Historical Reminiscing with Robert B.
Hitchings
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Archaic term "handspike used when bringing in the anchor
A Man Named Capt. William Colley
1763-1837How many people in our area of Norfolk travel up and down on Colley Avenue? Does anyone ever wonder why it is called Colley Avenue? It’s sad not many individuals ever pay attention to street names or why they were given certain names? Capt. Colley had a fascinating history and unfortunately the history of his life has been lost to time. As I like to say, “His life has fallen through the cracks.”
The Colley family owned quite a bit of property in the Ghent area during the 1800s. The old Colley family farm house was once located at the corner of Dandruff and Pembroke Avenue. Today it is known as Pembroke Towers apartments with a magnificent view of the waterfront.
For over 100 years this section of Norfolk was called Atlantic City, named after the Atlantic Iron works & Dock Company located on Colley’s land. Former Governor of Virginia, Gilbert Carlton Walker (1833-1885) of New York owned the iron works and the property.
In 1899, old Colley‘s family home was the start of Norfolk Protestant Hospital before moving to Raleigh Avenue. This hospital would be renamed Norfolk General and in 1972 Sentara. Andre Mottu (1866-1929) real-estate broker in Norfolk bought the old Colley Farm House and used it as his homSe until he passed away in 1929.
Many members of the Colley family died during the 1855 Yellow Fever epidemic. This epidemic took away about a fourth of the population of Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia. The family and other members of the Colley Family were buried in the Colley family cemetery which today is where a parking lot for the Sentara Hospital now stands. However, with urban development in the 1960s the Colley family graves were all removed and reinterred in Forrest Lawn cemetery along with their beautiful Victorian obelisk monument.
Captain William Colley, the patriarch of the family had a most interesting career. He was a farmer and had a small shipyard business with his son-in-law, Isaac Talbot (1790-1837) on his property. By trade he was a seaman or mariner and loved the open seas. He learned the ropes at seafaring at an early age, navigating a ship by the stars and instruments of his day. He was a Captain of his ship Jane which he built at his shipyard. When he passed away on April 8, 1837, his unusual sea venture was part of his obituary.
As his obituary read, “Capt. Colley was raised on a Mountain wave. He did not graduate from any school of Navigation, but learned hands on aboard a ship. He was successful and applied himself with greatest skill in navigation.”
In 1807, the Embargo Act of 1807 was put into place. This was a general trade embargo on all foreign nations enacted by the United States Congress. This act affected many states with America ports, especially the Borough of Norfolk for she was a big trading port.
The first decade of the 19th century America shipping grew. Rival nations like England and France targeted American shipping as a means to disrupt the trade of the other nation. The French and English were at war. Both nations accused American merchants and their ships for trading with the “enemy.” Our American ships were seized as contraband and spoils of war. The British Royal Navy had impressed American sailors which lead eventually to the Chesapeake – Leopold affair which later lead to the War of 1812.
The British government had imposed harsh conditions in trade and Americans businesses felt the shackles imposed on their commerce. They were losing money. Some Americans decided to ignore the 1807 Embargo Act. One of these individuals was a William Pennock (1753-1816) a native of Maryland, who began his life as a sailor, ship captain and later merchant here in Norfolk, Virginia.
In 1807, Captain William Colley with his new Ship Jane, was employed by William Pennock to make a voyage to London and later to Denmark. Money could be made on this venture. This was risky business, but according to Capt. Colley’s obituary, “His last voyage was signalhood by an achievement which deserves to be recorded on the same page with the brightest deeds of heroism in our Navy Annals.”
In the year 1807 on his way to London and later to Copenhagen, he and his ship were captured by Danish pirates. But with the assistance of his brave crew, they were able to recover the ship after a desperate struggle. Many of his men were seriously hurt, and Capt. Colley received six severe wounds, on his arms, legs, not to mention the head wounds with a cutlass. Any other man receiving such blows would have been dead. Capt. Colley was thrown down on the deck by an athletic Dane, being beaten a faithful slave seeing that Capt. Colley was in trouble, quickly gave the Dane a most powerful blow to the head with a handspike.
After the defeat of the Danish pirates, Captain Colley and his men recovered from their wounds. However, for over 20 years when Captain Colley would walk around the streets of Norfolk everyone saw his deep, visible, scars on his head, a reminder of this conflict with pirates.
Captain Colley wrote to the Pennock, from his ship Jane the first accounts of the fight with these Danish pirates. His letter later would appeared in the Norfolk & Portsmouth Herald on November 6, 1809, describing this fray.
Gottenburg, Aug. 28 1807
“On Saturday morning, 19th inst. At 8 o’clock I was lying too about 3 miles from the Wingen Beacon for a pilot, when I discovered a small boat coming towards me under Swedish colors, which I took for a pilot; when she got along side, she proved to be a Danish privateer with fourteen armed men. They took procession of us and made the best on their way for Alburg, in Jutland, the wind being ahead, at 9. P., we got under the island of Lacessor, when they sent the privateer’s boat on shore with the log book and 5 men, we were then in 5 fathoms water just going to let go the anchor, when myself and the crew rose and took the ship from them. The contest was severe and bloody. For about 5 minutes, we killed two men and hove them overboard, wounded 4 severely, and 3 slightly out of the eleven. I received 6 wounds – two in the head, two in my left arm and one in my right arm and one in my right leg – three of them very bad. Three of my men are dangerously wounded and two slightly, we had made the best of our way for this place and got in early on the next morning. The attack was made by us without a weapon of any kind – the enemy had each a sword and a pistol.”
Captain Colley was a well be loved and respected citizen of the Borough of Norfolk. He sleeps in old Cedar Grove cemetery with his wife Charlotte Colley, who proceeded him in death in March 1837. It’s sad this story has been lost to history. Finding this small segment of the history of this man named Colley, an able bodied seaman, a true Norfolk hero in his day.
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Robert B. Hitchings is a seventh generation Norfolk resident, graduating with an Associate's Degree in Biology from Old Dominion University and BA in history from Virginia Wesleyan University. During his studies he was awarded a scholarship at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, England, and he was an exchange student at Brooks-Westminster College, Oxford, England. From 1999-2014 he worked as head of the Sargeant Memorial History Room at Norfolk Public Library, and since then has headed the Wallace History Room at Chesapeake Public Library. He is also the President of the Norfolk County Historical Society, and for six years was a columnist for The Virginian-Pilot. Robert may be reached at nchs.wallaceroom@gmail.com