ROBERT HERIOTT BARCLAY, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1824.]
Is the son of the Rev. Peter Barclay, D.D. and was born at Kettle Manse, in Fifeshire, N.B. Sept. 18th, 1786. He entered the navy in May, 1798; and served the whole of his time as midshipman, under Captain (now Sir Philip C. Henderson) Durham. He was consequently present at the capture of la Flore French 36, off Bourdeaux, Sept. 6, 1798; at the defeat of Mons. Bompart, near the coast of Ireland, Oct. 12th following ; at the capture of la Loire frigate, on the 18th of the same month[1]; at the landing of arms, &c. for the royalists on the coast of la Vendee, in 1799; at the capture of a French letter of marque, a privateer of 18 guns and 194 men, two large Spanish gun-vessels, and seven sail of merchantmen (the latter taken under the batteries between Tariffa and Algeziras) in 1800; and at the capture of la Furie French privateer, April 13th, 1801[2].
Mr. Barclay passed his examination at Malta, in Dec. 1804; was received on board the Victory first rate, bearing the flag of Viscount Nelson, in Feb. 1805; and appointed by his lordship acting lieutenant of the Swiftsure 74, Captain William Gordon Rutherford, in the month of March following. His appointment to that ship was confirmed by the Admiralty ten days previous to the battle of Trafalgar; on which occasion she was engaged with l’Achille French 74, and sustained a loss of 17 men killed and wounded. A subsequent perilous service performed by Lieutenant Barclay and others is thus noticed in James’s Naval History, Vol. IV. p. 124:–
