3-021-563 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Admiral Sir James Gordon, Governor of Greenwich Hospital, 1869. Engraving from a photograph by Maull and Polyblank. 'He entered the Navy in 1793, (then a child of ten years) as cadet...[He was] present at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, the Battle of the Nile, and other famous actions of the French war...the Active, whose complement had been reduced to about 218 men, captured La Pomone, of 44 guns and 332 men, fifty of whom were killed and wounded. The British did not sustain a loss of more than eight killed and twenty-seven wounded; among the latter of whom, however, was the gallant Gordon himself, "an officer whose merits," as expressed by Captain Murray Maxwell..."are known to his country, and who lives in the hearts of all who have the happiness to know him." A 36-pounder took his leg clean off above the knee-joint while he was standing on a shot-rack and leaning on the capstan...He...was appointed, in 1828, Superintendent of the Plymouth Victualling Yard and Royal Naval Hospital. In 1832 he became Superintendent of the Chatham Dockyard, and held that office till his promotion to the rank of Admiral in 1837. He was made Lieutenant-Governor of Greenwich Hospital, in 1848...he became Admiral of the Fleet in 1868.' From "Illustrated London News", 1869.