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  officer received his first commission in 1798; obtained the rank of Commander in 1802; and was posted for his gallant defence of the Wolverene, mounting 13 guns, with a complement of 76 men, against the Blonde, French privateer, of 30 guns and 240 men, by which ship he was attacked when on his way to Newfoundland with a convoy, Mar. 28, 1804. The Wolverene on that occasion had 5 men killed and 10 wounded: the remainder of her crew had not been long removed before she went to the bottom.

Captain Gordon appears to have been many years a prisoner in France. The manner in which he returned from that country has been variously stated. We shall probably be enabled to speak more confidently on the subject in our Addenda. His post commission bears date April 8, 1805.



 officer has been frequently described to us as a nephew of the late Vice-Admiral Viscount Nelson: such, however, is not the case; he being the eldest son of the Rev. William Bolton, Rector of Hollesby, co. Suffolk, and of Brancaster, in Norfolk; brother of Thomas Bolton, Esq. who married Susannah, eldest sister of that great officer, under whose auspices he commenced his naval career at the commencement of 1793, and with whom he continued to serve, as a Midshipman and Lieutenant, during the greater part of the French revolutionary war. He was advanced to the rank of Commander in 1801, appointed to the Childers sloop Of war in 1803, and posted April 10, 1805.

Captain Bolton subsequently commanded the Eurydice, Druid, Endymion, and Forth frigates, on the Mediterranean, Irish, Channel, and North American stations. Among the captures made by him in those ships were le Basque, French national brig, of 16 guns and 112 men, laden with flour, &c. for the relief of Guadaloupe; le Milan, privateer, of 14 guns and 80 men; and the Regent, American letter of marque, of 5 guns and 35 men.

