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for Captain Anselm John Griffiths
Captain Anselm John Griffiths
THIS officer is a son of the late Rev. John Griffiths, of Kingston-upon-Thames. He entered the naval service as a Midshipman on board the Juno frigate, commanded by Captain James Montagu, in Jan. 1781 ; obtained his first commission Nov. 22, 1790 ; and after serving for some time as first Lieutenant of the Fly sloop, on the Newfoundland station, was appointed, in Nov. 1792, to the Culloden of 74 guns, in
which ship he continued, under the respective commands of Captains Sir Thomas Rich, R. R. Burgess, Isaac Schomberg, and Thomas Troubridge, till his promotion to the rank of Commander, March 8, 1797.
The subject of this memoir was promoted, at the period we have already mentioned, for his conduct as first Lieutenant of the Culloden on the above glorious occasion ; and during the ensuing eight months we find him holding an ap-
pointment in the Sea Fencible service, in the Isle of Wight. He obtained the command of the Atalante of 1 6 guns, in Nov. 1798 ; and was posted from that vessel, after cruising with considerable activity against the enemy's privateers, in
the Channel and North Sea, April 29, 1802.
In Sept. following, Captain Griffiths was appointed to the Constance of 24 guns, which ship appears to have been successively employed in the blockade of the Elbe, and as a cruiser on the coast of Portugal, and in the Channel. In July, 1806, he removed into the Topaze frigate, on the Irish station, from whence he proceeded to Davis's Straits, for the protection of the whale fishery, in company with Captain, now Rear- Admiral, Maitland, of the Boadicea. He was subsequently ordered to the Mediterranean, where he left the Topaze and joined the Leonidas frigate in the month of July, 1809 ; a short time previous to which his boats, commanded by Lieutenant Charles Hammond, made an attack on nine of the enemy's vessels lying at anchor in the road of Demata, on the coast of Albania ; and, notwithstanding the opposition of a very superior force, five of them being regularly armed for war, and in complete preparation for resistance, succeeded in bringing them all out, with the loss of only one man killed and another wounded.
Captain Griffiths left the Leonidas, in 1813, and has not since been afloat. He married, June 7, 1802, Miss Parker, of Arundel.
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