Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/194

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180

CATER—CATOR—CAULFEILD.

Africa – and, 5 March, 1825, to the Coast Blockade, as Supernumerary of the Hyperion 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye. He has been on half-pay since 1828. Agents – Coplands and Burnett.



CATER. (Lieut., 1809. f-p., 17; h-p., 26.)

Charles Joseph Cater was born 14 Dec. 1788, and died 31 July, 1845. He was youngest son of the late Henry Cater, Esq., Attorney-at-law, of Great James Street, London; and brother of the late Mr. Sam. Cater, R.N. , who, after having served in the battles of Camperdown and Copenhagen, was lost, as Master’s Mate, in the Scout 18, Capt. Henry Duncan, 25 March, 1801.

This officer entered the Navy, in June, 1802, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Magicienne 32, Capt. Henry Vansittart, with whom he subsequently sailed for the West Indies, as Midshipman of the Fortunée 36, and there assisted at the capture of a Spanish packet, of which, with another Midshipman and 22 men, he was placed in charge. A few days afterwards, the prize having been rendered totally unserviceable in a gale of wind, Mr. Cater and his party were compelled to abandon her, and, on landing at Vera Cruz, were marched up the country, as prisoners of war, to Pueblos de los Angelos, where they were detained for the space of 15 months. On at length regaining his liberty, the subject of this sketch rejoined the Fortunée, then on the coast of Ireland; after which he was transferred to the Bellerophon 74, flag-ship of Lord Gardner off the Texel, and, on 28 Feb. 1809, appointed Lieutenant of the Ephera brig, Capts. John Strutt Peyton and Thos. Everard, under the latter of whom he was wrecked, near Cadiz, 26 Dec. 1811. His subsequent appointments appear to have been – 29 Feb. 1812, to the Savage sloop, Capt. Wm. Bissell, on the Portsmouth station – 12 March, 1814, to the Terror bomb, Capts. John Sheridan and Constantino Rich. Moorsom, in which he served, until the peace, up the Chesapeake and along the coast to Cumberland Sound – and, 25 Oct. 1815, as First Lieutenant, to the Nimrod 18, Capts. John Macpherson Ferguson and John Windham Dalling, on the Leith station. He was paid off 24 June, 1819, and was not afterwards employed.

Lieut. Cater married, 10 Aug. 1830, Clarissa Dorothy, second daughter of the late Lieut.-Col. Thos. John Stirling, R.M., grand-daughter of the late Lieut.-Col. T. Stirling, R.M., and sister of the present Lieut. Spencer Stirling, R.N., by whom he has left an only daughter.



CATOR. (Captain, 1814. f-p., 14; h-p., 33.)

Bertie Cornelius Cator, born 26 Sept. 1787, at Beckenham, co. Kent, is fourth son of the late Joseph Cator, Esq., a merchant of high standing, by Diana, sister of the late Admiral Sir Albemarle Bertie, Bart., K.C.B., a descendant of the Dukes of Uncaster.

This officer entered the Navy in April, 1800, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Windsor Castle 98, commanded by his uncle, Capt. Albemarle Bertie, then Flag-Captain to Sir Chas. Cotton, on the Home station; where he afterwards joined in succession, as Midshipman, the Glory 98, Capt. Thos. Wells, Malta 80, Capt. A. Bertie, and Carysfort and Hydra frigates, each commanded by Capt. Geo. Mundy, under whom he appears, latterly in the Mediterranean, to have assisted at the capture of several heavy privateers and other armed vessels, besides participating in much boat-service. On 14 Dec. 1806, he was promoted, from the Ocean 98, flag-ship of Lord Collingwood off Cadiz, to be Acting-Lieutenant of the Delight brig, Capt. Philip Cosby Handfield, employed in conveying despatches to the Archipelago and Egypt, and also to England, previously to his return whither he proved the main instrument, during a tremendous hurricane, of rescuing the vessel from destruction. Being officially promoted, 3 March, 1807, Mr. Cator, on 2 June following, joined the Foudroyant 80, bearing the flag of his uncle off Brest, and next of Sir Wm. Sidney Smith off Lisbon; after which he was appointed, 16 April, 1808, to the Leopard 50, flag-ship at the Cape of Good Hope of Rear-Admiral Bertie, by whom he was placed in command, 22 Feb. and 21 Nov. 1809, of the Sapphire and Otter sloops. In the latter vessel we find him until April, 1810, blockading the Isles of France and Bourbon, and particularly distinguishing himself by his conduct at the capture of St. Rose. While on his passage soon afterwards from the Cape to the Mauritius, in charge of the Ranger transport, Mr. Cator was taken by two French frigates, but was fortunately exchanged in time to assume command of the Bombay Anna, a country ship, and co-operate in the subjugation of that island. Immediately on its conquest he was sent home, as Acting-Commander of the Action brig, with the duplicates of the despatches, and was in consequence promoted to the rank of Commander by commission dated 13 Feb. 1811, and presented with a gratuity of 500?. Continuing in the Action until his attainment of Post-rank, 7 June, 1814, Capt. Cator, during that period, carried despatches to Calcutta and back – escorted the Russian fleet from the Baltic to Gottenborg – landed with a party of marines, on one occasion, in Lynhaven Bay, on the coast of America, and destroyed a barrack with all its stores, after a short action with a body of dragoons and infantry, in which 9 of the enemy were taken, and several killed or wounded, with a loss to the British of only one marine badly wounded[1] – commanded all the watering parties during the blockade of the Chesapeake in the winter of 1813 – and afterwards cruized off the coast of Norway with the Briseis brig under his orders. Capt. Cator, who had not been employed since his Post-promotion, accepted the Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.

He married, in 1816, Sophia, only child of Michael Atkinson, Esq., of Mount Mascal, North Cray, Kent, and Portland Place, London, formerly of the Hon.E.I.Co.’s Civil Service; by whom he has, with other issue, a youngest daughter, Jane Frances, who married, 1 June, 1842, Geo. Augustus Graham, youngest son of General Vernon, of Hilton Park, co. Stafford. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.



CATOR. (Lieutenant, 1842.)

John Bertie Cator passed his examination 8 Aug. 1836; and for his services, as Mate of the Wellesley 72, Commodore Sir Jas. John Gordon Bremer, Herald 26, Capt. Joseph Nias, and Cambrian 36, Capt. Henry Ducie Chads, during the war in China (where, in the Herald, he beheld the capture of several forts, and of the last one protective of the approaches to Canton[2]), was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 23 Dec. 1842. He joined, 3 June, 1843, the Virago steam-sloop, Capt. Geo. Graham Otway, on the Mediterranean station; and since 14 April, 1846, has been employed in the Belleisle 72, Capt. John Kingcome, and, as First, in the Birkenhead steam-frigate, Capt. Aug. Henry Ingram.



CAULFEILD. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 8; h-p., 33.)

Edwin Toby Caulfeild, born 14 Jan. 1793, is eldest son of the late Wade Toby Caulfeild, Esq., of Raheenduff, Queen’s co., and of Catcombe, co. Wilts, Captain in the 3rd Dragoon Guards, by his second wife, Anne, sister of Sir Jonathan Cope, Bart., of Brewerne; grandson of Col. Wm. Caulfeild, Lieutenant-Governor of Fort George, N.B.; great-grandson of the Hon. Toby Caulfeild, of Clone, co. Kilkenny, third son of William, fifth Baron Charlemont; and cousin of Commander Jas. Caulfeild, R.N.

This officer entered the Navy, 12 July, 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Lavinia 38, Capt. Lord Wm. Stuart, in which frigate he attained the rating of Midshipman in 1808, and served, until Nov. 1810, in the Channel, off the Western Islands and the

  1. Vide Gaz. 1814, p. 232.
  2. Vide Gaz. 1841, p. 1503.