A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Atkin, Nicholas
ATKIN. (Lieut., 1810. f-p., 13; h-p., 37.)
Nicholas Atkin entered the Navy, 28 Sept. 1797, as A.B., on board the Magnanime 44, Capt. Hon. Mich. de Courcy. In the course of the following year he assisted at the capture, off Cape Finisterre, of La Décade French frigate, of 36 guns, and was also present at the defeat, with a loss to the Magnanime of 7 men wounded, of a squadron commanded by Commodore Bompart, and intended for the invasion of Ireland. During the remaining part of the war he served, as Midshipman, in the Voltigeur sloop, Capt. Thos. Geo. Shortland, and Concorde, of 42 guns and 224 men, Capt. Robt. Barton; and, while in the latter ship, contributed, 27 Jan. 1801, to the defeat, after a contest of 40 minutes, in which the British lost 4 men killed and 19 wounded, and the enemy 10 killed and 24 wounded, of the French frigate La Bravoure, of 42 guns and 320 men. In Dec. 1804, Mr. Atkin reembarked on board the Melpomene frigate, Capt. Robt. Dudley Oliver, employed in blockading Havre de Grace. Between Oct. 1805, and Jan. 1808, we next find him employed in the Dragon 74, Capts. Edw. Griffith and Matthew Henry Scott, and Daedalus 32, Capt. Fred. Warren. He was then, having been for nearly two years on the West India station, obliged to invalid home, whence in the summer of 1810, he proceeded to the East Indies, and was there promoted, from the Phaeton 38, Capt. Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew, to a Lieutenancy, on 19 Sept. in that year, in the Clorinde 38, Capt. Thos. Briggs, part of the force employed at the ensuing reduction of the Isle of France. Mr. Atkin has been on half-pay since Oct. 1814, the date of his leaving the Clorinde.