A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Cockraft, Macleod Baynes
COCKRAFT. (Lieutenant, 1844.)
Macleod Baynes Cockraft entered the Navy, Jan. 1833, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Salamander steam-vessel, Capt. Horatio Thos. Austin, employed on the Home station; and from Feb. 1834 until June, 1840, was variously occupied in the Mediterranean. Having passed his examination on Aug. in the latter year, he next, in 1841, proceeded to the coast of Africa, as Mate of the Wilberforce steamer, Capt. Wm. Allen, on which station he cruized for two months in acting-command of the Bonetta brigantine. While subsequently attached, as Senior Mate, to the Dolphin 3, Lieut.-Commander Philip Bisson, Mr. Cockraft attracted official notice for his conduct in saving, on the occasion of a Spanish slaver being driven on shore, the lives of three Kroomen who had swum to the vessel for the purpose of preserving their papers; in the execution of which service he had charge of the Dolphin’s boats, and was for eight hours exposed to a fire from the enemy. In Oct. 1842, having joined the Madagascar 42, Capt. John Foote, he was appointed by that officer to the command, with the rank of Acting-Lieutenant, of the Albert steam-vessel, in order to co-operate in the suppression of the slave-trade, and the protection of British interests on the different rivers to the northward of Sierra Leone, where, from illness and mortality among the engineers, it was frequently found impossible to move the ship. While so employed in the river Nunhez, Mr. Cockraft had an opportunity, after two months of skirmishing and a loss to his small party of 4 men killed and 8 wounded, of capturing and destroying the stockaded town of Casakabouli, mounting several 18, 24, and 32-pounders – a measure which had been rendered necessary from the circumstance of a native-attack having been made on the British factories, a fire opened on the Albert’s boats, and an attempt made to seize Mr. Cockraft’s person. In acknowledgment of his services on the occasion he was presented by the residents, under the sanction of the Admiralty, with a sword valued at a hundred guineas. On at length invaliding home, he was confirmed in his present rank by commission dated 23 Sept. 1844. He has been employed, since 2 March, 1846, in the Brilliant 22, Capt. Rundle Burges Watson, at the Cape of Good Hope.