(Q23990257)

Sir Robert Mends entered the Navy 1 Jan. 1779, on board the Culloden 74, in which ship he assisted at the defeat of Don Juan de Langara 16 Jan. 1780. he was afterwards, 16 March, 1781, present in the Guadaloupe in the action between Admiral Arbuthnot and M. Destouches; and, from the following April until taken prisoner with Lord Cornwallis and his army, was employed on shore with a detachment of seamen throughout all the operations of the campaign in Virginia. On the last-mentioned occasion his right arm was shot off by a cannon-ball, and his left knee slightly wounded by a shell. He had the further misfortune, while sharing, in the Conqueror, in the glories of 9 and 12 April, 1783, to receive a splinter-wound in the head, and to sustain a fracture of the right jaw. In 1789, at the especial command of George III., Mr. Mends was presented with a Lieutenant’s commission. After witnessing the evacuation of Toulon, and being severely burnt and bruised in the Colossus in Lord Bridport’s action, he was promoted, in 1796, to the command of the Diligence sloop of 16 guns; and on 2 May, 1800, having previously effected the capture of La Nativetas Spanish ship of 500 tons, 16 guns, and 50 men, he was advanced to Post-rank. During the remainder of the French revolutionary war he had command of the Abergavenny 54, Thunderer 74, Quebec 32, and Néréide 36. In 1805 he was placed over the Malahide district of Sea Fencibles in Ireland; and in 1808, as a reward for the manner in which he .. (English)

published in

A Naval Biographical Dictionary

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