Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/713

Rh MACKAY. 

, born 31 Dec. 1780, is second surviving son of Hon. Geo. Mackay, of Skibo, M.P.,in 1754, for co. Sutherland, and afterwards Master of the Mint of Scotland, by Anne, third daughter of Eric Sutherland, only son of the attainted Lord Duffus, who was at first a Captain in the British, and then a Flag-officer in the Russian Navy. He is nephew of Lieut.-General Hon. Alex. Mackay, appointed in 1780 Commander-in-chief of the Forces in Scotland; and brother of the present Lord Keay.

This officer entered the Royal Naval Academy in Jan. 1792; and embarked, in Oct. 1794, as Midshipman, on board the 32, Capt. Thos. Williams; on accompanying whom into the of 38 guns, he assisted at the capture of the Dutch brig of war Comet of 18 guns, as also, we are informed, after a severe action, of the French frigate La Tribune of 44 guns and 339 men, 37 of whom were killed and 15 wounded, with impunity to the British. After an active servitude of more than 18 months with Sir Rich. Strachan, in the and  frigates, on the Home station, he was made Lieutenant, 27 March, 1798, into the  20, Capt. Jas. Bradley, in which ship, it appears, he accompanied an expedition under Sir Home Popham having for its object the destruction of the locks and sluice-gates of the Bruges Canal. He removed, towards the close of the same year, to the 38, Capt. Sir Chas. Hamilton; and on next, in 1799, joining the 50, flag-ship of the late Sir Andw. Mitchell, he witnessed the fall of the Helder fortress and the surrender of the Texel squadron, and commanded a tender at the capture of four Dutch gun-vessels forming part of the flotilla collected for the protection of Amsterdam. Prior to his advancement to the rank of Commander, 29 April, 1802, Mr. Mackay further served with the Channel fleet, in the 98, Capt. Edw. Thornbrough, and, again with Sir A. Mitchell, in the of similar force. His ensuing appointments were, 20 April and 26 Sept. 1804, to the command of the armed ship (employed in the escort of North Sea convoys) and  sloop, on the Mediterranean station. He attained Post-rank 22 Jan. 1806, and was afterwards invested with the Captaincy – 20 June, 1807, of the frigate, on the coast of Ireland – 9 Aug. 1808, for three months, of the  64, fitting for Halifax – 20 Sept. 1811, 13 Sept. 1812, and 4 Jan. 1815, of the  26,  42, and  74, all on the East India station, whence he returned about April, 1816 – and, 7 Nov. 1831, of the  78, which ship, after having been intermediately attached to the force off Lisbon, was put out of commission in the early part of 1834. During his command of the, Capt. Mackay conveyed Sir Evan Nepean, Bart., to his government at Bombay, and was actively employed, under the orders of Sir Sam. Hood, in the Eastern A-rchipelago and China Seas, where his duties were of a very arduous character. In the Malacca he cooperated with a sqnadron under Capt. Geo. Sayer in a serious attack made in June, 1813, upon the piratical settlement of Sambas, in the island of Borneo. He attained Flag-rank 28 June, 1838. – John P. Muspratt.

 MACKELLAR. 

entered the Navy, 1 June, 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the store-ship at New South Wales, Capts. Wm. Geo. Carlile Kent and John Porteous. On his return to England, at the close of 1810, he became Midshipman, a rating he had previously attained, of the of 16 guns and 102 men, Capts. Joseph Swabey Tetley and Geo. Rose Sartorius, fitting for the Mediterranean; where he took part, 27 June, 1811, in a close and spirited action of an hour and 35 minutes, fought by that vessel, off the town of Vendre, with the Freuch corvette Tactique of 18 guns and at least 150 men, and armed xebec Guêpe of 8 guns and 65 or 70 men; both of whom were in the end beaten off with great slaughter to themselves, and with a loss to the British (who for some time had been simultaneously opposed by the fire of two heavy batteries) of 1 man killed and 12 or 13 wounded. In Dec. 1811 Mr. Mackellar rejoined Capt. Tetley on board the 38, in which frigate, on Capt. John Allen succeeding to the command, he returned to England, in April, 1812. Becoming attached, then, to the 74, Capt. Willoughby Thos. Lake, he was at first employed in active co-operation with the patriots on the north coast of Spain, and next on the West India station, where he removed, in Aug. 1815, to the 50, Capt. John Mackellar, and obtained, 10 May, 1816, a Lieutenancy in the  8, Capt. John Sykes. He came home in the following Aug., and has since been on half-pay. – Case and Loudonsack.

 MACKELLAR. 

, born about 1768, at Minorca, is eldest son (by Miss Elizabeth Basaline, of that island) of the late General Patrick Mackellar, a Colonel of the Royal Engineers, who served as Chief Engineer under General Wolfe at Quebec, assisted, in a similar capacity, at the reduction of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and the Havana, and closed a most honourable and valuable life as Chief Engineer, at Minorca, in 1779. The Admiral’s only brother, Neil, also attained high rank in the Army.

This officer entered the Navy, 6 Jan. 1781, as A.B., on board the 50, Capt. Roddam Home, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Johnstone; and in the course of the same year was wounded in the leg during an action with a French squadron under M. de Suffrein, in Porto Praya Bay. Removing, in April, 1782, to the 28, Capts. John Willet Payne and Hon. Wm. Carnegie, he assisted, as Midshipman of that vessel, at the capture or destruction, in the West Indies, of two valuable Spanish polacres, a, privateer of 16 guns and 70 men, six other armed vessels, the Comte de Grasse of 20 guns and 120 men, and the Mohawk of 22 guns and 125 men. He was on one occasion sent up a river in charge of one of several boats, which effected the annihilation, after a party of native militia had been defeated, of the store-houses belonging to two plantations; and on another, he took command of one of two boats, and aided in destroying a privateer of 16 guns, notwithstanding the resistance offered by her crew, supported by some military, and the presence of several French menof-war lying in Boston harbour. Subsequently to the general peace we find the taking formal possession of Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitt’s, and Dominica, in consequence of those islands having been restored to Great Britain by the treaty of Versailles. Between Sept. 1784 and the date of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant 22 Nov. 1790, Mr. Mackellar was employed, on the Home and Newfoundland stations, in the 74, Capt. Adam Duncan,  and  frigates, Capts. Edw. Thornbrough and John Willet Payne, 74, Capt. Benj. Caldwell, and 98,  50, and  100, flag-ships, the first and last of Lord Hood, and the second of Vice- Admiral Milbanke. His next appointments were – 22 April,. 1791, to the, Capt. Geo. Oakes, under whom he cruized, in the Channel and off Cork, until the following Oct. – 19 June, 1793, to the 50, Capts. Sir Rich. Bickerton and Henry Mowat, in which ship, after having visited the Cape of Good Hope, he contributed to the capture, 28 Aug. 1796, of the French 36-gun frigate Elisabeth, off Cape Henry – and, 28 Jan. 1797, to the acting-command of the s[c] sloop. Being superseded in the latter vessel in the ensuing May, he returned home a passenger in the 64, but had the satisfaction on his arrival of being confirmed by a commission dated 5 July in the same year. In Feb.