Capt. Hon. George Douglas, R.N. was born Aug. 2, 1788,
the sixth son of Archibald
first Lord Douglas, and the third and youngest by his second
marriage with Lady Frances Scott, second daughter of Francis Earl of
Dalkeith, and great-aunt to the (present) Duke of Buccleuch and
Queensberry, K.G. A Post Captain R.N., he was half-brother of the Rt.
Hon. Lord Douglas.
He entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman on
board the Excellent 74, Capt. the Hon. Robert Stopford, Dec. 17,1801, in
which he served in the West Indies.
On returning thence, he
joined the Castor frigate, and subsequently the Spencer 74; in which
latter ship he completed his time under Capt. Stopford. The Spencer
accompanied Lord Nelson in his pursuit of Adm. Villeneuve, in 1805, but
was unfortunately absent at Gibraltar at the time of the battle of
Trafalgar. She bore a conspicuous share in Sir John T. Duckworth's
action, off St. Domingo, Feb. 6, 1806, on which occasion her loss
amounted to eighteen killed and fifty wounded. Mr. Douglas was advanced
to the rank of Lieutenant, and appointed to the Horatio, a new 38-gun
frigate, Aug. 8, 1807. In her, he visited Quebec, and afterwards served
on the Halifax and West India stations.
On the 10th Feb. 1809,
the Horatio fought a very gallant action off the Virgin Islands, with La
Junon frigate, which terminated, after nearly three hours' contest, in
the capture of the Frenchman. On this occasion Lieut. Douglas (in the
words of the First Lord, Lord Mulgrave) "so nobly supplied the place of
his disabled captain "(Capt. G. Scott) that his promotion was determined
upon, as soon as he should have completed the time prescribed by his
Majesty's Order in Council. His commission as a Commander consequently
bore date Aug. 8, 1809.
On the 18th July 1810, Captain Douglas
was appointed to the Brune troopship, and he continued to command her
until his promotion to post rank, Feb. 28, 1812. His next appointment
was, April 28, 1812, to the Leveret 20, which, with her consort the
Cyane 20, made a very heroic defence against the Constitution, an
American 44, of more than their united strength, off Madeira, on the
20th Feb. 1815. Both the English ships were taken, though the Leveret
was soon afterwards retaken at Porto Praya. At a Court-martial held at
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Captains Douglas and Falcon were "most honourably
acquitted" for the loss of their respective ships, and justly applauded
for the gallant defence they had made.
Since the peace Capt.
Douglas has been on half-pay.
In 1836, he was listed as a tax
commissioner in the Shire of Forfar.
He died unmarried Aug. 30.
1838 at Douglas Castle,
Lanarkshire, aged 50.
Footnotes:
On 20th February 1815, the USS Constitution captured the 20-gun
ship HMS Levant, (eighteen 32-pound carronades and two nines,
Captain and senior officer the honourable George Douglas. Out of
her 115 men and sixteen boys, the Levant had six seamen and
marines killed, one officer and fourteen seamen and marines
wounded. The Levant was recaptured om 11th March.
It was stated by the British officers, at the court-martial,
that the crews of the two ships [Cyane and Levant, which had
been captured at the same time] were , for three weeks kept
constantly in the Constitution's hold, with both hands and legs
in irons, and there allowed but three pints of water during
twenty-four hours. This too in a tropical climate! It was
further proved that, after the expiration of three weeks, upon
the application of Captain Douglas, one third of the men were
allowed to be on deck, four hours out of twenty-four, but had
not the means of walking, being still in leg irons; that on
mustering the crews when they landed at Maranham, five of the
Levant's boys were missing; that, upon application and search
for them, two were found locked up in the American Captain of
marine's cabin...Upon these facts, let the reader employ his own
thoughts; if he possesses a British heart, he will need no
prompter -
Source: James's Naval Occurrences, p. 465.
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