Royal Naval Biography/Cator, Bertie Cornelius
BERTIE CORNELIUS CATOR, Esq.
A Magistrate for the county of of Kent.
[Post-Captain of 1814.]
Second son of Joseph Cator, Esq. an affluent merchant, by Diana, sister to the late Admiral Sir Albemarle Bertie, Bart. K.C.B., a descendant of the Dukes of Ancaster, the last of whom died Feb. 8, 1809.
This officer was born at Beckenham, co. Kent, Sept. 26, 1787; and he appears to have entered the royal navy in April 1800, under the protection of his maternal uncle, who then commanded the Windsor Castle 98, bearing the flag of Sir Charles Cotton, on the Channel station.
In the autumn of 1800, Mr. Cator was removed to the Glory 08, Captain Thomas Wells; but towards the end of the French revolutionary war, he again joined Captain Bertie, and served under him, in the Malta 80 at St. Helens, off Brest, and in Bantry bay, until that ship was paid off, in the spring of 1802.
We next find Mr. Cator in the Carysfort 28, Captain George Mundy, with whom he removed, at the close of 1802, to the Hydra 38, which latter frigate was successively employed on the North Sea, Guernsey, and Mediterranean stations. Whilst serving in that ship, he assisted at the capture of the following armed vessels:–
La Phoebe and le Favori, French privateers; the latter cut out near Havre, Aug. 1, 1803. A national brig and a lugger, taken Jan. 30, 1804. La Furet, of 18 guns and 132 men[1]; and the Arganauta Spanish schooner, pierced for 12 guns, April 12, 1806.