A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hiatt, John
HIATT. (Retired Commander, 1834. f-p., 19; h-p., 33.)
John Hiatt was born 3 April, 1784, at Portsea.
This officer entered the Navy, 24 March, 1795, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Namur 98, Capts. Jas. Hawkins Whitshed, Thos. Sotheby, and Wm. Luke. After serving as Midshipman in the action off Cape St. Vincent, and for some time at the blockade of Cadiz, he rejoined his former Captain, then Rear-Admiral Whitshed, in July, 1799, on board the Barfleur 98, and in the course of the same year followed him into the Téméraire 98, flag-ship subsequently of Rear-Admiral Geo. Campbell, with whom he served on the Channel and Irish stations until March, 1802. On 29 of the following month, in consideration of his having been thrown down the fore cockpit during a mutiny, and as a reward for his general services, he was promoted to a Lieutenancy in the Theseus 74, Capt. John Bligh. Soon after the commencement of hostilities, being then in the West Indies, Mr. Hiatt, in command of the boats of the latter ship and of the Tartar 32, cut out .from the port of Jeremie, St. Domingo, with but little loss to the British, not fewer than three ships, two brigs, and 11 schooners – a service for which the thanks in general orders of the Commander-in-Chief were on the quarter-deck communicated to him. He also assisted at the capture of Le Duquesne 74, and of La Créole, of 44 guns, with the French General, Morgan, and 530 troops on board; was present at the reduction of Port Dauphin, where two forts, and a 28-gun-ship, La Sa^iesse, were taken from the enemy; witnessed the capture of a French squadron with the remains of General Ilochambeau’s army from Cape Francois; and took part in the unsuccessful attack upon Curaçoa. Mr. Hiatt’s subsequent appointments, we find, were – 8 April, 1804, to the Fortunée 36, Capt. Henry Vansittart, during his continuance in which vessel he made frequent descents upon the island of Curaçoa, and succeeded in the boats in capturing several privateers – 16 June, 1805, to the Reindeer of 18 guns (16 32-pounder carronades and 2 long sixes), Capt. John Fyffe, under whom, on 24 March, 1806, he participated, off Puerto Rico, in a single-handed and very gallant action of many hours with the French corvettes Phaeton and Voltigeur, of 16 long 6-pounders and 115 men each – next, to the command of the Ladrone 4, fitted as a tender, which vessel, while in the conveyance of despatches from Curaçoa to Jamaica, was boarded and taken, 28 Oct. 1806, by a large French privateer, after a conflict of four hours and a half, and carried into Santiago de Cuba, where she sank a few hours subsequently to her arrival – 8 March, 1808, to the Sea Fencibles at Poole, in Dorset – 18 June, 1810, to the Experiment 44, Capt. Jas. Slade, on the Falmouth station – and in July, 1811, to the command of a Signal-station near Mount Edgecumbe, which he retained until the end of the war. He accepted the rank he now holds 25 Jan. 1834.
Commander Hiatt married, first, Ann, eldest daughter of Hugh Fishley, Esq., Master-Builder of H.M. Dockyard, Jamaica, by whom he had issue; and, secondly, 11 March, 1843, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Avery, Esq., of the Customs, Southampton, and sister of the Rev. John Symons Avery, of Efford House, Cornwall.