John Bazely (1767-1828)

A highly regarded officer from a prominent naval family, ill-luck dogged Bazely throughout his life, and he died by his own hand in his 61st year.

John Bazely (junior) was the son of Admiral John Bazely and of his wife, Amelia Waddington. His younger brother was Captain Henry Bazely.

In July 1780 the younger John Bazely entered the Navy, serving as a midshipman (with his brother Henry) aboard his father’s ship HMS Amphion 32 on the North American station. He was commissioned lieutenant on 19 April 1783 but soon ran afoul of the political factions dividing the Navy as a result of the Keppel-Palliser feud. In 1785 Commodore Hon. John Leveson-Gower (a staunch supporter of Keppel) abused Lieutenant John Bazely for having the misfortune to be the son of Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser’s flag-captain (John Bazely senior) at the Battle of Ushant seven years before.

HMS Hind was the sister ship of HMS Carysfort, here depicted.

During the early stages of the French Revolutionary War, Bazely served aboard the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Hood, the Royal George 100, under Captain William Domett. He was her third lieutenant at the Battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794, where the ship suffered a total of about 80 casualties in the battles of May 29 and June 1. At the age of 27 he was promoted commander of the fireship Alecto on 5 July; six weeks later at Dover he married Eliza Biggs of nearby Maxton. This momentous year was capped with his promotion to post captain on 11 November, following which he commissioned the newly launched Prince of Wales 98 for service as a flagship in the Channel Fleet.

In March 1795 the Prince of Wales arrived in the Downs with the flag of Rear-Admiral Henry Harvey to undertake a cruise in the North Sea. Though she was present at the Battle of Groix on 23 June, the ship saw no action and suffered no casualties. At the end of the month, Bazely resigned the command of the Prince of Wales, perhaps because his wife had just died at Hotwells, Bristol, aged only 28.

Towards the end of 1795 he was appointed to the Hind 28, engaged in convoy duty and occasionally cruising in the Channel or the Bay of Biscay. In May 1796, the frigate was at Plymouth when a violent storm drove her from her anchorage towards Mount Batten, but although she was in some distress (observers on the shore urged that her masts be cut away), she managed to ride out the gales. In August she was sent out to Quebec with a convoy, but during the voyage many of her charges parted company in violent weather. Off the Newfoundland Banks the Hind fell in with Rear-Admiral Joseph De Richery’s raiding squadron. After managing to evade capture by the French in a day-long chase, two days later she had to run from two enemy sail of the line, which pursued her unsuccessfully for twelve hours over 120 miles. Returning to England with a convoy, at Christmas, the Hind was forced to put into Cork in southern Ireland. Her convoy had again become separated in rough weather, and she had narrowly avoided the French invasion fleet of Ireland. Shortly afterwards she put to sea in a frigate squadron under the command of Captain Jonathan Falknor of the Diana 38 to find any French ships detached from the invasion fleet, but by now the enemy had sailed for Brest.

In January 1797, not long after joining the Channel Fleet, the Hind captured the Brest brig privateer Favourite 8. Following docking at Sheerness she delivered the Oporto convoy to Portugal, giving passage to Captain Alexander Ball to join his ship, the Alexander 74. During the Spithead mutiny which erupted on 16 April, Bazely attempted to dissuade his men from joining the insurrection by addressing them in what was described as a ‘most impressive manner’. However, the crew were unmoved, being unhappy about punishments resulting from the unjust accusations of petty officers, and concerned about the frigate’s unseaworthiness. Two larger mutinous vessels threatened to fire on the Hind, and Bazely and his officers were told to leave the ship in a peaceable manner to avoid ‘desperate measures being taken’. Once the mutiny ended, at the request of the ship’s company Bazely was replaced – the Admiralty ordered Captain Joseph Larcom to take command of the Hind.

Bazely’s next command was the Overyssel 64, which he joined towards the end of 1797 after Captain John Young had died in mid-November. Serving as the flag-captain to Vice-Admiral Joseph Peyton in the Downs, he had a fractious relationship with his senior, and Peyton departed the ship after just two months. His vessel was briefly active during the expedition to the Netherlands during August-October 1799 and was present at the bloodless capture of the Dutch fleet at the Texel in August. From September his ship flew the flag of Vice-Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge in the Downs, and both the admiral and Captain Bazely remained with the ship through to January 1802, when she was paid off into Ordinary.

In the meantime, on 8 May 1800 at Upper Deal, Kent, he had married again, to Harriet Baker, the sister of Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Baker and Captain John Baker. The couple had four sons, the eldest of whom joined the Navy, whilst another entered the clergy.

Bazely did not see any further active service, but during the Napoleonic Wars (which broke out in 1803) he commanded the sea fencibles from the Ouse to the Humber. He became a rear-admiral on 4 December 1813 and was superannuated (meaning formally retired) in this rank on 9 July 1814. He lived with his family at Dover, the traditional home of the Bazelys, where he had been a Freeman of the town since 1788. Here he had been born and married (twice) and was to be buried with his ancestors and relatives.

On 20 March 1828 in his 61st year Rear-Admiral Bazely took his life by cutting his throat with a razor at the house of a friend in Maidstone. He had become distressed on being subpoenaed to provide evidence against his son, a cleric, in a libel action against another gentleman who had been issuing handbills in Dover. The coroner ascribed his death to a ‘temporary derangement’.

James Anthony Gardner, the memoirist with whom he served, esteemed Bazely as a highly intelligent, educated, enlightened and honourable officer.