# Royal Naval Biography/Dick, John

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JOHN DICK, Esq Knight of the Imperial Ottoman Order of the Crescent. [Post-Captain of 1802.]
This officer is a son of the late James Dick, Esq. who passed his life in the civil department of the navy, and a cousin of Colonel Sir William Dick, Bart., representative of the ancient family of that name, long settled at Braid, in Mid-Lothian, N.B.
He is a native of Rochester, and entered the naval service under the patronage of Sir Andrew Snape Hamond in 1789. His time as a Midshipman was completed under the respective commands of that excellent officer, and Captains John Drew, Francis Laforey, and Andrew Snape Douglas. In 1795 he obtained the rank of Lieutenant in the Victorious of 74 guns; and he subsequently served as such in l’Aimable frigate and the Majestic 74, bearing the flag of Sir John Laforey, in the West Indies. His promotion to the rank of Commander took place in 1796, and on that occasion he was appointed to the Bull Dog sloop of war, in which vessel he returned to England at the period when our seamen were unhappily engaged in acts of open treason, the expected disastrous effects of which were prevented by the exertions of himself and those of his brother officers selected to direct the operations of a flotilla equipped for the express purpose of reducing the mutineers at the Nore to obedience.
Captain Dick was soon after appointed to the Discovery bomb, on the North Sea station. In 1799, he accompanied the expedition sent against the Helder, covered the landing of the troops, and served on shore with the army till the final evacuation of Holland. Early in 1800 he removed into the Cynthia of 18 guns, and proceeded to the Mediterranean, where he was most actively employed during the remainder ​of the war. His vigilance as senior officer of the sloops, and other vessels composing the in-shore squadron employed in the blockade of Alexandria, and co-operating with the Turks at the capture of Damietta, was highly meritorious, and procured him the esteem of Sultan Selim, by whose command he was knighted, and invested with the insignia of a K.C. of the third class, on the 8th Oct. 1801. His post commission bears date April 29, 1802.
Captain Dick’s next appointment was to the Jamaica, of 24 guns, in which ship he was employed on the Channel and Newfoundland stations from 1803 till 1807. He then removed into the Penelope frigate; and after serving for some time in the Channel, was ordered to join the squadron in America, under the orders of Sir John B. Warren, by whom he was selected to convey Major-General Sir George Prevost to Barbadoes, and escort thither four chosen regiments destined to assist at the reduction of Martinique. The landing of the main body of the army employed on that occasion is thus described by the officer to whom the superintendence of the debarkation had been committed:
“H.M.S. Acasta, Bay Robert, Jan. 31, 1809.
“Sir,– I have the honor to inform you, that at day-dawn of yesterday, the division of transports carrying the army under the command of Lieutenant-General Beck with, were four leagues to windward of the Carvel rock. I immediately bore up for Bay Robert, being joined in my way thither by the Ethalion, Forester, Ringdove, Haughty, and Eclair, the Eurydice having joined me the preceding evening.
“The weather was uncommonly windy and squally, and there was a very considerable swell as far out as Loup Garou. Neither of the small frigates (the Cleopatra or Circe) had joined to go in with the transports; and not knowing what opposition might be made to a landing, I determined to enter the Cul de Sac with all the men of war, that I might effectually protect the troops, if occasion required, which I could not possibly have done had I anchored as far out as Loup Garou. Having therefore placed boats with flags on the edges of the shoals, I led in with the Acasta, followed by the Penelope and transports, and anchored the whole of them about noon.
“This decision, I trust Sir, you will approve, as it enabled me to land the first and second brigades, amounting to 4500 men, with a certain proportion of artillery and horses before sunset, which I could not otherwise have done; and this morning by 7 o’clock all the reserve were landed.
​“To Captains Cochrane of the Ethalion, and Bradshaw of the Eurydice, I am indebted for arranging the boats for the first landing; and more particularly to Captain Dick of the Penelope, for superintending that arrangement, and leading in the transports, which he did with great judgment. * * * *. I have the honor to be, &c.
(Signed)“P. Beaver.”
“To the Hon Sir Alexander Cochrane, K.B. &c. &c. &c.”
After performing the services mentioned in the above letter, Captain Dick landed with a party of seamen, and succeeded in securing Fort Trinite, and other works on the windward side of the island. He subsequently returned to the Halifax station, and continued there till the latter end of 1811 or early in 1812, since which time he has been on half pay.
He married a daughter of B. Goodrich, of Saling Hall, Essex, Esq., and has several children.
Agents.– Messrs Goode and Clarke.
* ↑ See Vol. I, note at p. 414, et seq.
* ↑ See Vol. I, note at p. 129, et seq.
* ↑ See Vol. I, p. 264.