# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Tait, James Haldane

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​TAIT. (Rear-Admiral of the Blue, 1841. f-p., 20; h-p., 43.)
James Haldane Tait died 7 Aug. 1845. He was son of the late Wm. Tait, Esq., of Glasgow, by Margaret, sister of the late Admiral Lord Viscount Duncan, and aunt of the present Earl of Camperdown.
This officer entered the Navy, 18 April, 1783, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Edgar 74; in which ship and the Ganges 74 (the former commanded by his uncle, then Capt. Adam Duncan) he continued employed, chiefly at Portsmouth, until April, 1787; when, with a view to greater activity, he joined the maritime service of the Hon.E.I.Company. On the prospect of a rupture with Spain, he again, in Sept. 1790, entered the Navy, and was received as Midshipman on board the Defence 74, Capt. Hon. Geo. Murray; but the dispute with that country being settled without recourse to hostilities he was, in Dec. of the same year, discharged. In Oct. 1793 he was a second time placed under the command of the Hon. G. Murray, whose broad pendant was at the time flying on board the Duke 98. After serving for rather more than five months with the latter officer as Master’s Mate in the Glory 98 on the Channel station, he followed him in April, 1794, on his promotion to the rank of Rear-Admiral, into the Resolution 74, and sailed for ​the coast of North America; where and on the Home station he was further, until Oct. 1797, employed as Acting-Lieutenant in the Thisbe 28, Capt. John Okcs Hardy, again as Midshipman in the Africa 64, Capt. Roddam Home, and as Acting- Lieutenant and Lieutenant (commission dated 6 July, 1796) in the Cleopatra 32, Capts. Chas. Rowley, Chas. Vinicombe Penrose, and Israel Pellew. In the Resolution he was present at the capture of 40 sail of American ships on their passage to Europe under French convoy; and in the Cleopatra (which frigate brought Admiral Murray to England towards the close of 1796) he aided in making prize of the privateers Aurore of 10 guns, Hirondelle of 12 guns (pierced for 16) and 70 men, Basque of 8 guns and 50 men, and Nouvelle Eugénie of 16 guns and 120 men. From Nov. 1797 until placed in command, 10 Jan. 1799, of the Jane hired armed lugger of 14 guns, Mr. Tait served with his uncle in the North Sea in the Venerable and Kent 74’s. In the Jane, in which he remained until Oct. 1801, he cruized on the coasts of England, Scotland, Norway, and Holland, captured as many as 56 French and Dutch vessels, and was so zealous in the protection he afforded to trade that he obtained the freedom (at a dinner given to him by the Magistrates and Town-Councils) of Dundee, Aberdeen, and Banff, and was strongly recommended to the Admiralty for promotion. He was advanced in consequence to the rank of Commander 29 April, 1802; and on 7 Oct. 1803, after having served for four months in the Sea Fencibles at Dunbar, was appointed to the Volcano bomb. In her he was for upwards of 12 months stationed between Dungeness and Boulogne, and was present when an attempt was made to sink several stone-ships across the entrance of the harbour at the latter place. Being superseded in Dec. 1804, Capt. Tait, as a reward for his services, was ordered, in the early part of the following year, on promotion to the East Indies, where he was nominated, 5 Oct. 1805 and 3 March, 1806, Acting-Captain of the Sir Francis Drake 32 and Grampus 50. In the ship last mentioned, to which he was confirmed 5 Sept. 1806, he was employed in various parts of the Indian and China seas until sent, in the summer of 1807, to the Cape of Good Hope to supply the place of the Blenheim 74, recently lost. In 1808 the Grampus, being found defective, was ordered with convoy to St. Helena; whence she returned to England in July, 1809, with several of the Hon. Company’s ships under her protection, and was paid off. For the care he had bestowed upon his charge Capt. Tait received a sum of money from the Court of Directors for the purchase of a piece of plate. His last appointments were – 8 Oct. 1814, for upwards of two months, to the Venus frigate, on the coast of Norway – 7 June, 1815, to the Junon 38, in which ship he sailed with sealed orders for the West Indies – and, in 1816, to the Pique 36, on the latter station. He invalided home in March, 1817, from the effects of yellow fever, and did not again go afloat. His promotion to Flag-rank took place 23 Nov. 1841. Agents-Hallett and Robinson.