Thomas Brodie (Royal Navy officer)

Thomas Charles Brodie was born in 1779. He was the son of William Brodie, a magistrate at the Great Marlborough Street law courts, and the grandson of David Brodie, a Royal Navy officer who fought at the Battle of Porto Bello in 1739 and the Battle of Cartagena in 1741.[1]

Brodie entered the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth in 1791, became a midshipman in 1794 and on 17 February 1798, passed his examination for lieutenant. He served in this capacity, aboard HMS Theseus, at the Battle of the Nile.[1] At the Siege of Acre, Brodie was in charge of one of the small gunboats that swept the French trenches with flanking fire, helping to repel repeated French assaults on the city. Brodie was promoted to the rank of commander on 14 February 1801.[1]

Naval historian Peter Hore claims that, on receiving his promotion, Brodie was given command of HMS Arrow and took her into the Battle of Copenhagen in April. Many earlier sources, including William Laird Clowes[2] and William James,[3] disagree, recording William Bolton as her captain during this period but Hore insists that this is incorrect and the original source of this "mistake", Steel's Original and Correct Navy List (1801), was out of date at the time.[1][lower-alpha 1] According to Hore, Arrow's log and muster book, held at the National Archives at Kew, bear Brodie's signature from 25 February 1801 and other documents indicate that Bolton was on half pay in England throughout April.[1][lower-alpha 2]

At the battle, Arrow was in a squadron of sloops and frigates, under the command of Edward Riou, that attacked the Danish vessels near the harbour mouth.[8][lower-alpha 3] She was the last to get into position and had to run the entire length of Nelson's line, firing between the ships as she went.[1] Unlike Nelson, Riou obeyed Hyde Parker's famous signal, and had his squadron withdraw.[9] Most of his force had been badly mauled by the shore batteries, having been exposed to fire for up to 2 hours but Arrow escaped serious damage, having only just arrived to drop anchor and let off a single salvo.[9][1]

Brodie was made captain in 1802.[1] He spent some time in command of the Sea Fencibles, that operated between Sheep's Head and Dursey Island in County Cork, before commissioning the newly built HMS Hyperion in 1808 for service in the Mediterranean and West Indies.[1] Later that year, on 3 October, she captured Dix Sept Decembre.[10] On 17 January 1810, Hyperion in company with Horatio and the gun-brig Fervent, recaptured the merchant ship, Tom.[11] [12][13]

Brodie was captured and held prisoner while visiting Haiti in 1811. The ship was being resupplied at Gonaives when an English merchant asked for Brodie's protection. Shortly after, the shore batteries unexpectedly fired upon Hyperion's boats. Three people were killed and Brodie and two other officers were taken prisoner. They were released the following day after the first lieutenant had Hyperion beat up a narrow channel and present its broadside to the town.[14]

A few weeks later, Brodie was in Jamaica where, on 14 March, he died from a mystery illness. It was proposed that he had contracted the disease while in captivity on Haiti.[15]

• Clowes, William Laird (1997) [1900]. The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, Volume IV. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-013-2.
• Hore, Peter (2015). Nelson's Band of Brothers: Lives and Memorials. Barnsley.: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781848327795.
• James, William (1827). The Naval History of Great Britain, Volume IV, 1805–1807. London: Richard Bentley.