Early Career
Gordon came of a family of minor Highland gentry of Jacobite sympathies, the Gordons of Beldorney and Wardhouse. He was born the eldest son of Charles Gordon of Wardhouse, Aberdeenshire, and his wife, a daughter of Major James Mercer, of Auchnacant, Aberdeenshire, at Kildrummy Castle, Kildrummy, Aberdeenshire
He entered the Royal Navy in 1793 as a Midshipman in HMS Arrogant (74). He transferred in 1795 to the frigate Révolutionnaire, which was part of Alexander Hood's fleet in the Battle of Groix on 23 June 1795. In 1796 Gordon moved to the ship-of-the-line HMS Namur (90), in which he was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 13/14 February 1797. Later in 1797 Gordon became Master's Mate aboard HMS Goliath (74), which on 1 August 1798 formed part of the fleet under Horatio Nelson which inflicted a crushing defeat on the French fleet commanded by François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers in the Battle of the Nile. In 1800 he was appointed second Lieutenant of the sloop Bordelais which on 29 January 1801, while escorting a convoy to the West Indies, fought a smart action with three French brigs, capturing one. In the Caribbean later that year Gordon, on an independent mission, was captured by the Haitian government of Toussaint L’Ouverture and spent four months in prison before being released by cartel. He was made first Lieutenant of the 18-gun brig HMS Racoonin 1802 and returned to the West Indies. Racoon's capture of the French corvette Lodi on 11 July 1803 led to Gordon's promotion to Commander and command of Raccoon on 22 October.
Read more about this topic: James Gordon (Royal Navy Officer)
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