Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/422

GORDON. Philip Broke – 5 Oct. 1832, to the steam-vessel, Capt. Geo., Evans – 9 Sept. 1835, as First, to the, another steamer, Capt. Wm. Honeyman Henderson, his services under whom on the coast of Spain and at the siege of Bilbao procured him the first class of the Order of San Fernando – 7 Jan. 1837, as Additional, to the yacht, Capt. Sir John Louis – and, 1 July, 1837, to the command of the  steamer. He was promoted from the latter vessel to the rank he now holds 1 Aug. 1840; and, since 11 April, 1843, has been In command of the steam-sloop, on the Pacific station. His Post-commission bears date 9 Nov. 1846.

 GORDON. 

is second son of Capt. Fras. Grant Gordon, R.N. (who died in 1803), by Mary, daughter of Sir Willoughby Aston, Bart.; brother of Lieutenant-General the Right Hon. Sir Jas. Willoughby Gordon, Bart., G.C.B., G.C.H., Colonel of the 23rd Foot and Quartermaster-General of the Forces, and of ; and brother-in-law of the late Sir Robt. Wemyss.

This officer entered the Navy, 18 May, 1791, as Midshipman, on board the 74, Capt. Rowland Cotton, on the Home station, where, and in the West Indies, he was afterwards employed, until Dec. 1796, in the  and  74’s, both commanded by Capt. A. J. P. Molloy, and  80, and  frigate, bearing the flags of Hon. Wm. Cornwallis and Sir John Laforey. He then became Acting-Lieutenant of the 54, Capt. John Parr, and on 13 July, 1798, was confirmed into the  24, Capt. H. Mitford, both likewise stationed in the West Indies. Joining next, 22 Nov. 1799, the 64, Capt. Jas. Alms, Mr. Gordon continued to serve in that ship until 10 March, 1800, on which date he had the misfortune to be wrecked on a sunken rock near Ushant, and taken prisoner. On regaining his liberty a few months afterwards he joined the 74, flag-ship in the North Sea of Admiral Dickson, under whom he appears to have been serving at the time of his promotion to the rank of Commander, 29 April, 1802. On 24 March, 1804, while on his passage to Newfoundland with a convoy of 8 merchantmen in the, a flimsy sloop of 13 guns and 76 men, to which he had been appointed 19 Oct. 1803, Capt. Gordon fell in with and was captured, after a furious and most noble resistance of 50 minutes, by the French frigate-built privateer Blonde, of 30 guns and 180 men, 6 of whom only were wounded, while the British sustained a loss of 5 killed and 10 wounded. The gallantry of the in prolonging the fight until she was actually going down enabled the greater part of the convoy to accomplish their escape. Her intrepid Captain was rewarded with a Post-commission dated 8 April, 1805; and he had the further gratification, on his return to England in Nov. 1811, of being most honourably acquitted by a Court-Martial. He has not since, however, been afloat. His promotion to Flag-rank took place 17 Aug. 1840.

The Rear-Admiral married, 18 Dec. 1826, Charlotte, daughter of the late Sir John Wrottesley, Bart., and widow of the Rev. John Heylar. – Messrs. Halford and Co.

 GORDON. 

entered the Navy, 26 Dec. 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 36, Capts. John Broughton and Fred. Warren, in which frigate he visited the latitude of Greenland, and was ultimately wrecked, as Midshipman, on Barebush Key, near Port Royal, Jamaica, 30 July, 1808. After that catastrophe Mr. Gordon served for nearly six years with Capt. Wm. Pryce Cumby in the 64, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Bartholomew Sam. Rowley, and 36. During that period he witnessed the surrender of the town of St. Domingo to the British and Spanish arms in July, 1809; made a voyage to Davis Strait, where he cruized during the whole of the summer of 1812 for the protection of the whale-fishery; then escorted convoy from Newfoundland to Barbadoes; was afterwards frozen up in St. John’s Harbour; and was further actively employed in the Channel. He next became attached for a period of six months to the 74, Capt. Benj. Wm. Page, and then sailed for the East Indies in the 74, flag-ship of Sir Geo. Burlton. He there acted for a short period as Lieutenant of the 74, Capt. John Harper, but since the receipt of his commission, which bears date 4 Feb. 1815, has been on half-pay.

 GORDON. 

(a) entered the Navy, 29 Sept. 1802, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 44, Capt. Benj. Hallowell, one of the ships employed in the following year under Sir Sam. Hood at the reduction of the islands of Ste. Lucie and Tobago. Accompanying Capt. Hallowell, as Midshipman, in Aug. 1804, into the 80, he next, in the course of 1805, revisited the West Indies with Lord Nelson in pursuit of the combined squadrons of France and Spain, and in 1807 took part, we believe, in the expedition to Egypt. In July of the latter year he became Master’s Mate of the 18, Capt. Alex. Gordon, with whom he served on the Jamaica station until within a short period of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, which took place 12 Dec. 1808. Between that period and the conclusion of hostilities in 1815, Mr. Gordon appears to have been further employed, chiefly on the Home station, in the 18, Capt. Timothy Clinch,  26, Capts. Alex. Robt. Kerr and Robt. Cathcart, sloop, Capt. Alex. Gordon, 24, Capt. Jas. Bradshaw, 28, Capt. Edw. Woollcombe, 36, Capt. Matthew Smith, and Royal Sovereign and, flag-ships of Sir Benj. Hallowell. His last appointment was, 28 July, 1819, to the 60, flag-ship in the East Indies of Hon. Sir Hen. Blackwood, under whom he was serving as First Lieutenant at the time of his promotion to the rank of Commander, 29 Jan. 1821.

 GORDON. 

(b) was born 5 Aug. 1795.

This officer entered the Navy, 10 Dec. 1810, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the 16, Capt. Alex. Gordon, stationed off the coast of North America, where, until Aug. 1813, he further served with great activity in, among other ships, the 36, Capt. Wm. Skipsey, 32, Capt. Hon. Geo. Alfred Crofton, and 50, Capt. Chas. Bullen. He was next employed for upwards of three years in the and, guard-ships at Portsmouth, and then successively joined the  and  74’s, flagships in the Mediterranean of Sir Thos. Fremantle, Sir Graham Moore, and Sir Harry Burrard Neale. While on the latter station he commanded a tender, the schooner, from Sept. 1821 until his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, 27 June, 1826, and was employed for five months of 1824 at the blockade of Algiers. On the receipt of his commission Mr. Gordon removed to the 20, Capt. Timothy Curtis, in which vessel he returned home and was paid off in 1827. He afterwards served, from 2 April, 1828, until 16 April, 1831, on board the 20, commanded on the Cork station by Capt. Geo. Chas. Blake. He attained his present rank 6 June, 1834, and has been twice invested with a command in the Coast Guard, first at Fowey, in Cornwall, and next at Whitby, in Yorkshire. The former appointment he held for three, and the other for five, years. He has since been on half-pay.

