James Gordon (Royal Navy Officer) - Frigate Captain

Frigate Captain

Gordon was created Post Captain in May 1805 and assigned command of the frigate Laegera (28), but was unable to take up the position because of illness. He was without a command until 1807, when he took over the frigate HMS Mercury (28), engaged in blockade duties off Cádiz, and was part of a hard-fought action between three British ships and the combined forces of a Spanish convoy, 20 gunboats and land artillery off the town of Rota on 4 April 1808. On 27 June he became captain of the frigate HMS Active (38) at Gibraltar and spent the next three years in operations in the Mediterranean and Adriatic. Active was one of the four ships under the command of William Hoste that successfully defeated a much larger French squadron at the first Battle of Lissa, 13 March 1811, and on 28 November she was one of three that defeated three more powerful French frigates off Pelagosa. In this latter action Gordon’s left knee was shattered by a cannon ball and his leg had to be amputated; he used a wooden leg for the remainder of his life. He recuperated in Malta and was able to take Active back to England in June 1812, where he married. He then took command of the frigate Seahorse, escorting convoys for the West Indies and enforcing the blockade of France. In 1814 she transferred to the American station, where the War of 1812 was still under way. Gordon, with Charles Napier as his second in command, distinguished himself as commodore leading the successful expedition up the Potomac, 17 August to 6 September, and also took part in the Battle of Baltimore and the attack on Fort McHenry, 12–14 September.