Come and ask, answer or inform.
Posted by Gwyneth Wilkie on Saturday 22nd of August 2020 14:06
Samuel Cable was born in Portsea but by 1774 was a surgeon apothecary in Blackburn. On 3 Sept 1778 he passed the Royal College of Surgeons diploma exam. He was called as a witness at the court-martial in December 1783 of Captain Evelyn Sutton of the Isis following the Battle of Porto Praya on 16 April 1781. He stated that he had spent 11 years at sea and had been 3 years surgeon's apprentice and surgeon, but appeared as a deck officer. He stated he had served under Capts Joseph and Anthony Hunt and in 1784 was said to be 'late of the Jupiter'. By 1793 he was an officer of the Impress Service in the Isle of Man. After Lieutenant Richard Harrison, commander of the Spider impressed 40 Manx fishermen off Port Erin in September 1798 there was an outpouring of rage on the island against the hated pressgangs. Captain Cable was threatened with being tarred and feathered and was perturbed enough to write to Evan Nepean, then Under Secretary of State for the Home Department, asking for a transfer to any other part of Great Britain. He didn't get a transfer and was buried at St George's, Douglas, on 30 June 1804, aged about 55. He was twice married and had one daughter, Sarah.