Royal Naval Biography/Katon, James
JAMES KATON, Esq
[Post-Captain of 1801.]
This officer is descended from an ancient family in Ireland[1]. He entered the naval service under the patronage of Admiral Lord Hood in 1783; and from that period served in various ships till Jan. 1793, when he joined the Alcide 74, commanded by Captain Robert Linzee, under whom he was actively employed on the Mediterranean station, particularly at the occupation of Toulon and siege of St. Fiorenzo; on which latter occasion he was landed with a detachment of seamen under the directions of Captain Edward Cooke, and assisted at the storming of Convention Hill, an event which led to the evacuation of the town by the enemy’s troops[2].
In Mar. 1794, Mr. Katon received a Lieutenant’s commission from Lord Hood, dated on the 18th of the preceding month, and appointing him to the Courageux of 74 guns, which ship bore a conspicuous part, and sustained considerable damage, in the action off Genoa, Mar. 14, 1795[3]. He subsequently served under Rear-Admiral Linzee, in the Windsor Castle, Victory, and Princess Royal, three-deckers, and was paid off from the latter in the autumn of 1796.
Lieutenant Katon’s next appointment was to the Prince 98, bearing the flag of Sir Roger Curtis, with whom he continued about two years. In 1798 he joined the Earl of St. Vincent in the Ville de Paris, a first rate, then off Cadiz; and on the 6th Jan. 1801 was appointed by that officer to act as Captain of the Princess Royal, whose late commander had recently been promoted to a flag[4]. In the course of the same month he assumed the command of the Cumberland 74, (pro tempore,) and accompanied Sir Robert Calder to the West Indies, in search of a French squadron that had escaped from Brest under Rear-Admiral Gantheaume. On his arrival at Jamaica in April he was appointed by Lord Hugh Seymour to the Lark sloop of war, then off the Havannah; and on the 24th July, removed by the same nobleman to the Carnatic of 74 guns, in which ship Rear-Admiral Robert Montagu soon after hoisted his flag, and proceeded on a cruise off Cuba.
Captain Katon’s post commission was confirmed by the Admiralty Oct. 23, 1801; and on the 26th of the following month, Rear-Admiral Montagu, who had succeeded to the chief command on the Jamaica station, appointed him to the command of his flag-ship, the Sans Pareil of 84 guns. Previous to that officer’s departure for England in the Melampus frigate, he presented Captain Katon with a sword, as a token of his regard, and approbation of the manner in which he had conducted himself during the period of their serving together[5].
On the 5th April 1802, Captain Katon removed into the Trent frigate, in which ship he returned home about May 1803. Being then put out of commission, he remained on half pay till Jan. 1809, when he was appointed acting Captain of the Mars 74, and during the ensuing fifteen months employed in arduous service on the Baltic and North Sea stations. The following letter contains an acknowledgment of his exertions for the protection of the East country trade:
“Ruby, off Sproe, Nov. 14, 1809.
“Sir, Having received a letter from the Secretary of the Admiralty, expressive of the approbation of the Lords Commissioners at the zeal which has been manifested by the Captains of the squadron under my orders for the protection of the trade, as likewise the active conduct of the officers and crews of the respective ships, I have the honor to acquaint you therewith, and request you will make the same known to the officers and crew of his Majesty’s ship under your command. I have the honor to be, &c.
(Signed)“Manley Dixon, Rear-Admiral.”
“To James Katon, Esq. Captain H.M.S. Mars.”
In April, 1811, the subject of this memoir was appointed to command the Niobe frigate, during the indisposition of Captain Loring; and on the llth of the following month he sailed for the coasts of Spitzbergen and Greenland, to protect the whale fishery; on his return from which service, in the ensuing autumn, he was superseded and placed on half pay.
Captain Katon married, in Feb. 1804, Adeliza Arabella, second daughter of George Moubray, Esq. of Cockairny, in Fifeshire, by whom he has one son, now a student at the Royal Naval College, and five daughters[6]. Two of his brothers were officers of the marines, and fell victims to the yellow fever in the West Indies. Another brother died a Captain of that corps, and Barrack-Master of the Portsmouth division. His eldest sister is the lady of Captain Henry Vaughan, R.N.
Agent.– Thomas Stilwell, Esq.
- ↑ Captain Katon’s father died a Lieutenant, R.N.
- ↑ See Vol. I. p. 250, and note ‡ at the bottom of the page.
- ↑ See Vol I. note at p. 340. N.B. The Courageux had her main and mizen-masts shot away, 16 men killed, and 36 wounded. The main-mast fell in-board with its head towards the stern, carried away several of the poop beams, and crushed the wheel to pieces. In this disabled state, with her hull shot through in many places, and several shot between wind and water, she was obliged to be towed into Leghorn Roads by the Inconstant frigate. Mr. Katon was third Lieutenant of the Courageux on this occasion.
- ↑ The Channel fleet, under Earl St. Vincent, was lying in Torbay when the grand promotion in honor of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland was made known, and found to include five Captains then commanding ships under his Lordship’s orders. On the 6th Jan. the wind having become fair for sailing from that anchorage, the Earl sent Mr. Katon and four other Lieutenants of the Ville de Paris, to command the vacant ships, until the Captains appointed to them by the Admiralty could join.
- ↑ In 1801, Captain Katon was presented with a medal by the Earl of St. Vincent, as a testimony of his approbation.
- ↑ Mrs. Katon is a sister of Captain George Moubray, R.N., and a first cousin of Rear-Admiral Moubray.