George Sayer (Royal Navy Officer)

Rear-Admiral George Sayer CB (1773 – 29 April 1831) was a Royal Navy officer who twice became Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station.

Naval career

Sayer joined the Royal Navy at an early age and first saw action in HMS ''Phoenix'' in the campaign against Tipu Sultan on the Malabar Coast.''The United Service Magazine'', 1831, Part 2
page 222
/ref> Promoted to lieutenant in July 1793, he was serving in during the Frigate action of 29 May 1794 when the Carysfort recaptured the French ship ''Castor''.

His first command was the sloop HMS ''Lacedemonian'' in 1796. He later commanded HMS ''Albacore'', HMS ''Xenophon'', and . In ''Inspector'', Sayer conveyed the Prince of Orange from England to the Continent. Sayer received promotion to post captain on 14 February 1801, but was appointed to his next command, , only in late 1804.

He was given command of HMS ''Galatea'' in July 1805 and on 11 September 1805 shared with , ''Africaine'', , , and the schooner in the proceeds of the capture of the brig ''Hiram''. On 18 August 1806 ''Galatea''s barge, under Lieutenant M'Culloch, captured a schooner several miles up a river near Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. Three days later ''Galatea''s boats, under Lieutenant Walker, captured a small Spanish privateer armed with swivel guns and small arms. Her crew, however, escaped; Walker had her destroyed.

''Galatea''s boats captured the French corvette ''Lynx'' off Les Saintes on 21 January 1807. The boats, manned with five officers, 50 seamen and 20 marines, had to row for eight hours, mainly in the blazing sun, to catch her. During the action Lieutenant William Coombe, who had already lost a leg in a previous action, received a musket ball through the thigh above the previous amputation. The British only succeeded in boarding ''Lynx'' on their third attempt and a desperate struggle occurred on deck as the crew of the ''Lynx'' outnumbered their attackers. The British lost nine men killed and 22 wounded, including Coombe. The French had 14 killed and 20 wounded, including the captain.

Sayer was also present at the capture of the Danish West Indies in December 1807. He returned to Britain in ''Galatea'' in 1809.

He commissioned HMS ''Leda'' in November 1809 and sailed for the East Indies on 9 June 1810. In doing so, he escorted some East Indiamen to Bengal, one of them being ''Earl Spencer''.''The Asiatic Annual Register Or a View of the History of Hindustan and of the Politics, Commerce and Literature of Asia'' (1812), p. 68.

In August 1811 Sayer took part in the Invasion of Java under Sir Robert Stopford. In June 1813 he led a punitive expedition to Borneo to subdue the Sultanate of Sambas.

Following the death of Sir Samuel Hood in December 1814 Sayer became Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station. In June 1815 Sayer was succeeded by Sir George Burlton but in November 1815 Burlton died at Madras and Sayer again became Commander-in-Chief, remaining in that post until November 1816 when Sir Richard King arrived.

Sayer was appointed CB and became a Rear Admiral of the Blue in July 1830. He died, unmarried, at his home in Craven Street in London.

Footnotes

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayer, George
1773 births
1831 deaths
Companions of the Order of the Bath
Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
Royal Navy rear admirals
People from Deal, Kent