Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp2.djvu/67

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POST-CAPTAINS OF 1809.
59

Captain Dix returned to England about June 1810; and in the following year we find him again commanding the Sceptre, pro tempore, she being then attached to the Basque roads squadron. His next appointment was, May 19, 1813, to the Royal Oak 74, bearing the flag of Lord Amelius Beauclerk, with whom he proceeded on a cruise between the North Cape and Iceland, for the purpose of intercepting the American Commodore Rodgers, whose disgraceful flight from that station has been noticed at p. 380 et seq. of Suppl., Part I.

In May 1814, after negociating with the French General commanding at Rochelle, for a suspension of hostilities, Lord Amelius Beauclerk struck his flag, and the Royal Oak was ordered to Bourdeaux, from whence she conveyed Rear-Admiral Malcolm to Bermuda and the coast of America.[1]

Shortly after his arrival on the latter station. Captain Dix was appointed by Sir Alexander Cochrane to the Menelaus frigate, in which ship he was very actively employed, under the immediate orders of Rear-Admiral Cockburn, until the conclusion of the war between Great Britain and the United States; at which period he received the thanks of that officer, and of the commander-in-chief, for his zealous conduct on all occasions.

The Menelaus returned to England in May 1815; and Captain Dix was soon afterwards sent, with the Havannah frigate under his orders, to cruise off the Isle of Bas, where, with the Rhin 38 in company, he captured and destroyed a French convoy ; which piece of service, we believe, was the last of the kind performed by our navy during the usurpation of Napoleon Buonaparte.

Captain Dix paid off the Menelaus in Oct. 1815; and was appointed in March 1816, to superintend the ships in ordinary at Chatham, on which service he remained for the established period of three years. His only daughter is married to Lieutenant-Colonel William Wood, h.p. of the 85th regiment.

Agents.– Messrs. Cooke, Halford and Son.