Woodley Losack

Captain Woodley Francis Losack (5 October 1769 – 30 May 1838) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He participated in the Battle of Tamatave as captain of .

Family background

He was the youngest of the eight children of Richard (James) Hawkshaw Losack and Christiana Losack (née Maclure). Woodley Losack was born on 5 October 1769 in Basseterre, Saint Kitts. His father Richard was appointed the Lieutenant Governor of the Leeward Islands. His brother George Losack preceded him into the Royal Navy and rose to the rank of admiral.

Early naval career

As a lieutenant, Losack served on , the flagship of Admiral William Cornwallis, and participated in the enterprise to cut out la Chevrette, a French corvette, of 20 nine-pounders and 350 men, from under the batteries in Camaret Bay, near Brest, on the night of 21 July 1801. Lieutenant Losack and Lieutenant Keith Maxwell were promoted to the rank of commander for their services in this enterprise.

In 1801, he was appointed captain and held the temporary command of the 36-gun fifth rate in the spring of 1801.

Battle of Tamatave

From 7 September 1810 to July 1814, he was Captain of the fifth rate . On 20 May 1811, he took part in the Battle of Tamatave between a squadron, under the command of Captain Charles Marsh Schomberg, which comprised three English frigates (HMS Galatea, and ), and the brig-sloop , and three French vessels of superior force (Renommée, Clorinde and Néréide).

The action marked the end of the final French attempt to operate in the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic Wars. The surviving participants in the battle qualified for the Naval General Service Medal, which was awarded in 1847 with clasp "Off Tamatave 20 May 1811".

There were recriminations among the British squadron, Schomberg praising Astraea and Phoebe but omitting Racehorse and Galatea from the recommendations in his post-battle report. Captain Losack was particularly offended as Schomberg had implied that Galatea s distress signal that was flown during the battle was an overreaction in the face of the enemy, despite her casualties being greater than the rest of the squadron combined. #tag:ref|Lieutenant Hugh Peregrine of the Royal Marines and 15 men were either killed or mortally wounded; Captain Losack, Lieutenant Thomas Bevis, Lieutenant Henry Lewis, midshipmen Henry Williams and Alexander Henning, 21 men and three boys were all wounded.