A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Scott, John
SCOTT. (Commander, 1815. f-p., 19; h-p., 34.)
John Scott was born 9 Dec. 1784. This officer entered the Navy, 28 Aug. 1794, as a Boy, on board the London 98, Capts. Rich. Goodwin Keats, Edw. Griffith, and John Child Purvis, in which ship, deducting an interval of eight months that followed the Spithead mutiny, he continued employed in the Channel and off the coasts of Spain and Portugal, part of the time under the flag of Sir John Colpoys, until Oct. 1800; when he was transferred as Midshipman (a rating he had attained 8 Dec. 1797) to the Raven 18, Capts. Jas. Sanders and Spelman Swaine. On the night of 29 Aug. 1800, being then with the Ferrol expedition, he served with the boats of a squadron, 20 in number, commanded by Lieut. Henry Burke, at the cutting-out, close to the batteries in Vigo Bay, of La Guêpe privateer of 18 guns and 161 men, which vessel, 25 of whose people were killed and 40 wounded, was in 15 minutes boarded and carried, with a loss to the British of 3 seamen and 1 marine killed, 3 lieutenants, 12 seamen, and 5 marines wounded, and 1 seaman missing. In Nov. 1802, three months after his return from the West Indies, where he had been serving in the Raven, Mr. Scott joined the Leda 38, Capts. Jas. Hardy and Robt. Honyman, attached to the force in the North Sea; where and on the Jamaica station we find him employed, until Sept. 1805, in the Crescent 36, Capt. Lord Wm. Stuart, Theseus and Hercule 74’s, flag-ships of Vice-Admiral Jas. Rich. Dacres, Flying Fish 12, Lieut.-Commander Price, Goelan sloop, Capt. John Ayscough, and Diligentia (alias Legera), Capt. Jas. Alex. Gordon. He was created Sub-Lieutenant 5 May, 1805, of the Flying Fish; and Lieutenant, on 31 of the same month, of the Goelan. From Oct. 1805 vmtil May, 1815, he served in the North Sea, on the coast of Africa, in the West Indies and Channel, and on the coasts of Spain, Brazil, and North America, in the Adamant 50, Capts. Geo. Burlton, John Stiles, and John Fyffe, Hunter 16, Capt. Fras. Geo. Dickins, Melpomène 38, Capt. Peter Parker, Neptune 98, flag-ship of Hon. Sir Alex. Cochrane, Glommen 18, Capt. Chas. Pickford, Blonde and Statira frigates, both commanded by Capt. Volant Vashon Ballard, Neptune and Statira again, each bearing the flag of Sir A. Cochrane, Tremendous 74, Capt. Robt. Campbell, Princess Charlotte 38, Capt. Geo. Tobin, Indefatigable 44, Capt. John Fyffe, and Tonnant 80, flag-ship of Sir A. Cochrane. In the Melpomène, Blonde, Statira, Princess Charlotte, and Indefatigable, he filled, for four years and a half, the post of First-Lieutenant. In the Adamant he saw much boat-service and assisted at the capture, among other vessels, of La Raparadora Spanish frigate-built privateer, of 30 guns and 315 men. In the barge of the Blonde he boarded the French national brig L’Oreste of 16 guns and 110 men, when that vessel was taken, 11 Jan. 1810, under the fire of a battery near Basseterre, after an engagement of two hours. During the operations which preceded the surrender of Guadeloupe he commanded the Blonde owing to the absence of his Captain. While attached to the Princess Charlotte he was constantly employed in her boats, and, besides aiding at the capture of many vessels in the Bay of Biscay, spiked and destroyed 28 pieces of cannon, and took several flagstaffs on the north coast of Spain. He was instrumental, in the Indefatigable, to the preservation of an English vessel which had run on shore on the coast of Brazil under circumstances of peculiar difficulty; and in the Tonnant he accompanied the expedition against New Orleans. While there he was for 15 days employed in the debarkation of troops; and for his conduct in bringing guns from an advanced battery and placing them under the immediate directions of Major-General Sir Edw. Pakenham, obtained the thanks of Sir A. Cochrane, the Naval Commander-in-Chief; by whom he was allowed to join a party which, commanded by Capt. Rowland Money, stormed, 8 Jan. 1815, a strong fort on the right bank of the Mississippi. On that occasion, Capt. Money having been early wounded, Lieut. Scott led the men in person and materially contributed to the successful issue of the attack. His exertions were witnessed by the present Sir Edw. Codrington, from whom and from Sir Edw. Thos. Troubridge, who commanded the brigade of seamen serving on shore, he had the gratification of receiving letters very flattering to his feelings.[1] His conduct in former instances had also procured him letters of approbation from Capts. Stiles, Dickins, Ballard, and Chas. Dilkes (Captain of the Neptune), and from Rear-Admiral Manley Dixon, Commander-in-Chief at the Brazils. On leaving the Tonnant he took up a Commander’s Commission bearing date 13 June, 1815. He has since been on half-pay.
Commander Scott married first, 3 July, 1815, Miss Cole, of Waltham, co. Essex, sister of Jas. Cole. Esq., Purser and Paymaster R.N.; and secondly, in Nov. 1840, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of J. Gibson, Esq., of Hatter’s Lane, Lodbury, Gloucestershire. He has a family of 12 children.
- ↑ “I cannot,” says Sir E. T. Troubridge, in his public letter to the Commander-in-Chief, “sufficiently express the high sense I entertain of the zeal and activity of Lieut. Scott of the Tonnant, who on all occasions has shown himself a most deserving officer.” – Vide Gaz. 1815, p. 451.