ROBERT CATHCART, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1808.]
A son of the late James Cathcart, of Carbiston, in Ayrshire, and Pitcairly, near Auchtermuchty, Fifeshire, Esq.
This officer was born about 1774, and he commenced his naval career under the patronage of the late Hon. John Maitland, Captain, R.N., in 1785; from which period we find him serving as a midshipman on board the Queen 98, Assistance 50, Southampton frigate, and Goliath, Alcide, and Vanguard, third rates, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, Nov. 21, 1790.
At the commencement of the French revolutionary war, Mr. Cathcart was appointed to the Raisonable 64, commanded by the late Lord Cranstoun, at whose particular request he was afterwards allowed to join the Bellerophon 74, a Lieutenant of that ship being removed by the Admiralty in order to make a vacancy for him[1].
The Bellerophon formed part of the squadron under Vice-Admiral Cornwallis, when he effected his masterly retreat from the republican fleet, in June 1795[2], on which occasion that gallant veteran informed the Board of Admiralty that he “considered her a treasure in store,” having heard of her former achievements, and observing the spirit manifested by all on board, when she passed him to take her station a-head of the Royal Sovereign.
Lieutenant Cathcart was first brought into public notice at the ever-memorable battle of the Nile, on which occasion the command of the Bellerophon devolved on him, in consequence of the second Lieutenant being killed by the fall of the mainmast, during her sanguinary conflict with l’Orient of 120 guns, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Brueys, whose fate has been recorded at p. 184 of our first volume[3]. Observing
- ↑ Lord Cranstoun resigned the command of the Bellerophon, through ill health, in the summer of 1796, and was succeeded by Captain (afterwards Sir Henry D’Esterre) Darby.
- ↑ See Vol. I. note * at p. 354.
- ↑ Captain Darby was wounded, and obliged to quit the deck, early in the action; a circumstance which we were not aware of when writing the me-
