coasting vessels, and at the same time enabled the inhabitants of Redhead, Montrose, Aberdeen, Peterhead, Banff, and Cromartie, to point out the direction in which any enemy’s cruiser might have proceeded after approaching either of those places during his absence. In addition to this service, he appears to have captured about fifty sail of French and Dutch vessels of different classes, and conducted himself, on all occasions, in so exemplary a manner as to call forth the thanks of the magistrates and town councils of Dundee, Aberdeen, and Banff, by whom he was presented with the freedom of those burghs, at a public diimer given to him previous to his recall from that station, and also recommended in strong terms to the Admiralty for promotion. His advancement to the rank of Commander took place April 29, 1802.
In June, 1803, Captain Tait was appointed to command a district of sea fencibles on the coast of Scotland; and in October following he obtained an appointment to the Volcano bomb, employed between Dungeness and Boulogne, in which vessel he continued until ordered to the East Indies, on promotion, at the close of 1804.
We next find Captain Tait commissioning and fitting out the Sir Francis Drake frigate, formerly a country ship, purchased at Bombay for his Majesty’s service:– in her he remained from Oct. 1805 until Mar. 1806, when he removed into the Grampus, a 50-gun ship, then employed in India, and subsequently on the Cape of Good Hope station; from whence he returned home in the summer of 1809, bringing with him a large fleet of the Hon. Company’s ships, and other traders, which he had taken under his protection at St. Helena. His post commission bears date Sept. 5, 1806; and shortly after his arrival in England he was presented by the Court of Directors with a handsome sum of money for the purchase of a piece of plate, and at the same time received a very gratifying letter, acknowledging the great attention he had paid to his charge during the passage.
The Grampus being paid off in consequence of her weak and defective state, Captain Tait did not receive another appointment until the close of the war with France, when he
