William Gordon Rutherfurd
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| William Gordon Rutherfurd |
|
|---|---|
| Born | 1765 Wilmington, North Carolina, USA |
| Died | 14 January 1818 Greenwich, England |
| Occupation | Royal Navy Officer |
Captain William Gordon Rutherfurd[1], RN, CB (1765 - 14 January 1818) was an officer in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars whose career was almost entirely conducted in the West Indies except for a brief sojurn in European waters during which he commanded the ship of the line HMS Swiftsure at the battle of Trafalgar.
Born in Wilmington, North Carolina to loyalist parents in 1765, his family moved to the Caribbean during the Revolution and in 1788 William was sent to sea aboard the HMS Suffolk, having been educated in Britain at Edinburgh and then St Andrews University. Although he came to the Navy very late (most midshipmen joined at twelve or thirteen), Rutherfurd was a capable sailor and possessed a large amount of patronage which enabled his to pass for lieutenant [2] in HMS Boyne under Sir John Jervis. Rutherfurd was in the thick of the action during the 1794 West Indies campaign, participating as a junior officer in the storming of several forts on Martinique and receiving several accolades for his actions including promotion to commander.[3]
Remaining in the Caribbean, Rutherfurd then made the next leap to Post captain [4] in 1796 and was instrumental in several minor skirmishes with enemy shipping amongst the islands, including the capture of Curacoa in 1800 for which he was again lauded. He returned to England after seven years aboard during the Peace of Amiens and was granted the 74 gun new ship Swiftsure when war broke out again, making several trips to the West Indies as well as participating in the blockade of the French Atlantic Coast. It was in this capacity that in the summer of 1805 he was dispatched to join Admiral Nelson's fleet off Cadiz and so was present at the battle on the 21 October.
Situated far to the rear of Admiral Collingwood's division, Rutherfurd made strenuous efforts to reach the battle, but although she was quite a new ship Swiftsure had been at sea for sometime and so had damage to her hull which prevented her from making great speed. It thus took several hours for Swiftsure to reach the fight, but whe she did she proved decisive in several of the southern combats. The HMS Belleisle had been dismasted and was being pounded by three enemy ships when from the gunsmoke emerged the Swiftsure, her crew cheering and her guns firing double shotted rounds into the enemy, principally the Achille which was dismasted and caught fire, flames racing through the wooden ship. As thousands of panicking French sailors jumped into the sea, Rutherfurd ordered his ship's boats to rescue as many survivors as could be found, pullung hundreds aboard his ship but losing several men when the Achille's magazines suddenly detonated, swamping one of his boats.
Following the battle, the undamaged Swiftsure took the sinking Redoubtable in tow but was forced to cut the line when the French ship suddenly sank. Amongst the hundreds who drowned were five Swiftsure men. Rutherfurd returned to Gibraltar and from there travelled to Britain, where he was rewarded for his part in the action, but was then relegated to shore service and long periods of unemployment, unfortunately nor possessing the seniority to make the jump to Admiral that so many of his contemporaries did.
Suffering from ill-health himself, in 1814 he was put in command of Greenwich Hospital and a year later was made a Companion of the Bath [5]upon the inception of that order. He died in 1818 after a long illness and was buried in St Margaret's Church in Westminister, where his grave marker is still visible. [6]
[edit] Further reading
- The Trafalgar Captains, Colin White and the 1805 Club, Chatham Publishing, London, 2005, ISBN 1-86176-247-X
[edit] References
- ^ Sometime spelt Rutherford.
- ^ 9 January 1794
- ^ 4 July 1794
- ^ 15 November 1796
- ^ 4 June 1815
- ^ Memorial: Wall marble tablet, St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, London
