# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Tait, Robert

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​TAIT. (Captain, 1827. f-p., 19; h-p., 22.)
Robert Tait, born 23 Jan. 1793, is fifth son of Wm. Tait, Esq., of Pirn, co. Mid-Lothian, where his family, originally from co. Peebles, has been seated for many generations.
This officer entered the Navy, 9 Dec. 1806, as Ordinary, on board the Renown 74, Capt. Philip Chas. Durham; in which ship (he attained the rating of Midshipman in July, 1807) he served off L’Orient until the early part of 1808, and then proceeded in pursuit of a French squadron to the Mediterranean, where he assisted at the blockade of Toulon, escorted Prince Leopold of Sicily from Gibraltar to Palermo, and united in Oct. 1809 in the pursuit which led to the self-destruction, near Cape Cette, of the ships-of-the-line Robuste and Lion. On the paying off of the Renown he was received, in March, 1810, on board the Scipion 74, bearing the flag of Hon. Robt. Stopford; under whom, after he had been for some time stationed off Rochefort and had been much employed in the boats in harassing the enemy’s coasting trade, he sailed for the Cape of Good Hope. In the summer of 1811 he accompanied the expedition against Java, and took part as Mate of the Signals in the operations connected with the reduction of that island. On his return to the Cape he followed the Rear-Admiral, in Jan. 1812, into the Lion 64; under the Master of which ship we find him engaged in making a variety of surveys, one, in particular, of False Bay. In Sept. 1812 he removed to the Harpy sloop, Capt. Sam. Bradstreet Hore; he returned home with Rear-Admiral Stopford in the spring of 1813 in the President 38; and in the after part of the same year he was sent on promotion to the coast of Brazil in the Iris 36, Capt. Hood Hanway Christian. While there he was nominated, 7 Feb. 1814, Acting-First-Lieutenant of the Ceres, a frigate recently taken from the French; but as soon as he had fitted her for sea he was superseded, having been advanced at home to the rank of Lieutenant by a commission bearing date 13 Dec. 1813. His next appointments were, 4 Oct. 1815, to the Amphion 32, Capt. Wm. Bowles, fitting at Portsmouth; and 9 April, 1816, 31 March and 28 Sept. 1817, and 8 Dec. 1818, to the Euphrates and Tagus frigates, Capts. Robt. Foulis Preston and Jas. Whitley Deans Dundas, Albion 74, flagship of Sir Chas. Vinicombe Penrose, and Glasgow 50, Capt. Hon. Anthony Maitland, all in the Mediterranean; where he was promoted 7 Dec. 1819 to the command of the Larne 20. In that vessel, which he brought home and paid off in Oct. 1822, Capt. Tait, besides making a voyage to Madeira, was actively employed, at the commencement of the Greek revolution, in the Archipelago and among the Ionian islands. Obtaining command, 30 March, 1826, of the Heron 18, he went out in the following Aug. to the Brazils; where, in March, 1827, he was appointed by Sir Robt. Waller Otway, the Commander-in-Chief, Acting-Captain of the Volage 28, then in the Pacific; on which station he was afterwards for eight months senior officer. As he had, however, been promoted to Post-rank in England 17 April, 1827, Capt. Tait, in Feb. 1828, was superseded from the Volage and returned home a passenger in the Blossom 24, Capt. Fred. Wm. Beechey. He was next, in Oct. 1832, selected by the late Sir Michael Seymour, who was about to assume the chief control of naval affairs in South America, to command his flag-ship the Spartiate 76; and in the following Feb., after having been for a short time employed with the North Sea squadron under Sir Pulteney Malcolm, he sailed for the Brazils; where, from the death of Sir Michael Seymour in July, 1834, until the arrival in the ensuing Dec. of his successor. Sir Graham Eden Hamond, we find him discharging the duties of senior officer in a manner that gained him the approval of the Admiralty and the thanks of Commodore Fras. Mason, who, during the interval, was absent in the Pacific. On Sir G. E. Hamond shifting his flag in June, 1835, to the Dublin 50, Capt. Tait returned to England and was paid off. A few months afterwards he was invited by Sir Graham to become his Flag-Captain; but the state of his health at the time compelled him to decline the offer. In July, 1836, however, having recovered, and the proposal being renewed, he accepted it, and he accordingly sailed in the Imogene, Capt. Henry Wm. Bruce, for Rio de Janeiro. On his arrival in the following Oct. he joined the Dublin; and in her he remained until paid off on his return home in May, 1838. This was his last appointment. He accepted the Retirement in 1847.
Capt. Tait married, in March, 1819, Lucy Matilda Margaret, daughter of Dr. John Allen, Surgeon of the Royal Naval Hospital at Malta, by whom he has had issue 11 children. Agent – Fred. Dufaur.