Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

William Gordon (1705 – 17 April 1769) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer who became

Commander-in-Chief, The Nore The Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Nore Station or Nore Command. The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Th ...

Naval career

Promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, Gordon became commanding officer of the 24-gun , and working with

Lord George Graham Lord George Graham (26 September 1715 – 2 January 1747) was a Scottish officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the War of the Austrian Succession. He embarked on a political career, and was a Member of Parliament. Graham was born int ...

commanding the 24-gun and the armed vessel ''Ursula'' under Lieutenant Fergusson, he came across three large

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

s from

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.prizes A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

on 2 July 1745. They had taken seven prizes, and were taking them into Dunkirk. The British force attacked them early in the morning of 3 July 1745. After a fierce fight lasting until 4am, four of the prizes surrendered to the ''Sheerness'' and the ''Ursula'' captured the remaining three prizes. Gordon served at the Battle of Louisbourg in June 1758 and at the

Capture of Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

in September 1759 during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

. He went on to be commanding officer of the

second-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...

HMS ''Blenheim'' in July 1761. Promoted to

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore, a ...

, he became

in April 1762. He was promoted to Rear Admiral of the White and is buried at St Mary's Kirkyard in Banff.

Personal life

Carmelite House, at 28 Low Street in Banff, was built in 1753 for Gordon.

Gallery

File:Carmelite House Banff.jpg, Carmelite House in Banff, Gordon's former home

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, William Royal Navy rear admirals 1705 births 1769 deaths