readers that all the first Lieutenants of Nelson’s fleet were promoted on the 24th Dec. 1805; but it is necessary for us to state, that Captain Cook was not superseded previous to the battle off Hispaniola, and that he was therefore advanced to postrank as a reward for his services on the latter occasion.
In Mar. 1809, the subject of this sketch was selected by Rear-Admiral d’Auvergne (commonly called the Prince of Bouillon) to be his flag-captain, in the Diomede 50, on the Jersey station; and we have reason to believe that his gallant conduct in several skirmishes, when commanding the Liberty, under that officer’s orders, was the sole cause of his receiving this appointment, as flattering as it appears to have been unexpected. We subsequently find Captain Cook conveying Vice-Admiral W. O’Brien Drury to the East Indies; and, in Mar. 1811, escorting seven of the Hon. Company’s ships from Madras to St. Helena; where he received a very handsome letter from their commanders, thanking him in the warmest terms “for his great attention, and the skilful manner in which he conducted the convoy during an unusually tempestuous voyage.”
JAMES HALDANE TAIT, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1806.]
This officer is the sixth son of the late William Tait, Esq. a merchant of Glasgow, N.B., by Margaret, sister of Admiral Viscount Duncan, whose eminent services have already been briefly noticed in our memoir of his son. Captain the Hon. Henry Duncan, C.B.[1]
Mr. James H. Tait was born at Glasgow; and in 1783 we find him embarking as a Midshipman on board the Edgar of 74 guns, then commanded by his maternal uncle, and stationed at Spithead as a guard ship. During the Spanish armament (1790) he was placed under the protection of the Hon. George Murray, with whom he served for some time
