A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Tod, John
TOD. (Lieutenant, 1815. f-p., 9; h-p., 31.)
John Tod, born 22 Dec. 1789, is third son of Alex. Tod, Esq., of Finfin, Morayshire, N.B.; and brother of the late Lieut.-Colonel Tod. This officer entered the Navy, 4 March, 1807, as L.M., on board the Astrea 32, Capt. Jas. Dunbar with whom, after escorting the Earl of Pembroke as Ambassador to the Court of Russia and assisting at the siege of Copenhagen, he removed to the Leonidas 38, and sailed for the Mediterranean, where he became Midshipman, in Nov. 1808 and Feb. 1811 of the Montagu and Repulse 74’s, both commanded by Capt. Rich. Hussey Mowbray, and in Nov. 1813 Master’s Mate of the Rainbow 26, Capts. Gawen Wm. Hamilton and John Cornish. In April, 1810, he co-operated in command of a gun-boat, and had his long gun dismounted and several of his men wounded, at the siege of Santa Maura; and on 2 May, 1813, he served with the boats of the Repulse and the Volontaire and Undaunted frigates, covered by the Redwing 18, at the cutting-out of a well-protected convoy, lying in the port of Morjean, near Toulon. On the latter occasion, having boarded a vessel which was moored by a rope from her mast-head to the rocks, he ran up the mast, and, under a shower of musket-balls, cut the rope. Struck with admiration at this act of gallantry, the Captain of the Redwing, Sir John Gordon Sinclair, the senior officer present, wrote a letter in his favour strongly recommending him for promotion. In Dec. 1813 Mr. Tod, then in the Rainbow, united in an unsuccessful attack made by Capt. Josias Rowley, of the America 74, upon the town of Leghorn, and while on shore with a division of seamen, received a severe wound in the groin.[1] He took part subsequently, in command of a gun-boat, in a variety of operations on the coast of Italy, including the reduction of Genoa, Towards the close of April, 1814, having obtained a letter from Sir Edw. Pellew to Sir Alex. Cochrane, Commander-in-Chief in North America, he took a passage home in the Apollo 38, Capt. Edwards Lloyd Graham, and, immediately on his arrival, sailed for that station in the Forth 40. On reaching his destination he was received by Sir A. Cochrane on promotion on board the Tonnant 80; in command of the barge belonging to which ship we find him, in Aug. and Sept. of the same year, present at the destruction of Commodore Barney’s flotilla up the Patuxent, the capture of Washington, and the attack upon Baltimore. On 14 Dec. following he had charge of one of the boats of a squadron under Capt. Nicholas Lockyer at the capture, on Lake Borgne, of a flotilla of five American gun-vessels under Commodore Jones, whose resistance was protracted until the British had sustained a loss of 17 men killed and 77 wounded. His conduct in this instance was such as to induce the Commander-in-Chief to report him to the Admiralty as worthy of promotion. After sharing in the operations against New Orleans, where he saw much detached service, he was sent, 14 Feb. 1815, in a boat with 19 men to render assistance to the Belle Poule frigate, at the time aground. Being caught in a heavy gale he was himself driven on shore, and there surrounded by 200 American troops, to whom with the whole of his party, after 5 of them had been wounded, he was under the necessity of surrendering. He was then marched to Mobile, and placed en parole. At the end of 10 days, however, intelligence of the peace arrived and he was liberated. On the return of the Tonnant to Plymouth he was transferred, in June, 1815, to the Royal Sovereign guard-ship, Capt. Wm. Robt. Broughton; and in the following month he took up a commission bearing date 1 March preceding.
Since the war Lieut. Tod has made 16 voyages in a merchant-ship from London to the West Indies. He is at present Agent for Steam-Packets and General Shipping and Insurance Agent at the port of Lossiemouth; and Agent for Lloyd’s, also, in that district. He married, 18 April, 1838, his cousin, Jane, second daughter of John Lawson, Esq., of Chapelton, co. Aberdeen, and has issue one son and five daughters. Agent – Fred. Dufaur.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1814, p. 180.