“2.30.—Anchored astern of the Princess Charlotte, and abreast of the Western Castle, and immediately commenced firing, which the enemy returned, but they fired high, and only two shots hulled us, hitting no one.
“At sunset.—Admiral signalled ‘Cease firing,’ up boats, and then piped to supper, and sat down with the two boys to a cold fowl, which we enjoyed much.
“At 9 P.M.—A dish of tea, then gave my night orders and turned in.”
The “two boys” were his two sons, Charles and Henry, who were serving under him.
There is a further account of a difficulty with Commodore Napier, who had a firm belief in his own judgment, which made obedience to orders something of a trial to him. Napier, who was “as usual a law unto himself,” disobeyed the Admiral’s signals, and, when reprimanded, demanded a court-martial, which was refused. The journal then relates that Captain Austen, with two other captains, went on board the Powerful to endeavour to persuade the Commodore to climb down, “but the old Commodore was stubborn, and we returned to our ships.” However, a second visit to the Commodore in the afternoon appears to have been more successful, and “I left hoping the affair would be settled,” which it was. The result of this bombardment was altogether satisfactory, though some of the ships suffered considerably from the Egyptian firing. Charles was awarded a Companionship of the Bath for his share in this campaign.
In 1846 he became Rear-Admiral, and in 1850 was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the East India Station.
He left England in the P. & O. steamer Ripon for Alexandria, and crossed the desert to Suez, as was usual in the overland route. The description of the mode of travelling by vans, and the selection of places therein by lot, has often been made.
REAR-ADMIRAL CHARLES AUSTEN, C.B.
Lord Dalhousie, as Governor-General at Calcutta, had taken steps to protect British traders from the exactions of the Burmese officials at Rangoon by sending a Commission of Inquiry, with power to demand reparation. The Commissioner (Commodore Lambert) decided to treat only with the King of Ava, who consented, in January 1852, to remove the Governor from Rangoon. This action did not, however, prove effectual in settling the grievances, and Commodore Lambert declared the Burmese coast in a state of blockade; his vessel was fired upon, and he retaliated by destroying a stockade on the river-bank, and some Burmese war-boats. Shortly afterwards he received orders to forward to the King a despatch of Lord Dalhousie’s, demanding apology and an indemnity. The same vessel again went up the river with the despatch, and was attacked by the Burmese. The Governor-General thereupon ordered a combined military and naval expedition, which was on the coast by the end of March. This was to be the last of Charles Austen’s many enterprises. He shifted his flag from the Hastings to the steam sloop Rattler at Trincomalee in Ceylon, and proceeded to the mouth of the Rangoon river. On April 3, accompanied by two ships and the necessary troops, he was on his way to Martaban, which they attacked and captured on the 5th. The place was held by 5000 men; but after a bombardment of an hour and a half it was taken by storm with small loss.