After the final subjugation of Corsica, where, as well as at Toulon, he had served with no inconsiderable degree of credit, our officer was ordered home, and we lose sight of him until 1796, when he was appointed inspecting Captain of the county quota men for the stewartry of Kircudbright and shire of Wigtoun. Returning from that duty in the following year, he received an appointment to the Admiral de Vries, of 68 guns, armed en flute, in which he continued until Dec. 1799, and then assumed the temporary command of the Montagu, a third rate.
On joining this latter ship, Captain Paterson found her crew in the most relaxed state of discipline; their irregular conduct, however, he succeeded in correcting; and for his judicious conduct in restoring them to a state of subordination, had the gratification of receiving due applause from the officer under whose orders he was then serving[1]. His next appointment was to the St. Fiorenzo, in which frigate he had the honor of attending his late Majesty during two succeeding seasons at Weymouth. He also made a trip to the Mediterranean, for the purpose of affording protection to the trade bound thither; and on his return from thence was employed in the blockade of Havre de Grace, on which service he continued until the peace of Amiens.
Captain Paterson does not appear to have been again called into service until the month of Jan. 1810, when he was ordered by Lord Mulgrave to superintend the depot for prisoners of war at Portchester Castle in Hampshire. Early in the following year he was appointed by the Right Hon. Charles Yorke to the Puissant; the command of which ship, if we mistake not, he retained until Aug. 12, 1812, when he was advanced by Viscount Melville to the rank of Rear-Admiral. His commission as Vice-Admiral bears date Aug. 12, 1819.
Our officer married, in March 1801, Jane Ellen, eldest daughter of the late David Yeats, Esq., Registrar of his Majesty’s late Province of East Florida, and great-grand-daughter of the above mentioned Major Tonyn[2].
Residence.– EastCosham Cottage, near Portsmouth, Hants.
- ↑ The present Admiral Sir James Hawkins Whitshed.
- ↑ The Vice-Admiral’s mother, and Mrs. Paterson’s grand-mother, were sisters.
