t was not until I was sorting through a file of family papers that came from my father’s house that I discovered why I had the middle name of Spear and why the family crest is a bras arme with a raised spear. Lieutenant Spear served under Capt Pellew at the battle of Trafalgar on board the 74 gun Conqueror. His first command was the 80 gun Bucentaure (a war prize ) in which he was wrecked in Cadiz Bay on October 22nd 1805.
Despite this misfortune he was promoted to Commander on December 24th, the same year.
In September 1811 Captain Spear was in command of the 10 gun brig Chanticleer when it was attacked by 3 Danish brigs packing much greater firepower. Heavily outgunned he decided to flee the scene leaving his much slower escort (the gun brig Manly, under the command of Lieutenant Richard Simmonds) to engage the enemy. Captain Spear and the Chanticleer escaped but the Manly was shot to pieces by the 3 Danish brigs and was captured. The crew of Manly consisted of 37 men and 5 boys. Despite an engagement, which lasted 2 hours 25 minutes, loses were limited to 1 dead and 3 wounded. This act of “tactical withdrawal” does not seem to have hampered Captain Spear’s promotion prospects - he obtained Post Captain rank on May 3rd 1813. It is recorded that in 1809 Captain Spear married Anne Maria Walter the daughter of John Walter, naval contractor at North Yarmouth and a descendant of John Blake the persecuted baker of Great Bardfield of whom I have previously written in the Newsletter.