page_title: Gordon Falcon (Royal Navy officer)
section_title: Early service
hierarchical_section_title: Gordon Falcon (Royal Navy officer) / Early service
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: storyofonehundre00shep (find matches) Title: Story of one hundred years&#160;: A comprehensive review of the political and military events, the social, intellectual and material progress, and the general state of mankind in all lands. Embodying detailed and accurate accounts of all things of importance and interest, from 1801 to 1900, inclusive Year: 1900 (1900s) Authors: Shepp, Daniel B Subjects: History, Modern Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa.&#160;: Globe Bible publishing company Contributing Library: University of California Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: roidsto be discovered. In 1802 The Edinburgh Review, the first of the famous quarterlyreviews, was founded. Its founders were Francis Jeffrey, Sidney Smith,Henry Brougham and Francis Horner, and its publisher was Constable.It was a success from the first, and in a few years rose to the foremostplace in the literary world. The deaths of Klopstock, Alfieri and Herder occurred in 1803, andthe fact indicates the quality of intellect that then prevailed. Klopstock,author of The Messiah, must always be reckoned among thegreatest of German poets, and Alfieri holds similar rank among Italianpoets. Herder, the teacher and guide of Goethe, is well entitled to beremembered as the founder of modern German literature. In 1804Immanuel Kant, one of the greatest philosophers of any age, died. AMERICAN LITERATURE. In these years American literature may be said to have had its foun-dation. Washington Irving began his work in the Morning Chronicle I o o o X n M &gt; Or•^&gt;H&#160;?^X MR&#160;:&#160;: O :c C C HC r, Text Appearing After Image: ' Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: Gordon Thomas Falcon was an officer in the Royal Navy. He first went to sea in 1794 as an able seaman on board HMS Sheerness. Quickly promoted to midshipman, Falcon transferred to HMS Repulse and then HMS Venerable, Admiral Adam Duncan's flagship, in which he served at the Battle of Camperdown.
  As a lieutenant, Falcon was aboard HMS Leopard when she fired on the USS Chesapeake, causing an international incident. He was promoted to post-captain on 29 October 1813, and soon after was assigned to the newly built HMS Leander. Falcon was in command of the 22-gun HMS Cyane when she and the 20-gun HMS Levant engaged the American 44-gun super frigate, USS Constitution near Madeira on 20 February 1815. Outgunned, both ships were captured and Falcon was made a prisoner of war. After hostilities, Falcon was released and stood trial for the loss of his ship at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he was honourably acquitted.
  Towards the end of his career, Falcon served aboard HMS Royal Adelaide as flag captain to William Hargood, the Commander-in-Chief at Plymouth.
context_section_description: Gordon Thomas Falcon joined the Royal Navy as an able seaman in 1794. He first served under William George Fairfax, on board the fifth-rate frigate, HMS Sheerness, Rear-admiral Henry Harvey's flagship, in the English Channel. Falcon was quickly promoted to midshipman and followed Fairfax, first into HMS Repulse, and then HMS Venerable, Admiral Adam Duncan's flagship. Falcon was on board the latter when she fought at the Battle of Camperdown shortly after which, in 1798, he transferred to the newly constructed HMS Kent. That year, he also spent three months as Acting-Lieutenant, aboard the 20-gun HMS Champion. 
  In 1799, still serving in home waters, Falcon was twice more acting-lieutenant; first in the 18-gun HMS Busy, then later in the frigate, HMS Hyaena. He was confirmed as lieutenant on 15 May 1800 and transferred to the armed ship, Wright. Falcon moved to the 32-gun HMS Andromeda on 23 August and in her, sailed for the Leeward Islands that December. He was part of the force that seized Danish and Swedish possessions in the West Indies in retaliation for their part in the League of Armed Neutrality.
  On 21 July 1803, Falcon joined HMS Cambrian, then serving as the flagship of Sir Andrew Mitchell, on the North America and West Indies Station. He later followed Mitchell into HMS Leander and while aboard, on 23 February 1805, assisted in the capture of the 46-gun, French frigate, Ville de Milan, and the simultaneous re-capture of her prize, the 32-gun Cleopatra. Ville de Milan, under Captain Pierre Guillet, and Cleopatra, which had been captured the day before, were forced to surrender after a chase of some four hours. Both had been badly damaged in their previous engagement and struck without a fight.
  In 1806, Falcon joined HMS Leopard and was still a member of the crew on 22 June 1807 when the Chesapeake–Leopard affair occurred. Having received intelligence that British deserters were aboard, Leopard had been sent from Halifax, Nova Scotia, with orders to stop and search the American frigate. While anchored off Cape Henry, Chesapeake was spotted putting to sea. Using the ruse of having dispatches, an officer from Leopard boarded the Chesapeake. When the true purpose of the visit was revealed, the American captain pretended not to know of any such men and refused to allow a search of his ship. The British officer returned to his ship, which then opened fire. When Chesapeake surrendered, Falcon, with two other lieutenants and a party of men boarded her and removed four of her crew.
caption: Officers of Chesapeake offering their swords to officers of the Leopard, depicted c. 1900. Falcon was one of the British officers that boarded.
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