Paul Henry Ourry

Posted by Cy on Sunday 15th of September 2019 09:24

Actually Postboy is in Winfield, in the Miscellaneous Hired Vessels section, as a snow or cutter, hired 5.1746 and captured by the French 21.10.1746.
As such she is also on Three Decks. Lt. Ourry is not listed as a commander as I have no comission or other 'official' documentation to confirm the appointment. Probably have to look at the muster books of the Salisbury (50) of which he was 1st Lt. from 23.1.1745/46 to 12.1748.

Posted by Albert Parker on Sunday 15th of September 2019 01:32

Lt. Ourry commanded a mysterious vessel involved in the Lorient Expedition,Sept.-Oct. 1746, named _Post Boy_. This must have been a hired or purchased cutter; she is not in Winfield or the list in Lyon (_Sailing Navy List_) of "unregistered" hired or purchased vessels. The name had been used for navy vessels in the 17th century, but there's no record of it thereafter. _Post Boy_ was used for inshore work and message carrying. It is interesting that she was sent to Guernsey to try to find pilots familiar with the French Biscay coast (esp. Lorient and Quiberon Bay where Adm. Richard Lestock's squadron was operating without charts) since Lt. Ourry was a Channel Islander. He might have thought that he had, or Lestock might have hoped that he had, local connections that would convince islanders familiar with the French coast to assist the squadron.
[Source: P. Diverrès, “L’Attaque de Lorient par les anglais (1746), _Mémoires de la Société d’histoire et d’archéologie de Bretagne_, 12: (1931), 76, for mission to Guernsey; M.E.S. Laws, "The Royal Artillery in the Expedition Against l'Orient, 1746," _Journal of the Royal Artillery, 78:4 (Oct. 1951), 266–80, for mentions of other missions by _Post Boy_.]