Aaron Tozer (born 1788, died 1854) was a captain in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

Life

Tozer was born in 1788. He entered the Navy in June 1801 on board , with Captain Thomas Baker, on the Irish station. He afterwards served in the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...

and on the home station, and, again with Baker, in , in the

action of 10 August 1805 The action of 10 August 1805 was a minor naval engagement between two frigates of the British Royal Navy, and the French Navy as part of the Napoleonic wars. After an hour of action ''Didon'' surrendered to ''Phoenix''. Background Thomas Bake ...

he was present at the capture of the French frigate , then carrying important despatches from Vice-Admiral

Pierre-Charles Villeneuve Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve (31 December 1763 – 22 April 1806) was a French naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of the French and the Spanish fleets that were defeated by Nelson at the Batt ...

at Ferrol to

Rochefort Rochefort () may refer to: Places France * Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department ** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard * Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department * Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...

. Tozer was dangerously wounded in the shoulder, and, after passing his examination, was specially promoted to be lieutenant on 11 August 1807. After serving in the 74-gun at the reduction of Madeira and in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, he was appointed, in December 1808, to , in which he took part in the

Walcheren expedition The Walcheren Campaign ( ) was an unsuccessful British expedition to the Netherlands in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with France during the War of the Fifth Coalition. Sir John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham ...

in July and August 1809; and afterwards in the Mediterranean, in the defence of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, June to September 1810, during which time he was repeatedly engaged in actions between the boats and the vessels of Murat's flotilla; and on 22 February 1812 at the capture of (see also Sir John Talbot). In February 1813 he was appointed to , and during the following months repeatedly commanded her boats in storming the enemy's batteries or cutting out trading and armed vessels from under their protection. On 18 August 1813 in an attack, in force, on the batteries of

Cassis Cassis (; Occitan: ''Cassís'') is a commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, whose coastline is known in English as the French Riviera, in Southern France. In 2016, it ...

, when the citadel battery was carried by

escalade {{Unreferenced, date=May 2007 Escalade is the act of scaling defensive walls or ramparts with the aid of ladders. Escalade was a prominent feature of sieges in ancient and medieval warfare, and though it is no longer common in modern warfare, ...

and three

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

s and twenty-four merchant vessels were brought out. Tozer was severely wounded by a

canister shot Canister shot is a kind of anti-personnel artillery ammunition. Canister shot has been used since the advent of gunpowder-firing artillery in Western armies. However, canister shot saw particularly frequent use on land and at sea in the various ...

in the groin and by a

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...

shot in the left hand. In consequence of these wounds he was invalided; on 15 July 1814 was promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

, and in December 1815 awarded a pension of £150 a year. From 1818 to 1822 he commanded in the West Indies; in 1829 the yacht . On 14 January 1830 he was promoted to post rank, but had no further employment. He died in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

on 21 February 1854.

Family

In June 1827 he married Mary, eldest daughter of Henry Hutton of Lincoln, and had one son, the Rev.

Henry Fanshawe Tozer The Reverend Henry Fanshawe Tozer, FBA (18 May 1829 – 2 June 1916) was a British writer, teacher, traveller, and geographer. His 1897 ''History of Ancient Geography'' was well-regarded. Biography Tozer was born in Plymouth, Devon, the eldes ...

, fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. DictionaryMarshall's Roy. Nav. Biogr. x. (volume iii. part ii.) 110''Gentlemen's Magazine'' 1854, ii. 77James's Naval HistoryNavy Lists.

References

DNB references

These references are found in the DNB article referred to above.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tozer, Aaron 1788 births 1854 deaths Royal Navy officers Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars