A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Fitton, Michael
FITTON. (Lieut., 1804. f-p., 25; h-p., 42.)
Michael Fitton was born about 1766, at Gawsworth, in Cheshire, now the seat of the Earl of Harrington, but formerly the property of his ancestor Sir Edw. Fitton, Chancellor of Ireland temp. James II.
This officer entered the Navy, in Jan. 1780 (under the auspices of Lord Keppel), as Captain’s Servant, on board the Vestal 28, Capt. Geo. Keppel. In that frigate, besides assisting at the capture of the Phoenix, a heavy privateer, he witnessed that of an American packet having on board Mr. Laurens, ex-President of the Rebel Congress, who was proceeding to Holland with a secret treaty of alliance with the Dutch. This treaty, previously to the actual capture of the ship, had been thrown in a bag overboard, and would never have been discovered but for Mr. Fitton, who, being at the moment employed in furling the fore-top gallant sail, observed what he considered to be a man overboard, and instantly made a report which led to its recovery. A declaration of war against the Dutch, and the immediate sweeping of their numerous vessels from the face of the sea, were thus the momentous results of Mr. Fitton’s keenness. He continued to serve with Capt. Keppel until 1784, as Midshipman of the Fairy, Eolus, Fortitude, and Hebe; and had an opportunity, in consequence, of acting a part in many of the scenes connected with the American war, and of assisting in the Fortitude, as aide-de-camp to his Captain, at the relief of Gibraltar, in 1782. In 1793 he rejoined the same officer, as Master’s Mate, on board the Defiance 74, from which ship he removed, in 1796, to the Bristol, Lieut.-Commander Silly. He had not been long, however, in the latter vessel before he was appointed Purser of the Stork sloop, Capt. Rich. Harrison Pearson; on board of which vessel, during the great mutiny at the Nore, it was his fortune to be greatly instrumental to the preservation of order. In his arrival in the West Indies, Mr. Fitton, with a single boat, destroyed a privateer which the Stork had driven on shore. He was afterwards sent as Master of a prize, with four hands to assist in the navigation of her, to Jamaica, and on his passage, although detained but a short period, was taken captive by Le Télémaque French privateer. On resigning his appointment as Purser of the Stork, for the sake of obtaining more active employment, Mr. Fitton, who had passed the examination necessary to indicate his fitness for the receipt of a commission, and had more than once had charge of a watch, was immediately nominated, 11 Jan. 1799, Acting-Lieutenant of the Abergavenny[1] 54, and allowed, from that period until 1802, to command her tenders, on the Jamaica station; where, in the Ferret schooner, of 6 3-pounders and 45 men, he fought a gallant action of an hour with a Spanish privateer, of 14 6-pounders and 100 men; and where, in Sept. 1800, previously to witnessing the surrender of Curaçoa, he distinguished himself by his activity and spirited conduct on many other occasions, particularly in an attack made by him, in the Active, a schooner mounting 8 12-pounder carronades, with a crew of about 45 men, on five or six French privateers lying close to the walls of Fort Piscadero, near the harbour of Amsterdam.[2] On 23 Jan. 1801, being on a cruise on the Spanish main, Mr. Fitton, then in command of a small worn-out felucca, carrying 1 long 12-pounder on a traversing carriage, and 44 men, fell in with the Spanish gardacosta Santa Maria als Forano, of 6 long 6-pounders, 10 swivels, and 60 men; which vessel, having suffered herself to be driven on shore on the island of Varus, was boarded and carried through the irresistible heroism of Mr. Fitton, who, with his sword in his mouth, followed by the greater part of his crew similarly armed, plunged into the sea and swam to her. During his command of the Active we find him on one occasion expending the sum of 80l. out of his own private resources for the purpose of procuring intelligence which enabled him to capture four vessels in the gulf of Venezuela; of all the profit resulting from which he was ousted through the machinations of a prize-agent. Notwithstanding the valiant exploits we have recorded, Mr. Fitton was sent home at the peace without either promotion or reward. On his return to Jamaica at the recommencement of hostilities, he was appointed, again with the rank of Acting-Lieutenant, to the command of the Gipsy schooner, of 10 guns and 45 men, fender to the flag-ship, the Hercule. During the operations of 1804 against Curaçoa, being the only officer in the squadron who had ever been at the island before, he was assigned the honour of directing its movements. He also joined in the attack upon Fort Piscadero, and upon the enemy being driven out he landed with a detachment under Commodore Bligh, taking with him the Gipsy’s guns, which were dragged up a hill, and mounted in battery in a position to annoy the town of Amsterdam. The united testimony borne by all the Captains of the squadron to the zeal and judgment displayed by Mr. Fitton, who in the end was sent with despatches to the Commander-in-Chief, led at length to his confirmation in the rank of Lieutenant, 9 March, 1804. Pursuing his gallant career with the same ardour and success, he attacked, on 21 Jan. 1805, off Cape Antonio, and destroyed one of five pursuing privateers; and on 26 Oct. 1806, having in the mean while removed to the Pitt,[3] of 12 guns and 54 men, he effected the capture, after an arduous chase of 67 hours, interspersed with several close and spirited actions, in the course of which the British had 8 men wounded, of La Superbe, of 14 guns and 94 men, one of the most formidable privateers that had for a long time infested the commerce of the West Indies. Although the “zeal and perseverance, the very gallant conduct, and superior professional abilities,” again displayed by Lieut. Fitton on this occasion, were officially reported by the Commander-in-Chief,[4] he was, nevertheless – after having further captured Le Fon Fon privateer, of 1 gun and 43 men, and a Spanish armed schooner, the Abija – superseded, “not,” as observed by Mr. James in his ‘Naval History,’ “to be promoted to the rank of Commander, but to be turned adrift as an unemployed Lieutenant.” All he got was the thanks of the Admiralty, and a sword from the Patriotic Society valued at 50l. Unsuccessful in his exertions to procure an appointment, he remained on half-pay for nearly four years, at the expiration of which period he was at first, 15 April, 1811, and next, 16 Feb. 1812, invested with the command of the Archer and Cracker gun-brigs, on the Channel and Baltic stations. In the latter vessel he was much employed in convoying; and on one occasion he succeeded, through a train of singular manoeuvres, in alone conducting a most valuable and numerous charge safe through the Little Belt. In one instance, too, he was the means, during a violent gale, of snatching from destruction the crew of a prize belonging to the Hamadryad frigate; and, in another, he obtained salvage for rescuing, and conducting into the Downs, an American ship that had got upon a shoal near North Yarmouth, and was in a state of great distress. Being again put out of commission in 1815, the Lieutenant failed in his solicitations for further employment until 22 Feb. 1831, when he was appointed to the Ordinary at Plymouth, to which he continued attached during the usual period of three years. He was admitted into Greenwich Hospital 20 April, 1835.
During the term of his servitude in the West Indies, Lieut. Fitton had the good fortune to capture upwards of 40 sail of vessels, many of them privateers – but with little benefit to himself, from the circumstance of his having been so long in command of a tender, and only sharing in consequence with the officers on board the flag-ship.[5] His only surviving son, Frederick – the eldest having died in the West Indies, while serving with his father as a passed Clerk – holds an appointment in the Merchant Seamen’s office; and his youngest daughter is married to the only son of Sir Rich. Dobson, M.D., F.R.S., Inspector of Hospitals and Fleets. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
- ↑ While on the Abergavenny’s books Mr. Fitton was twice very severely injured; the first time, during a violent tornado, when he fell down the hatchway upon a bundle of iron-hoops, fracturing his left knee, and dreadfully lacerating his face; and the second, during an action with a privateer, on which occasion a gun, having snapped its breechings, fell upon him and smashed his right ankle. Altllough the latter accident occurred to him in the execution of his duty, he never received the slightest compensation.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1800, p. 1331.
- ↑ In the purchase of this vessel into the service Mr. Fitton appears to have himself expended the sum of 400l. He had also contributed with his prize-money to the purchase of all the Abergavenny’s tenders.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1806, p. 1680.
- ↑ In the United Service Journal for Feb. 1835, onr readers will find, written by Lieut. Fitton himself, an account of the extraordinary manner in which, through the instrumentality of a shark, he effected the condemnation, in 1799, of au enemy’s vessel provided with false papers, and professing to be neutral.