View source for Donat Henchy O'Brien

{{short description|18th and 19th-century Royal Navy officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Donat Henchy O'Brien
|birth_date={{birth date|1785|03||df=y}}
|death_date={{death date and age|1857|05|13|1785|03|df=y}}
|image=File:Donat Henchy O'Brien.jpg
|caption=Donat Henchy O'Brien, portrait from his memoirs
|nickname=
|birth_place=Ireland
|death_place= [[Hoddesdon]], Hertfordshire
|allegiance= {{UK}}
|branch= [[Image:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg|23px]] [[Royal Navy]]
|serviceyears=1796–1857
|rank=[[Rear Admiral (Royal Navy)|Rear-Admiral]]
|unit=
|commands= [[HMS Slaney|HMS ''Slaney'']] (1818-1821)
|battles=
* [[French Revolutionary Wars]]
** [[Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland]]
* [[Napoleonic Wars]]
** [[Battle of Lissa (1811)|Battle of Lissa]]
|awards=
|relations=
|laterwork=
|signature        = File:Donat Henchy O'Brien signature.png
}}
Rear-Admiral '''Donat Henchy O'Brien''' (March 1785 - 13 May 1857) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He was the son of an Royal Navy captain who claimed descent from an Ancient Irish king.  O'Brien served as a [[midshipman]] during the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] and commanded a troop-carrying vessel during the [[Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland]].  He was afterwards appointed an acting [[Lieutenant (navy)|lieutenant]] and served as a [[master's mate]] on the frigate [[HMS Hussar (1799)|''Hussar'']].  While returning to England in 1804 the ship was wrecked on the [[Île de Sein]] and O'Brien and other crew were captured by the French.  O'Brien was imprisoned in France but managed to escape in 1808 and reach a British vessel at [[Trieste]].  He later wrote a book about his experiences.

O'Brien was afterwards promoted to lieutenant and served with the [[Mediterranean Fleet]] during the [[Napoleonic Wars]].  He distinguished himself in a number of boat actions, capturing numerous warships and cargo vessels.  In 1818 O'Brien was posted to the [[South America Station]] and served there during the early part of the [[Argentine Civil Wars]], protecting the interests of British residents.  In 1821 he returned to England. O'Brien never served at sea again but was promoted to rear-admiral in the reserve in 1852.

== Early life and career ==
Donat Henchy O'Brien was born in March 1785 in Ireland.  He was the second son of Michael O'Brien of [[Ennistymon]], County Clare, a Royal Navy captain who claimed descent from an ancient Irish king and Hannah Henchy of Feenagh, County Clare.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB|id=20450|title=O'Brien, Donat Henchy|last1= Laughton|first1=J.K.|last2=Lambert|first2=Andrew}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Bernard |last2=Fox-Davies |first2=Arthur Charles |title=A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland |publisher=Dalcassian Publishing Company |page=309 |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=diHHDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>   O'Brien joined the [[Royal Navy]] as an [[ordinary seaman]] on 16 December 1796, and served as a [[midshipman]].<ref name=naval>{{cite web |title=O'Brien, Donat Henchy |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Naval_Biographical_Dictionary/O%27Brien,_Donat_Henchy |website=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |publisher=WikiSource |accessdate=9 November 2020}}</ref>  He served on the [[Home Station]] on the 64-gun ship-of-the-line [[HMS Overyssel|''Overyssel'']] (a vessel captured from the Dutch) under the command of  Captain [[John Bazely]], and later Captain John Young.<ref name=naval/><ref name=odnb/>  O'Brien, despite his lack of experience, was placed in command of one of the ship's boats.<ref name=odnb/>  During the 1799 [[Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland]] he commanded a flat-bottomed boat carrying troops ashore.<ref name=naval/>  He afterwards was given command of a [[Hoy (boat)|hoy]] which, heavily ballasted with stone, it was intended to sink at the entrance of the harbour in Goeree ([[Goeree-Overflakkee]]) to block in three Dutch ships-of-the-line.<ref name=odnb/>  A sudden squall caused the hoy to sink and O'Brien and his crew were rescued, after some difficulty, by a boat from [[HMS Lion (1794)|HMS ''Lion'']].<ref name=naval/>

== Capture and escape ==
In January 1800 O'Brien was appointed acting lieutenant of the 16-gun brig-sloop [[HMS Atalante (1797)|''Atalante'']], commanded by Captain [[Anselm John Griffiths]]. As the ''Atalante'' was short-handed, lacking a lieutenant, master, boatswain and Gunner, O'Brien remained on board for three months, harassing Dutch shipping off the Flemish banks, Dunkirk and Gravelines.<ref name=naval/>  O'Brien afterwards returned to the ''Overyssel'' and from December 1801 was employed for two periods on board the 54-gun ship-of-the-line [[Dutch ship Beschermer (1784)|''Beschermer'']] as masters mate.  He passed the lieutenants exam and was appointed masters mate of the frigate [[HMS Hussar (1799)|''Hussar'']].  The ''Hussar'' was returning to England with dispatches from [[Ferrol, Spain]] on 8 February 1804 when she grounded on the [[Île de Sein]].  The crew were captured by the French and taken into captivity.<ref name=odnb/>

O'Brien was imprisoned at [[Verdun]] and, from 1807, made attempts to escape, though his first two attempts were thwarted by poor weather and hunger.<ref name=odnb/>  His third attempt was made in conjunction with [[Maurice Hewson]] and fellow ''Hussar'' junior officer [[Henry Ashworth (naval officer)|Henry Ashworth]] from the citadel at [[Bitche]]  on 14 September 1808.  The men succeeded in reaching [[Trieste]] by November and were picked up by a boat from the British frigate [[HMS Amphion (1798)|''Amphion'']].<ref name=odnb/><ref name=naval/>  While onboard ''Amphion'' O'Brien participated in attacks on two enemy vessels, during which he was wounded in the right arm.  He returned to Malta on HM Brig ''Spider'' to join the second-rate ship-of-the line [[HMS Ocean (1805)|''Ocean'']].<ref name=naval/>

== Mediterranean ==
''Ocean'' was the flagship of [[Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood|Admiral Collingwood]] who promoted O'Brien to lieutenant on 29 March 1809 and appointed him to the third-rate ship-of-the-line [[HMS Warrior (1781)|''Warrior'']] under Captain [[John William Spranger]].<ref name=naval/><ref name=odnb/>  O'Brien served on the ''Warrior'' during operations associated with the [[United_States_of_the_Ionian_Islands#History|capture of the Ionian Islands]].<ref name=odnb/>  He returned to the ''Amphion'', under Captain [[William Hoste]], in March 1810.<ref name=odnb/>  On 29 June O'Brien commanded the boats of ''Amphion'' and [[HMS Cerberus (1794)|''Cerberus'']] to provide cover to a landing of sailors and marines at Grao ([[Grado, Friuli-Venezia Giulia|Grado]]), Italy which defeated a French force and captured a large quantity of naval stores bound for Venice.<ref name=naval/>  O'Brien served as second lieutenant on the ''Amphion'' during the 13 March 1811 [[Battle of Lissa (1811)|Battle of Lissa]], a significant victory for Hoste against a Franco-Italian force.<ref name=odnb/><ref name=naval/>  O'Brien returned to Malta in command of one of the prizes, the frigate ''[[Italian ship Bellona|Bellona]]''.<ref name=naval/>

Hoste brought O'Brien with him when he assumed command of the newly-built 38-gun fifth-rate ship-of-the-line [[HMS Bacchante (1811)|''Bacchante'']].  O'Brien distinguished himself onboard this vessel and in command of its boats.<ref name=odnb/>  This included on the night of 31 August/1 September 1712 when he attacked French and Venetian vessels in Lema Bay (between [[Vrsar]] and [[Rovinj]] in [[Istria]]).<ref name=naval/><ref name=medal>{{cite book |last1=Tancred |first1=George |title=Historical Record of Medals and Honorary Distinctions Conferred on the British Navy, Army & Auxiliary Forces: From the Earliest Period |date=1891 |publisher=Spink & Son |location=London |page=182 |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LPnEAicWqLkC |language=en}}</ref>  O'Brien [[cutting out|cut out]] seven cargo ships carrying shipbuilding timber to Venice and captured the French [[xebec]] ''La Tisiphone'' and two gunboats, with no British loss of life.  On 18 September, commanding six boats and 72 men, he captured eight enemy war vessels and a convoy of 18 cargo ships that ''Bacchante'' chased onto the coastline between Tremiti ([[Isole Tremiti]]) and [[Vasto]], Italy.  In November he commanded boats from ''Bacchante'', [[HMS Eagle (1804)|''Eagle'']] and [[HMS Achille (1798)|''Achille'']] which landed at Fesano ([[Fažana]]), Istria and, despite a garrison of 300 soldiers, captured a large quantity of oak timber owned by the Italian government.  On 6 January 1813 O'Brien captured three gunboats near [[Otranto]] in Southern Italy, with no British casualties.<ref name=naval/><ref name=medal/>

== Later career ==
O'Brien was promoted to commander on 22 January 1813 and left ''Bacchante'' in April, returning to England as a passenger on [[Watkin Owen Pell]]'s [[HMS Thunder (1803)|''Thunder'']].<ref name=naval/>  O'Brien was without a command until 1818 but in 1814 published an account of his shipwreck on ''Hussar'' and his subsequent escape to Trieste.<ref name=odnb/><ref name=naval/>  In 1818, after the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], he was appointed to command the  20-gun [[HMS Slaney|HMS ''Slaney'']].  He served on the [[South America Station]] and, after [[Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet|Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy]] was posted to the west, was senior commander on the Atlantic coast of this station.  O'Brien held this role during the early part of the [[Argentine Civil Wars]], a time when [[Buenos Aires]] was at war with neighbouring provinces.  He was successful in persuading the Buenos Aires government not to proceed with its intention to draft British residents into its army and to appropriate their possessions.<ref name=naval/>  O'Brien was promoted to captain on 5 March 1821 and left South America in October, returning to Britain onboard the frigate [[HMS Owen Glendower (1808)|''Owen Glendower'']].<ref name=odnb/><ref name=naval/>

O'Brien married Hannah Walsley in England on 28 June 1825 and would have seven children together.  In 1839 he published a two-volume memoir; this, alongside those published by O'Brien's shipmate Ashworth and by [[Edward Boys (Royal Navy officer)|Edward Boys]], served as the basis for [[Frederick Marryat]]'s novel [[Peter Simple (novel)|''Peter Simple'']], whose title character was a Royal Navy midshipman.  O'Brien would see no further active service but was promoted to rear-admiral on the reserve list on 8 March 1852.  He died at Yew House, [[Hoddesdon]], Hertfordshire on 13 May 1857 and was commemorated in a memorial window in [[St Augustine's Church, Broxbourne]].<ref name=odnb/>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}