Robert Owen Leach

Robert Owen Leach, a Cadet, Midshipman and Lieutenant in the British Royal Navy wrote three manuscript journals which contain a series of logs detailing his life at sea from 17 February 1846 to 31 March 186. Leach covered his career in the navy consecutively, in Log 1 chronicling his rise from Cadet aboard the large paddle wheel frigate HMS GLADIATOR, moored in or cruising off Oporto, Portugal between March and August 1846 during the Portuguese Wars. Leach's notes also include GLADIATOR's time in the Mediterranean visiting Malta, Leghorne, Genoa, Palermo and Messina.

Leach was born in Wales in 1832. He married Mary Ellen Thornhill Davis in Wales on 12 August 1869. He died at Cheltenham on 21 December 1920.