Donat O'Brien

Rear-Admiral Donat Henchy O'Brien (March 178513 May 1857) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He was the son of a 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 acting lieutenant and served as a master's mate on the frigate 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 escaped in 1808 and reached 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. 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. O'Brien joined the Royal Navy as an ordinary seaman on 16 December 1796, and served as a midshipman. He served on the Home Station on the 64-gun ship-of-the-line Overyssel (a vessel captured from the Dutch) under the command of Captain John Bazely, and later Captain John Young. O'Brien 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 (Tremiti Islands) and Vasto, Italy. In November he commanded boats from Bacchante, Eagle and Achille which landed at Fesano (Fažana), Istria, and, despite a garrison of 300 soldiers, captured a large quantity of oak timber owned by the French government. On 6 January 1813 O'Brien captured three gunboats near Otranto in Southern Italy, with no British casualties. this, alongside those published by O'Brien's shipmate Ashworth and by Edward Boys, served as the basis for Frederick Marryat's 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.