The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-21 00:00:00

DiATIt OP ADMIRAL MACKELLAR.

Admiral Mackellar,- we regret to say, died at Chelten-
ham on the 14th inst., in the 86th year of his age. This
venerable flag-officer was in the receipt of a good service
pension, and consequently was on the reserved half-pay
list. He entered the navy in 1781, and served 25 years
afloat during the war, for which—although he most gal-
lantlydistinguished himself, and was wounded and taken
prisoner—he Jailed to obtain the slightest decoration.
The following is a sketch of his services :
" John Mackellar,. born about 1768, at Minorca, was
eldest son (by Miss Elizabeth Baseline, of that island) of
the late General- Patrick Mackellar, a colonel of the
Royal Engineers; who served as chief engineer under
GeneraLWolfe at Quebec, assisted in a similar capacity
at the reduction of Martinique, Guadaloupe, and the
Savannah, and closed a most honourable and valuable
life as chief engineer at Minorca in 1779. The admiral's
only brother, Neil, also attained high rank in the army.
His first ship was the. Romney, 50, Captain Roddam
Home, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore
Johnstone, and in her he was wounded in the leg dur-
ing an *Alan with a French squadron under M. de:
Suffrein, in' Porto-Praya Bay. In the Enterprise, 28,
he assisted, as 'midshipman of that vessel, at the cap-
ture or destruction, in the West Indies, of two valuable
Spanish polaccres, a 'privateer of 16 guns and 70 men,
six other armed vessels, the Comte de Grasse of 20
guns and 120 men, and the Mohawk of 22 guns and
125 men. Hia. was on one occasion sent up a river in
charge of one of several boats, which effected the anni-
hilation, after a party of native militia had been defeated,
of the store-houses belonging to two plantations ; and on
another, he took command of one of two boats, and aided
in destroying a privateer of 16 guns, notwithstanding the
resistance offered by her crew, supported by some mili-
tary, and the presence of several French men of war
lying in Boston Harbour. Subsequently to the general
peace-we find the Enterprise taking formal possession of
Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitt's, and Dominica, in conse-
quence -of those islands having been restored to Great
Britain'by the Treaty of Versailles. June 19, 1793, was
appointed lieutenant to the Assistance, 50, in which ship
he contributed to the capture, Aug. 28, 1796, of the
French 36 gun frigate Elizabeth, off Cape Henry. In
1798 Capt. Mackellar obtained an appointment to the
Minerva frigate armee en flute, part of the force sent
three months afterwards, under Sir Home Popham, to
destroy the locks and sluice gates of the Bruges Canal. In
the execution of that service he distinguished himself in a
very remarkable manner, and obtained the particular c on-
mendation of the military Commander-in-Chief, Major-
General Coote ; with whom, and the troops under his
orders, he had the misfortune to be taken prisoner, owing
solely to the circumstance of his having voluntarily re-
mained on shore for the purpose of assurning command
of a detachment of seamen \w ho had unavoidably been
left without an cfAcer of sufficient rank to direct them
at a moment when the presence of one was absolutely
necessary. Regaining his liberty in the cour-e of the
next December, Captaio Mackel.ar was rewarded for
his conduct—after having held command for 14 weeks of
the Wolverene sloop, and Charon, 44, on the hone and
Mediterranean stations, by advancement to post rank.
April 27, 1799. He continued someanontlis in the ships
last mentioned, performing during that period various
particular services, and assisting at the evacuation of
the Helder ; and he was next, in September, 1800, and
March, 1801,' appointed to the Jamaica, 26, and Terpsi-
choi e, 32. In the former of those vessels he escorted a
fleet of merchantmen to and from the Baltic, made one
or two captures, and compelled a large privateer, com-
manded by the famous 'Blakeman, to lighten herself of
her guns, &c., in order to effect her escape. On his
removal to the Terpsichore, Capt. Mackellar was at first
employed at the blockade of Boulogne and Calais, and
then in the East Indies. While on that station in Dec.,
1801, he volunteered, at a period when the Terpsichore
was in a dismantled state, to take charge of an expedi-
tion, consisting of the Marquis Cornwallis, of 48 guns,
and several of the hon. company's vessels, for the pur-
pose of conveying a reinforcement of 1,000 troops to
the Portuguese settlements of Dersaun and Diu. The
able and successful manner in which he accom-
plished the objects of the mission elicited the
high approbation and thanks of the Bombay Go-
vernment. His exertions in subsequently conveying a
body of 3,Q00 men from Goa to the relief of the gover-
nor of that presidency,. Hon. Jonathan Duncan, when
surrounded by his enemies at Surat, again procured
him similar acknowledgments. He returned to Eng-
, land in 1802;. having been latterly employed at the
blockade of Goa, and was afterwards appointed—in May.
1804, to the agency for prisoners of war and transports,
and the goyernorship of the Naval Hospital at Halifax,
Nova Scotia, where he remained about six years. Capt.
Mackellar received an address signed by the Mayor and
the heads of 49 commercial houses at Jamaica, expres-
sive of the sense they entertained of the solicitude he had
always evinced for the welfare of the trade of the island.
He became a Rear-Admiral May 27, 1825 ; a Vice-Ad-
miral Jan. 10, 1837; and a full Admiral July 26, 1847."