provisions to France, and soon afterwards she escorted these ships from Plymouth to London. Undertaking further escort duty, in November the Astrea delivered 54 transports from Newcastle to the Elbe, and in February 1796 she arrived at the Nore from the Elbe with another convoy.

The Astrea went out to Jamaica in March 1796 from Portsmouth, a voyage which was the source of a naval controversy. Vice-Admiral Hon. William Cornwallis had been ordered to take passage aboard her to assume a command in the West Indies, but when he refused to sail on a frigate (as opposed to a larger vessel), the Admiralty told him to strike his flag and face a court-martial. His reluctance may have been an excuse to avoid the unhealthy tropical climate; in any case he got off with a reprimand. The Astrea arrived at Barbados with Rear-Admiral Hugh Cloberry Christian aboard on 31 March, that officer having removed from the Thunderer 74 off the Azores. During the Leeward Islands campaign from April-June, Lane and another captain commanded eight hundred seamen ashore supporting the army in the St. Lucia expedition. By now the seaworthiness of the Astrea was of such concern that she was ordered home; after arriving at Spithead in early July, Lane delivered Rear-Admiral Christian’s dispatches to the Admiralty. At the end of July, the Astrea received orders to attend the royal family in their annual holiday at Weymouth, and she returned to Portsmouth on 22 September.

From November 1796 until January 1797, Lane commanded the Nymphe 36 on a temporary basis for Captain John Cooke, and in February 1797 he attended a levee with the King. In the following month he was appointed to the Acasta 40, which had recently been launched at Deptford. She was the largest frigate ever built in the country to that time, with a main armament of thirty 18-pounder cannons. While his ship was fitting for service, Lane sat on the court martial of the leading Nore mutineer, Richard Parker. Serving initially in the Channel, during September the Acasta arrived at the Nore with a damaged mizzen mast.

On 7 January 1798 the Acasta sailed from Portsmouth with the West Indies convoy, and she proceeded to the Jamaica station, where she enjoyed several profitable cruises. Amongst the vessels she took, burned, or destroyed were the privateers Santa Maria 4 on 1 May, San Antonio 14 on 12 May, the Vengeance 6 on 30 May, the Hirondelle 10 and a consort in the same month, the Trompe 2 on 30 June, the San Josef de Victoria 8 on 2 July, the San Miguel y Acandoa 6 on 13 July, followed in 1799 by the Actif 8 and Cincinnatus 2.

Captain Lane did not live to enjoy the prize money from these captures, since he died (probably from yellow fever) aboard the Acasta on 24 May 1799, aged 37.