A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Douglas, John Erskine
DOUGLAS. (Admiral of the Red, 1838.)
John Erskine Douglas is son of the late David Douglas, Esq., by Miss Thompson; grand-nephew of James, second Earl of Queensberry; and cousin of the present Marquess of Queensberry. His elder brother, William, a Colonel in the Army, died in May 1831.
This officer obtained his first commission 21 April, 1778; acquired the rank of Commander, in the Trompeuse sloop, 24 May, 1794; and was made Post 10 June, 1795. He then assumed command of the Garland 28, in which he served on the North Sea station, until his removal, in 1798, to the Boston 32. While in that vessel, on the American station, he appears to have captured and destroyed several of the enemy’s ships, and to have blockaded for several months the Semillante, a French frigate of far superior force. After cruizing for some time in the West Indies and off Halifax, Capt. Douglas, on his return home, in 1804, was appointed to the Impétueux 80, attached to the Channel fleet. Exchanging, early in 1805, into the Bellona 74, he subsequently assisted, off Cape Henry, at the destruction, 14 Sept. 1806, of the French 74-gun ship L’Impétueux – was intrusted with the command, during the summer of 1806, of a squadron stationed in the Chesapeake – served under Lord Gambler at the destruction of the French shipping in Aix Roads in April, 1809 – and, on 18 Dec. 1810, captured, in the North Sea, Le Héros du Nord privateer, of 14 guns and 44 men. When in the Prince of Wales 98, to which ship he was appointed in the spring of 1812, Capt. Douglas witnessed Sir Edw. Pellew’s partial actions with the French fleet out of Toulon, 5 Nov. 1813, and 13 Feb. 1814. Being promoted to Flag-rank 4 June, 1814, he was next, from 1815 to 1818, employed as Commander-in-Chief at Jamaica. He has since been on half-pay. He became a Vice-Admiral 27 May, 1825, and a full Admiral 28 June, 1838.
He married, in 1818, Mrs. White, and has, with other issue, a daughter, Helen Catherine, who married, 21 Nov. 1843, Capt. Colin Mackenzie, Hon.E.I.C.S.