Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p2.djvu/405

  officer, whose family pedigree has already been given in our memoir of his brother, Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Hamilton, Bart., is the second son and youngest child of the late Sir John Hamilton, Bart., Captain R.N.; was born March 12, 1772, and may be truly called a son of Neptune, having first gone to sea at the age of seven years, with his father, who then commanded the Hector, of 74 guns, in which ship, and in the Ramillies of the same force, (Captain J. Moutray) he served on the West India station till 1781, during which time he was in one general action with the French fleet, and experienced the dreadful hurricane of 1780. On the return of peace, he was sent to the Royal Grammar School at Guildford, where he continued for a period of three years. In 1787, he went again to sea to complete his time as a Midshipman, and served until 1790 in the West Indies. At the period of the Spanish armament, we find him on board the Melampus frigate, commanded by the present Sir Charles Morice Pole, and stationed in the Channel. During the subsequent dispute with Russia, he served in the Victory, a first rate, bearing the flag of Lord Hood, who had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of a squadron destined for the Baltic. When this armament was dismantled, Mr. Hamilton went over to the University of Caen, in Lower Normandy, and afterwards travelled through part of France, visiting all the sea-ports along the coast. Soon after his return to England, he proceeded to Portugal, and visited all the ports in that kingdom. While he was thus acquiring a competent knowledge of foreign languages, he did not omit making such nautical observations, as might on a future emergency be of essential benefit to himself and his country.

