Royal Naval Biography/Dickson, Edward Stirling
EDWARD STIRLING DICKSON, Esq
[Post-Captain of 1800.]
This officer was made a Lieutenant July 9, 1780; commanded la Victorieuse of 14 guns and 130 men, at the Leeward Islands, towards the close of 1796; and was present at the capture of Trinidad, in Feb. 1797[1].
On the 7th May, 1798, Captain Dickson, whilst convoying some merchant vessels from Trinidad to St. Kitts, was attacked by two French privateers, which attempted to carry la Victorieuse by boarding, but were foiled in their attempt; and the smallest, a sloop of 6 guns and 50 men, obliged to surrender. The other, a schooner carrying 12 guns and 80 men, was considerably damaged, but succeeded in effecting her escape. The prize had 8 men killed and wounded; la Victorieuse sustained no loss whatever.
On the 3d Dec. following, la Victorieuse, in company with the Zephyr sloop, and about 40 troops, destroyed a fort at Rio Caribe, on the island of Margueritta; two others at Gurupano, and a small Dutch privateer; and captured la Couleuvre of 6 guns and 80 men. The enemy’s force at the latter place was at least 300 men; notwithstanding which, their fire was silenced in fifteen minutes. The assailants had only 4 men killed and wounded. Captain Dickson had previously captured two small French privateers, and destroyed another of 12 guns and 80 men.
In July 1799, Captain Dickson was presented by the English inhabitants of Trinidad with a sword, value 100 guineas, as a reward for his activity and diligence, in protecting the trade of that colony. His post commission bears date Aug. 11, 1800.
From this period, we find no mention of him till the latter end of 1803, when he was appointed to the Inconstant frigate. On the 7th March following, he arrived off the island of Goree, with a store-ship and some merchant vessels under his protection; and suspecting that the place might be in possession of the enemy, sent Mr. Pickford, his first Lieutenant, on shore to ascertain the fact. At sun-set, seeing no appearance of the boat, Captain Dickson anchored out of gun-shot, and it being highly necessary to obtain some information, despatched Mr. Runciman, Midshipman, with three boats properly manned and armed, to cut out any vessels he might find in the harbour. Mr. Runciman acquitted himself nobly, bringing out a ship, under a heavy fire from the batteries, which sunk one of his boats, but only wounded 1 man. From the prize Captain Dickson learned, that the settlement had been in the hands of the enemy about two months, and that the garrison consisted of 300 white and black troops. The following day was spent in making the necessary preparations for an attack; and the French governor being aware of the British Captain’s intentions, agreed to surrender by capitulation on the morning of the 9th.
We next find Captain Dickson commanding the Stately 64,. employed in the defence of Cadiz. On the 5th Dec. 1811, he was detached with the Druid frigate, Thunder bomb, and several gun-boats under his orders, to co-operate with the British troops at Tariffa, which place was then besieged by a French army of 10,000 men, whilst the garrison under Colonel Skerrett did not exceed 1500. The enemy had pushed their works close to that important fortress, the safety of which must be attributed to the unwearied exertions of the officers and men of the squadron, whose services were noticed in the most handsome manner by Rear-Admiral Legge, who commanded at Cadiz, as also by Commodore Penrose, whose broad pendant was then flying at Gibraltar. A very flattering vote of thanks was also decreed by the Spanish Regency and Cortes.
From the Stately, Captain Dickson removed into the Swiftsure 74, on the Mediterranean station; where his boats captured the Charlemagne, a French privateer of 8 guns and 93 men, Nov. 26, 1813. The loss sustained by the British in obtaining possession of this vessel, was 5 killed and 15 wounded.
In 1814, Captain Dickson joined the Rivoli, another third rate; and on the 30th April, 1815, he captured le Melpoméne, a French frigate, on her passage from Elba to Naples, to take on board Napoleon Buonaparte’s mother. Le Melpoméne made a brave defence of fifteen minutes, was very much cut up in her hull, masts, and rigging, and sustained a loss of 6 men killed and 28 wounded. The Rivoli, whose loss was only 1 man mortally, and a few others slightly wounded, had thus the honor to receive the submission of the last tri-colored flag struck in action at sea[2].
Agent.– Isaac Clementson, Esq.
- ↑ See Vol. I. note at p. 112.
- ↑ See James’s Nav. Hist. v. 5, p. 61.