Edward Harvey - Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

When the company of Prince of Wales was broken up in 1797, Edward was dispatched to the frigate HMS Beaulieu which was engaged at the Battle of Camperdown soon afterwards. In the battle British ships of all sizes were engaged in stopping a Dutch fleet intended to aid the invasion of Ireland and the battle was fought close inshore so that many of the Dutch ships were wrecked in the aftermath of the action. Beaulieu came through the action largely unscathed however and in the next few years Harvey, as a midshipman, followed his elder brother John into the frigates HMS Southampton and HMS Amphitrite.

In 1801 Harvey was made lieutenant and over the next seven years was constantly engaged in the North Sea and the Mediterranean in a variety of ships. In 1808 he was promoted to commander and took on his first independent command, the sloop HMS Cephalus. In 1811 Harvey was again promoted to post captain and took command of the frigate HMS Topaze on his first commission. The ship paid off in 1812 and Harvey spent the next eighteen years pursuing interests ashore. During this time he married a Miss Cannon from Deal, Kent, with whom he had six children. The eldest was named Henry for his uncle and later became a captain in the Royal Navy.