# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Katon, James

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​KATON. (Vice-Admiral of the Blue, 1841. f-p., 21; h-p., 42.)
James Katon was born 5 July, 1770, and died 14 Dec. 1845, at Gosport. He was son of Lieut. Edw. Katon, R.N., who died in 1779, and brother-in-law of the late Capt. Henry Vaughan, R.N. Two of his brothers, both in the Royal Marines, fell victims to the yellow fever in the West Indies; and a third died a Captain of that corps and Barrack-Master of the Portsmouth division.
This officer entered the Navy, 3 July, 1783 (under the auspices of Lord Hood), as Midshipman, on board the Princess Royal 98, Capt. Jonathan Faulknor, whom he followed into the Triumph 74, both guard-ships at Portsmouth. He was next, between May, 1786, and Sept. 1791, employed, on the Newfoundland, Channel, and West India stations, in the Echo, Falcon, and Orestes sloops, Capts. Robt. Carthew Reynolds, Thos. Laugharne, and Thos. Revell Shivers, and Marlborough 74, Capt. Sam. Cornish. Joining Commodore Linzee, in Dec. 1792, on board the Alcide 74, he served in 1793 at the occupation of Toulon, and was present in the early part of the following year at the siege of St. Fiorenza, where he landed with a detachment of men under Capt. Edw. Cooke, and assisted at the storming of Convention Hill, preparatory to the evacuation of the town by the enemy’s troops. On 14 March, 1794, having been promoted on 18 of the previous month to a Lieutenancy in the Courageux 74, Capts. Benj. Hallowell, Wm. Waldegrave, Chas. Elphinstone, and Augustus Montgomery, he shared in the conspicuous part home by that ship in Vice-Admiral Hotham’s partial action off Genoa; after which he again served with his old Commander, then Rear-Admiral Linzee, on board the Windsor Castle 98, and Victory 100 – also with Capt. Shuldham Peard in the St. George 98- once more with Rear-Admiral Linzee In the Princess Royal 98 – for 20 months with Sir Roger Curtis in the Prince ​98 – and for two years and a half with Earl St. Vincent in the Ville de Paris 110. In Jan. 1801 he was appointed by the latter nobleman Acting-Captain of the Princess Royal, and also of the Cumberland 74, from which ship, on his arrival in the following April at Jamaica, whither he had gone in quest of a French squadron under Admiral Ganteaume, he was removed by Lord Hugh Seymour to the command of the Lark sloop – an appointment which the Admiralty, we believe, ratified on 7 May. He was confirmed a Post-Captain, 23 Oct. 1801, in the Carnatic 74, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Robt. Montagu, with whom he soon removed to the Sans Pareil 80. In March, 1802, previously to the departure of the latter officer from Port Royal, he presented Capt. Katon with a sword, as a token of his regard and approbation. In the same spirit Lord St. Vincent, in the preceding year, had awarded him a medal. He returned to England in June, 1803, as Captain of the Trent frigate; and afterwards held the temporary command, from 13 Jan. 1809 to 4 May, 1810, of the Mars 74, and, from 16 April to 9 Sept. 1811, of the Niobe 40. While in the former ship he received the thanks of the Admiralty for his protection of the Baltic trade; and when in the Niobe he visited the coasts of Spitzbergen and Greenland, for the purpose of affording security to the British fisheries. He became a Rear-Admiral on the Retired List 22 July, 1830; was transferred to the Active List 17 Aug. 1840; and rose to the rank of Vice- Admiral 23 Nov. 1841.
He married, 28 Feb. 1804, Adeliza Arabella, second daughter of Geo. Moubray, Esq., of Cockairney, co. Fife, sister of Capt. Geo. Moubray, R.N., and cousin of the late Admiral Sir Rich. Hussey Hussey, K.C.B., by whom he has left issue a son, the present Commander J. E. Katon, R.N., and five daughters.