George M'Kinley

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George M'Kinley
Born1766
Devonport, Plymouth
Died1852 (aged 85–86)
Alverstoke, Gosport
Allegiance Kingdom of Great Britain
United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
RankVice-admiral of the White
Battles/warsAmerican Revolutionary War

French Revolutionary War

George M'Kinley (1766–1852) was a

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He joined the navy in 1773 but did not go to sea until 1777. In December 1778, the vessel he was serving on, HMS Ceres
, was captured and M'Kinley was a prisoner of war until his exchange the following January. In 1781, M'Kinley was aboard
Battle of the Capes on 5 September. In January 1782, he was rated lieutenant aboard Barfleur and in April took part in the Battle of the Saintes and the Battle of the Mona Passage
.

When war with France resumed in 1793, M'Kinley was sent to the Mediterranean, where, as first lieutenant under

Post-Captain and on the same day, set sail for the West Indies in his new command HMS Pelican. He remained in American waters until July 1802, serving aboard HMS Abergavenny then HMS Ganges
, in which he returned home.

Following the short-lived

Vice Admiral of the White
in 1841 and died in 1852.

Early life and career

George M'Kinley was born in Devonport, Plymouth, in 1766.[1] His father and both his brothers were Royal Navy officers who all died during the American Revolutionary War: His father, a lieutenant, when M'Kinley was eleven and his brothers; Samuel in 1780, while in command of HMS Comet on the American Station, and John in 1782, off Hispaniola.[2]

M'Kinley received the patronage of

St Lucia by the French frigate, Iphigénie on 17 December 1778 and consequently was a prisoner of war until exchanged at the beginning of the 1779.[2]

Following his release, M'Kinley returned to the West Indies where he served on

Battle of the Capes on 5 September.[2]

He later joined Barfleur, where it came to the attention of Rear-Admiral Samuel Hood, whose flag she was flying at the time.[1] On 14 January 1782, M'Kinley was made lieutenant of the sloop Stormont, a position he was unable to take up due to the vessel's capture.[2] He therefore remained on Barfleur and was at the Battle of the Saintes, at the beginning of April.[1] While in the Mona Passage, on 19 April, Hood's fleet captured the French ships Jason, Caton, Aimable and recaptured the sloop, Ceres. After the battle, M'Kinley transferred to the 24-gun HMS Champion under Captain Alexander Hood and, in July 1783, sailed for home aboard Aimable.[2]

M'Kinley remained in active service after the war, first on the New Foundland Station in the 14-gun sloop, HMS Thorn and then aboard HMS Edgar, a guardship at Portsmouth. In 1787, M'Kinley was in the 16-gun HMS Trimmer, engaged in the suppression of smuggling along the English coast. He was very nearly given up for dead when, having taken off after a smuggler in the sloop's jolly boat, he was caught in a violent storm and went missing for 30 hours. In 1789, M'Kinley was reunited with Gower, first in HMS Illustrious and later in HMS Formidable.[2]

On 1 December 1792, M'Kinley boarded

French Revolutionary War and in September, Alcide, under Commodore Robert Linzee, took part in operations preceding the Invasion of Corsica.[1]

M'Kinley followed Linzee into the 98-gun HMS Windsor Castle before joining HMS Fortitude, under Captain William Young.[2] On 8 February 1794 as part of the siege of Saint-Florent, Fortitude and Juno, made an unsuccessful attack on the tower at Mortella Point.[3]

Command

As a lieutenant, M'Kinley received his first command, the 14-gun cutter,

Sir Sidney Smith when he offered the services of Liberty and her crew, for an attack on a French squadron that had been chased into the port of Herqui, near Cap Fréhel.[4][5]

At 12:00 on 18 March, Smith's ship, HMS Diamond, Liberty and a hired lugger named Aristocrat, entered the narrow entrance of the harbour. A party of marines and seamen were put ashore to silence one of the gun batteries while the British vessels engaged the French Corvette, four brigs, two sloops and a lugger, within. Liberty, having a shallower draught than Diamond was able to maintain a close action with the 16-gun corvette. At 22:00, with all the enemy's ships ablaze but the guns ashore still firing, the British withdrew.[5] M'Kinley was mentioned in dispatches for his, "Gallant and judicious manner" in this action.[4]

M'Kinley was promoted to

invasion of Holland the following year.[1] In August, Otter was present at, although she took no active part in, the Vlieter incident; the surrender of a Dutch squadron near Texel. He later commanded a detachment of marines in operations ashore; holding the town of Enkhuizen until the evacuation.[2]

At the

Thomas Boulden Thompson, being incapacitated through the loss of a leg. M'Kinley had just finished refitting the ship when he was appointed another, HMS Ardent; aboard which, he returned to England.[2]

M'Kinley was confirmed

Post-Captain on 20 October and, on the same day, sailed for the West Indies aboard HMS Pelican. On arrival, he took up his new position on HMS Abergavenny. In March 1802, Britain signed the Treaty of Amiens and on 23 July, M'Kinley transferred to HMS Ganges, sailing her first to Halifax, Nova Scotia, before heading home.[2]

War resumed in the May following and on 11 July 1803, M'Kinley was appointed to

guardship at Leith. While stationed there, M'Kinley was temporarily blinded by an exploding powder horn during a gun drill. He returned to duty some weeks later, when Roebuck took up her new position in the Yarmouth Roads.[2]

On 23 January 1806, M'Kinley took command of HMS Quebec off the Dutch coast. He transferred to HMS Lively 20 May.[2] In 1807, when Lisbon came under threat from French troops under Jean-Andoche Junot, Lively was tasked with the evacuation of a British factory and the removal of British merchant vessels, moored in the river Tagus.[6][2] In 1809, with a small squadron under his command, M'Kinley operated off the coast of Galicia, where he supported local guerrilla groups. Such alliances resulted in the surrender of French forces at Vigo on 27 March,[7] and the recapture of the city of Santiago de Compostela on 3 July.[6][8] Lively was wrecked off Malta in 1810, M'Kinley and his crew having worked for 8 weeks to try to salvage her. A court martial acquitted M'Kinley of blame and commended him for his efforts.[6]

On 19 April 1811, M'Kinley took the position of flag captain to Sir Charles Cotton, aboard HMS San Josef. Following the retirement of Lord Gambier, Cotton was given command of the Channel Fleet and San Josef and M'Kinley went with him.[2]

M'Kinley was appointed to

St Helena.[2] On his return, he served in the Channel, where he saw out the remainder of the war. M'Kinley came ashore in 1817, having spent an almost unbroken period of 33 years at sea; twenty-two in command.[6]

Later career and death

On 16 January 1818, M'Kinley took up a position at the Royal Greenwich Hospital. On its amalgamation with the Royal Naval Asylum in April 1821, he was nominated Superintendent and rewarded for his services with a special pay increase in 1828. M'Kinley was promoted

Vice Admiral of the White on 23 November 1841.[10] He died in Alverstoke in 1852.[6]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Hore p. 78
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p O'Byrne p. 703
  3. ^ Clowes (Vol.III) p. 243
  4. ^ a b "No. 13877". The London Gazette. 22 March 1796. p. 277.
  5. ^ a b James (Vol.I) p. 319
  6. ^ a b c d e Hore p. 79
  7. ^ "No. 16245". The London Gazette. 13 April 1809. pp. 491–492.
  8. ^ "No. 16271". The London Gazette. 1 July 1809. pp. 1006–1007.
  9. ^ "No. 3903". The Edinburgh Gazette. 19 October 1830. p. 289.
  10. ^ O'Byrne p. 704

References

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