268:"Considering that the most illustrious gentleman, Thomas Gordon, Knight, Admiral in the Fleet of the Most Serene Empress of Russia, is a man of noble birth in this our kingdom of Scotland, being honourably descended from the ancient race of Gordons whose present chief is the most powerful Duke of Gordon; that he was from his early years a most worthy citizen of this city of Aberdeen; that this same brave man, when in the British navy, strenuously defended the commerce and ships of this city from pirates and enemies of every kind; and that he, being an account of his great valour deservedly promoted to the highest honours by the Empress of Russia, still befriends this city; we, in token of our gratitude and esteem, do approve and confirm the aforesaid most illustrious gentleman, Thomas Gordon, as a burgess of this burgh, with all the rights and privileges of a guild brother. Given under the private seal of this our city and signed in our name and by our appointment by Walter Cochran."
641:"I have a countryman of ours with me, who was pinned on me by our friends in London. I was ordered to put him into your hands, and I long for an opportunity to get him off my own. I donât know if he was designed for my guide, but I find myself under a necessity of being his, for to take him out of his wooden world, he knows no more about travelling than a child of six. He is in a prodigious hurry to be at Dunkirk before Saturday. I wish to God he maybe soon wanted. He is in such haste that I was forced to go halves with him in hiring a packet boat at the rate of ÂŁ5 on purpose to be almost âdrounded,â or what was very near as extravagant a reason, to humour my fellow traveller, for we came over in so prodigious a storm that nothing but our light heads could have kept us from the bottom."
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responsible for the appointments of lieutenants and all inferiors, he was appointing the best officers and men to the Danish and Dutch commanders. The
General-Admiral, Count Apraxin, did his best to justify the actions of Rear Admiral Sievers and maintained that Gordon had falsely accused him of partiality when dividing the officers and men. During his conversation he referred to Gordon as âyour admiralâ to Peter the Great which was not well received. As Sievers was going to leave the Tsar's service at the end of the campaign, it was left like that. The next day Peter called the two admirals together and made them drink a glass of wine together hoping that this would end their bickering.
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speak and write most
European tongues and was fluent in Russian. But he just could not stand Thomas Gordon. Seivers refused to suffer Rear Admiral Gordon to be present at discussions upon the executions of any orders even when required by the Tsar. He felt that Peter the Great esteemed Gordon before him and indeed the Tsar appointed Gordon to take charge of a fleet over his head on the strength of his having been a British officer and trained in a better navy than Sievers had. Unlike Seivers, Gordon could not speak Russian but was fluent in Dutch.
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751:"All the Poles that I have seen assure me that the so sudden surrender of the town was entirely owing to appearance of the fleet which cut off all hopes of succours, and therefore they look on you, as the main instrument of the loss of their liberty, for that is their ordinary term for us who have been employed on this side of Poland."
570:. Their absorption into the British navy was unpopular with many Scots seamen. One hundred of Gordon's men mutinied at Leith having got it into their heads that they would be sent to the West Indies or elsewhere outside of home waters. They were used to serving in Scottish and continental waters and just did not relish service abroad.
496:(Captain Hamilton). Their commission was to guard and convoy the shipping on the east coast of Scotland. However, faithful Captain Gordon was in capturing French and Ostend privateers, out of which he could make handsome awards of prize money, he was not averse to letting a French ship land Jabobite political agents at
611:. She was described as a vessel of 364.5 tons with two decks and 32 guns carrying a crew of 145 men. The length of the gun deck was 99 feet (30 m), and she was 28 feet 8 inches (8.74 m) wide with a depth of 11 feet 2 inches (3.40 m). On 5 November 1709 Gordon was posted to the
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and French ships under
Admiral Forbin. Captain Gordon when off the Firth of Forth captured the French man of war 'Salisbury' that was the sole trophy of the fight. The rest of the French ships were scattered and did not arrive in Dunkirk until three weeks afterwards. Admiral Byng had been promoted to
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Negotiations between
Scotland and England for a union were going on at this time. Commodore Gordon intimated to the French that he would soon be obliged to quit the service since, when it came to Union, he could not see himself taking the oath of abjuration to repudiate the late King James Stewart as
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and the
Canaries was allowed by agreement between the two countries. The case went on for years but the vessel was sold at Leith in two weeks. Apparently she also had an illegal French passport and the ship's cook took revenge on the captain, who had had him beaten the previous day, by revealing this
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in 1806. There were three daughters, Anna, Mary and Jean; the former married Sir Henry
Stirling of Ardoch. In 1726, Mary was married to William Elmsal also at St. Petersburg. Jean married John Young, whose daughter Ann Young married Lt. Thomas MacKenzie in 1738, two years after the latter joined the
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for his promptness. Unbeknown to the
British, jealousy and disputes between the French officers had frittered away much valuable time. On the eve of his voyage, the royal guest became ill due to measles, contracted from his sister, so the attempt at landing him had been cancelled before they sailed.
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When the Old Scots Navy merged with Royal Navy there was some dispute over the seniority of the
Scottish captains. It was finally agreed that their time would count from when they received their commissions as captains from Queen Anne. This meant that four years at sea did not count and the dispute
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in his navy about the year 1708. Having been engaged by Peter the Great as captain, he was sometimes employed on board, sometimes in the yard, as Under-Equipage Master. He was reported as a man of excellent sense, general knowledge and very exact and methodical in his conduct. He was also able to
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to enquire why the shot had been fired, he learned that
Scottish Navy vessels were forbidden from flying a broad pendant whilst in English waters. Gordon pointed out that English and Dutch vessels often wore a broad pendant in Scottish waters. Jones also complained when Gordon fired a morning and
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The family name of the
Admiral's wife is disputed with one source calling her a daughter of Sir Thomas Elphinstone of Calderwood whilst another names her as the daughter of Sir James Elphinstone of Logie, Aberdeenshire; however, in 1710 his wife was definitely Margaret Ross, widow of Mr. William
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and, it was believed, five thousand French troops. Admiral Byng had his critics and the question was raised that had Byng done all he could and for a while the threat of an enquiry was held over him. Fortunately the discontent subsided and Byng was given the freedom of the City of Edinburgh, and
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and arrived at Danzig on 1 June. The French finally failed to repulse the Russian army and navy and surrendered on 13 June. The dispute over, the Polish throne ended in favour of August III and LeszczyĆski quickly left Danzig, which was occupied by the Russian Army. This was to be Gordon's last
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The rift between Gordon and Sievers climaxed on 14 July 1721 when, at a banquet commemorating the battle of 'Hango Head,' a violent quarrel broke out between the two men in the presence of the Tsar. Gordon complained about the Dane's behaviour towards him and pointed out that, as Seivers was
450:, was found to be missing. Captain Green was accused by a Scottish mob of killing the crew and sinking the ship. He and his men were tried by the High Court of Admiralty of Scotland, found guilty, and executed on Leith Sands, despite a complete lack of valid evidence against them.
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should be the new king of Poland. On 15 May it became necessary to supplement the fleet engaged at Danzig. Admiral Thomas Gordon sailed there with a squadron of fourteen battleships, five frigates, and several smaller vessels. Gordon had his flag on the 100-gun ship
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to visit the Countess of Errol. The Gordons and Errols, who were closely connected, played their part in Scottish history though not always on the monarch's side. There were fourteen signals agreed upon by Commodore Gordon and the captain of the French frigate
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was promoted Rear Admiral of the White, Captain-Commodore Sievers made Rear Admiral of the Blue and Captain-Commodore Gordon Rear-Admiral of the Red. The Russian Fleet was divided into three sections after the system used by the British and the Dutch.
658:, the Jacobites saw an opportunity to interest the Tsar in their affairs. There were a number of letters sent to the Tsar for just this purpose: nine from Prince James (1721â30), two from the Earl of Mar (1716â1717), five from Captain Hay, and others.
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battle and he finally took up the position as Governor of Kronstad (1). He knew the port of Danzig well since, apart from his times as a merchant seaman, he also escorted convoys of Scottish ships back to Scotland whilst in command of the
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with Elizabeth Ogilvie (Ogilvie's cousin, or possibly wife) who was employed as a messenger between the Jacobites in England and France. She was known as the "Courier of Jupiter" and wrote from Calais the following letter to Ogilvie:
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that action was hopeless, courtesies were exchanged instead of cannonballs. On 6 May 1727 he was promoted to admiral and in November he became chief commander of the port of Kronstadt, a position he held until he died there in 1741.
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and the French camp outside it. He captured a French frigate and a small vessel and recaptured three Russian vessels. His countryman Field Marshal Keith, writing from Javarof to congratulate Gordon on the Danzig expedition, said:
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and also brought her into Leith where the crew were similarly treated as those of the previous French ship. Later in the year he captured two or three privateers and was considered to have ended that problem for the time being.
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Upon leaving the Royal Navy, new opportunities opened up to Gordon and he went first to France to visit Queen Mary. There he met Captain Ogilvie and told him that indeed he was "the famous Captain Gordon". He had crossed the
735:. France had sent sixteen warships and three regiments to LeszczyĆski's aid, so it had been necessary for Russia to increase her attacking force, which she did by sending Gordon's ships. He flew his flag in the battleship
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in Holland along with Captain Saunders, who is described as an Englishman, Captain Hay and Captain-Lieutenants Urquhart and Serocoled; along with two land officers, all British. After Gordon arrived in
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for some two months whilst she cruised off the Scottish east coast. On 6 June the cruise was extended for another two months in the company of her sister ship
709:). At that time the Russian Navy had grown in confidence and had been asserting the power of Russian ships in the Baltic. A claimant to the Polish throne,
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and two of his officers at Leith in 1707, relationships were poor between the Scottish and English governments. Scotland's attempt to found a colony at
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and commanded a fleet of fourteen battleships, five frigates, and several small vessels. He discharged guns for the 60,000 Russian and Saxon army at
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Promotion was soon to come since there were old Russian Admirals retiring. There were also newly built ships to be manned. On New Year's Day Prince
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on 1 June 1717 and remained a Russian officer until his death on 18 March 1741. Gordon, who was now considered as a refugee, was engaged by the
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the legitimate claimant to the throne. If the King of France required his services, he would come to France along with his thirty two-gun
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IV Class for successfully navigating one of only two fire ships which contributed to the destruction of the Turkish Fleet during the
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where he could meet with Jacobite leaders. Scots noblemen had promised twenty-five thousand Highlanders and five thousand horses.
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In 1726 Admiral Gordon took out a fleet to meet the powerful British fleet under Admiral Sir C. Wagner that had been sent to the
566:. Ships under these names still operate in the Royal Navy today. A third Royal Scots Navy ship was allowed to retain her name of
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On 12 March 1705 Lieutenant George Ramsey with two sergeants, three corporals, and thirty-three soldiers were on board the
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pointing out that the owners of the vessel were blameless since they had passports to land their cargo of wine from the
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captured a French privateer, the "Fox" of Dunkirk, and took her to Leith where her crew were incarcerated in the
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evening gun. Gordon and Jones wrote to their Lord High Admirals for instructions on the matter but the
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Portrait of Admiral Thomas Gordon wearing the Breast Star and Sash of the Order of St.Alexander Nevsky
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when he was involved in a running fight between British ships under Admiral Sir
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to enquire if the Old Pretender could claim his monarchy in Scotland at least.
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against privateers or warships of the enemy. In May the following year, the
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In 1706 Commodore Gordon complained that, whilst entering the port of
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http://www.nls.uk/broadsides/broadside.cfm/id/14475/transcript/1
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Gordon had a son, previously mentioned as being with him on the
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to anticipate or prevent any action of Russia as a party to the
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Russian military personnel of the War of the Polish Succession
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had failed, and when the expedition returned one of them, the
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had fired a shot at him. After sending his lieutenant to the
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where he could be sure of a good welcome at the home of the
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continued for some time. The Scottish vessels were renamed
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Russian Navy in 1736. They had a son born 1740 also named
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to Gordon. He also captured a small four-gun privateer,
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18th-century military personnel from the Russian Empire
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and Constance Oliver Skelton, New Spalding Club 1912
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The Russian Fleet at the Time of Peter the Great by
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On 3 February 1708 Captain Gordon was posted to the
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857:, National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh
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817:, Navy Records Society. Vol xv.
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372:Marmedon
353:Scotland
311:Shetland
287:Aberdeen
283:Margaret
255:Aberdeen
225:Admiral
132:Service/
64:Scotland
60:Aberdeen
823:Vol. 3
792:at the
609:Harwich
575:Leopard
556:Glasgow
535:Dunwich
531:Dunwich
529:vessel
516:frigate
483:Turriff
481:, near
407:, from
376:Dunkirk
323:Holland
307:Tripoli
299:Algiers
279:captain
277:He was
259:burgess
241:of the
239:Admiral
233:of the
190:Admiral
52: (
755:Family
741:Pillau
703:Danzig
656:Russia
634:Calais
617:Advice
444:Darien
409:Ostend
321:, and
319:Norway
315:Sweden
305:, and
167:
155:
143:
134:branch
123:
111:
99:
465:near
400:Spain
349:Leith
303:Tunis
769:Moor
651:Tsar
613:Moor
562:and
554:and
237:and
186:Rank
70:Died
54:1658
50:1658
47:Born
632:to
477:at
394:in
374:of
297:of
285:of
885::
827::
518:.
343:.
325:.
317:,
313:,
301:,
245:.
82:,
62:,
56:)
23:.
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