# Royal Naval Biography/Fraser, Alexander

Layout 2
ALEXANDER FRASER, Vice-Admiral of the White, and Equerry to H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge.
The subject of this memoir is the eldest surviving son of Hugh Fraser, Esq., surveyor of the Customs at Lerwick, in Shetland (and 5th in lineal descent from William, second son of Thomas Fraser, of Strichen, Esq., second son of Alexander fifth Lord Lovat, who died in 1558), by Jane, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Linning, of Walstein. His maternal grandmother was eldest daughter of John Hamilton, of Gilkerscleugh, Esq., descended from the first Marquis of Hamilton.
Our officer was born about the year 1751, and when only nine years of age, entered the naval service on board the Fly sloop, commanded by the late admiral Gayton, with whom he served at the reduction of Belleisle.
At the conclusion of the war, in 1763, Mr. Fraser returned to school, where he continued until the latter end of the year 1767, when he went as Midshipman of the Mermaid frigate, to America, and remained in her three years; at the expiration of which he was appointed acting Lieutenant of the Bonetta sloop.
​Returning to England in the winter of 1772, he passed the usual examination at the Navy Office; and in June 1773, was ordered on board the Royal Oak, of 74 guns, at Spithead, where a fleet had been assembled, and was then to be reviewed by his late Majesty. Not having the good fortune to be in the number of the successful candidates for promotion, which took place on that occasion, Mr. Fraser remained in the Royal Oak till the Autumn of 1774, when he again went to America, as acting Lieutenant of the Scarborough, a 20-gun ship.
When hostilities with the colonists broke out, it was thought fit to destroy some of their seaport towns; and the late Captain Henry Mowat, in the Canceaux, being entrusted with the execution of this service, for which he had a small squadron, and 200 additional marines embarked, Mr. Fraser was ordered on board the Canceaux as Lieutenant. The town of Falmouth, the inhabitants of which had opposed with violence the loading of a mast ship, being the first object, Mr. Fraser was sent on shore with a flag of truce, offering to spare the place on the condition of the rebels delivering up all their artillery and small arms; this not being complied with, the squadron opened a heavy cannonade, and in a short time destroyed 130 dwellings, 278 store and warehouses, a large new church, the. court-house, and public library; to complete the demolition of the town, a large body of seamen and marines were landed under Mr. Fraser, who set fire to such parts as could not be destroyed from the ships; in effecting this, he was a good deal annoyed by the Americans from behind hedges, &c.; but being covered by the squadron, he reimbarked the whole party, having only a few wounded.
During the ensuing campaign of 1776, Mr. Fraser was constantly employed in the flat boats at Long Island, New York, &c. (See Sir Andrew S. Hamond), and particularly at the taking of Fort Washington, where he led one of the divisions of boats in which the light infantry were embarked, and which were exposed to a very galling fire of grape and musketry, while waiting for the flowing of the tide to proceed up the creek; on this occasion he had 2 men killed and several wounded in his own boat. At the latter end of the same year he returned to England in the Bristol, with Lord Shuldham, ​who had been superseded in the chief command on the American station by Earl Howe.
In 1777, Lord Sandwich, then at the head of the Admiralty, gave Mr. Fraser his first commission, with the flattering compliment – that it was for his services in America. The appointment was to the Hector, of 74 guns, Captain Sir John Hamilton. In the month of June, 1778, our officer was ordered to take charge of la Licorne French frigate, detained by the Hector, and carried her into Portsmouth harbour. On the 27th of July following, he was present in the action between Keppel and d’Orvilliers.
The Hector continued with the Channel fleet until 1779, when she was ordered to the West Indies with Sir George B. Rodney. In the summer of 1780, she formed part of a squadron, consisting of four line-of-battle ships, one of 50guns, and a frigate, sent under the Hon. Captain Cornwallis to escort the homeward bound trade through the Gulf of Florida. After performing that service, Captain Cornwallis cruised off the island of Cuba, and on the 12th June fell in with a fleet of French merchantmen under the protection of eleven sail of the line, and several frigates. In this rencounter the British Commander displayed great nautical skill, drawing up and manoeuvring his little squadron with so much judgment, that the French Admiral did not think it adviseable to hazard a close action. Some random shot only passed between them, by which a few men were killed and wounded. Soon after this affair Mr. Fraser exchanged into the Conqueror, 74, as first Lieutenant, being desirous to return to England to join his friend Commodore Johnstone, who had recently been appointed to the command of a squadron destined for the reduction of the Cape of Good Hope. On her passage home the Conqueror lost her main-mast in a hurricane, and was in other respects so much damaged that it became necessary to keep 100 men constantly employed during the remainder of the voyage, baling the water out at the hatchways. By extraordinary exertions, however, she arrived at Spithead, and her Commander (the late Admiral Dickson) ever afterwards ​declared that the preservation of the ship was in a great measure owing to the efforts of Mr. Fraser.
Commodore Johnstone having, in the mean time, completed the number of his Lieutenants, Mr. Fraser was induced to accept a commission for the St. Carlos, a 50-gun ship, armée en flute, attached to the armament; he was consequently in the skirmish in Porto Praya, when M. de Suffrein surprised the British squadron; soon after which event he was removed into the Romney, bearing the broad pendant of his patron, with whom he returned to England.
We next find our officer serving as first Lieutenant of the Panther, in the action with the combined fleets, after the relief of Gibraltar in 1782, by Lord Howe. He was afterwards removed into the Ruby, of 64 guns, one of the ships detached from the fleet and ordered to the West Indies. On the passage out, falling in with an enemy’s squadron to windward of Barbadoes, the Ruby, after an action of 48 minutes within pistol-shot, took the Solitaire, of equal force, which had 38 men killed, and above 40 wounded, though the Ruby had not a man killed, and but a few slightly wounded.
Soon after the arrival of the Ruby in the West Indies, Lieutenant Fraser joined the Formidable, bearing the flag of Admiral Pigot; but in consequence of peace taking place, he had the mortification of returning to England without any further advancement. He afterwards accompanied Sir R. Hughes in the Adamant to the Leeward Islands, where he continued until the Autumn of 1786. It was on this station he had the good fortune of acquiring the acquaintance and friendship of the late Lord Nelson, who then commanded the Boreas frigate; which continued till the lamented death of that great officer.
In the month of June, 1787, Mr. Fraser was appointed to the Colossus, of 74 guns, which ship he fitted out for the late Sir Hugh C. Christian; and the armament taking place in October, of which Admiral Pigot was to have the command, he removed Lieutenant F. from the Colossus, to be first of his own ship, the Royal Sovereign, at Plymouth. Thus, when the armament ceased, he, on the 1st. Dec. in the same year, at length obtained the rank of Commander, but remained ​unemployed till the Autumn of 1790, when he was appointed to the Savage sloop, on the Greenock station, where he continued till the latter end of 1792. The Savage was then ordered to the River to assist in carrying to the Nore the newly impressed men; from thence she was sent to join Admiral M‘Bride, in the Downs.
At the breaking out of the war with France, Captain Fraser captured la Custine a privateer, and several Danish ships laden with corn bound to that country. In April, 1793, he was directed to take the Ferret sloop and several cutters under his command, and proceed off Ostend; here he received a requisition from the Baron de Mylius, to land and take possession of the town and garrison; with which he complied, and ran the Savage into the harbour, landing about 500 men, partly marines and partly seamen. On the 5th, he received from the Court of Brussels the intelligence, that General Dumourier had arrested Buernonville and the other Commissioners of the National Convention, and sent them to the Count de Clayrfait. This intelligence, of infinite consequence to the war, he instantly transmitted to the Admiralty; and it was received in so very short a time, that Lord Chatham could scarcely believe the officer who brought the despatch. In four days afterwards, the French army refusing to march to Paris with Dumourier, he was himself obliged to fly, which of course put an end to the armistice between the Prince of Cobourg and him. This intelligence Captain Fraser received through the same channel, and was equally fortunate in the speedy transmission of it to the Admiralty. As he necessarily lived on shore, H.R.H. the Duke of York was pleased to order the Commissary-General to pay him one pound sterling per day for his table, which was continued all the time he remained on the station. Sir Charles Ross, with the 37th regiment, relieved him in the command on shore on the 20th April; but he still continued as Commander of the naval department, until the events which succeeded required a greater force, and officers of superior rank, among whom were Admiral M‘Bride, Captain (afterwards Sir George) Murray, &c.; previous to which, he was, on the 1st July, 1793, promoted to post rank in the Redoubt, of 20 guns, the Savage’s crew turned over into her, and sent to the same station; where he materially ​contributed to the defence of Nieuport, by anchoring close in-shore, and firing into the enemy’s camp over the sand-hills.
In July, 1794, Captain Fraser was appointed to the Proserpine frigate, attached to the North Sea fleet, under the orders of Admiral Duncan, on which service he continued until Dec. 1795, and then removed into the Shannon, a new frigate of 32 guns, stationed on the coast of Ireland, where he captured the following French privateers; le Duguay Trouin, of 24 guns and 150 men; le Grand Indien, 20 guns, 125 men; la Julie, 18 guns, 120 men; and la Mouche, 16 guns, 122 men.
In 1799, our officer obtained the command of the Diana a 38-gun frigate, in which he escorted a large fleet to the West Indies, where he intercepted several privateers. Having been in the course of one year twice attacked by the yellow fever, he was most reluctantly obliged to resign his ship, and return to England as a passenger in the Invincible.
Captain Fraser’s next appointment was to the Berschermer, of 54 guns, employed as a guard-ship in the Swin, until the end of the war. He then joined the Amphion frigate, and conveyed H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge and suite to Cuxhaven. In 1804, he was appointed to the Weymouth, another frigate; and soon after to the Hindostan, of 54 guns. In her he visited the East Indies, from whence he returned in the summer of 1806, and commanded in succession the Prince, a second rate, and Vanguard, of 74 guns. The latter vessel, commissioned by him in Jan. 1807, formed part of the fleet under Lord Gambier in the expedition against Copenhagen.
When the Commander-in-Chief returned to England with the Danish prizes, Captain Fraser was ordered to remain with the Vanguard, and a considerable number of frigates and sloops, for the blockade of Zealand, and the protection of the trade still remaining in the Baltic. This proved to be a service of much greater anxiety and difficulty than had been foreseen or provided for; not only did the Danes refuse all offers made of reciprocal forbearance, which had been reckoned upon, but fitted out a great number of gun-boats in all quarters, which much annoyed the merchant-ships coming through the grounds, and also the vessels which arrived from England bound up. He succeeded, however, in sending safe through the Sound about 300 sail, giving them ample protection from thence to ​Britain. An embargo also took place in the Russian ports as early as the 15th Nov.; notwithstanding which a very few ships only remained, as they met with every facility in getting ready and proceeding, from the Russian government, until the embargo actually took place; the military even assisting in loading the vessels.
Captain Fraser remained off Copenhagen till the 21st. Nov. and then dropt down to Helsinburgh to collect the last ships for the season, and proceed with them to England on the 30th, agreeably to his orders. On his arrival, he found, to his great astonishment, that instead of receiving the thanks of the mercantile world, whose property he had protected, he was called upon to answer the allegations of some of those bodies, who, utterly ignorant of the existing circumstances, either of the continued and decided hostilities of the Danes, or the embargo which had taken place in Russia, had complained that the squadron had left the Sound at too early a period, and even hinted that Captain Fraser had acted contrary to his orders; he had the pleasure, however, of fully satisfying the Admiralty Board, which entirely approved of his conduct.
On the Vanguard being ordered again to Copenhagen, in Jan. 1808, our officer, whose health had been considerably impaired, obtained leave of absence, and soon after the command of the sea fencibles at Dundee, in which he remained until the final discharge of that corps in 1810. On the 1st. Aug. in that year, he was appointed to the William and Mary yacht, and at the same time selected by the Duke of Cambridge to be one of H. R. H’s equerries. His advancement to the rank of Rear-Admiral took place Aug. 1st, 1811, and on the 12th Aug. 1819, he was made a Vice-Admiral. At the latter end of the same year, he presided at a meeting of half-pay officers, held at Edinburgh, for the purpose of tendering their services in support of the civil authorities. Their loyal determination was transmitted to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, through the Board of Admiralty.
Our officer married, 1788, Helen, eldest daughter of John Bruce, of Sunburgh, Esq. Advocate, and Collector of the Customs in Shetland. By this lady he had three sons and two daughters; the eldest of the former is an officer in the ​Engineers; the second was first Lieutenant of the Magnet sloop, which foundered with all her crew on the passage to America, in Sept, 1812; the youngest was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, Sept. 5, 1816.
Residence.– Send Lodge, Shetland.
* ↑ Belleisle surrendered June 7, 1761, to the naval and military forces under the respective commands of the Hon. Commodore Keppel, and Major-General Hodgson. The French garrison consisted of 2,600 men, 922 of whom were either killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, during the siege. The loss sustained by the British in ejecting this conquest, amounted to 313 killed, and 494 wounded.
* ↑ Father of the present Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Hamilton, and Rear. Admiral Sir Edward Hamilton.
* ↑ See Note †, at p. 195.
* ↑ See p. 268, et seq.