.
Capts. John Nairne, John Wight, Wm. Love, and Robt. Simpson, it was his lot to be twice sent away in prizes. On the first occasion, after having been for three days without water, the crew mutinied and attempted to throw him overboard, but his presence of mind enabled him to seize the ringleader, and subdue the remainder. When in the second vessel (on board of which were himself, two seamen, and a Lieutenant), the topmast being carried away in a heavy gale, he ascended to the masthead for the purpose of reaching the wreck, and had scarcely done so, when by a sudden jerk he was pitched into the sea, many yards to leeward. In March, 1808, we find Mr. Jackson appointed to the command, with the rank of Acting Lieutenant, of a schooner, mounting 4 guns, from which however, as he had not passed his examination, he was superseded in the next June, and sent back to the Cleopatra. In Nov. of the same year, in consequence of the recommendation of two captains, he was appointed by the Commander-in-Chief, Sir John Borlase Warren, Master’s Mate of his flag-ship the Swiftsure 74. He was soon again placed in charge of a prize, a French West Indiaman; from which vessel, on her being taken in tow by the Swiftsure, he intrepidly jumped overboard and, nearly at the cost of his own life, rescued a seaman who had fallen from the latter. As a reward for this act of humanity Sir John Warren immediately sent him with the prize and despatches to England, and during his absence nominated him, 20 April, 1809, Second-Lieutenant of the Junon 38 – an appointment which the Admiralty confirmed by commission dated on 18 of the following Aug. It was Mr. Jackson’s consequent misfortune, on 13 Dec. in the same year, to be on board the Junon off Guadeloupe when she was captured, after an heroically desperate resistance of 45 minutes, and a loss of 20 men killed and 40 wounded, by a French squadron, consisting- of the 40-gun frigates Renommée and Clorinde and armées-en-flûte Loire and Seine, carrying each 20 guns – with the two former of whom she sustained a yard-arm and yard-arm conflict until on the verge of sinking. In Jan. 1810, he arrived a prisoner at Brest, and from that place he was sent under an escort of soldiers to Verdun. During the march he succeeded with, a fellow-captive, Mr. F. Whitehurst, in effecting his escape, and after vainly endeavouring for 14 months to get off the coast, he at length, with his companion, found means of launching a flat-bottomed boat, with a sheet for a sail, in which he put to sea, followed however by some fishermen, 11 in number, who retook him. Lieut. Jackson was then imprisoned in the citadel of Verdun, whence with four others he again got away. Being discovered two days afterwards through the imprudence of his associates, he was placed in close confinement in the Porte Chaussée; from which place he twice attempted to escape, but was foiled, the first time by his companion breaking his thigh, and the second by the maladroitness of others. He was now conducted, part of the way in chains to the strong fortress of Bitche, situate one day’s journey from the Rhine. Here he remained many months a close prisoner, but, his daring spirit and ingenuity never forsaking him, he in the end formed a plan by which both himself and Lieut. L’Estrange of the 71st Regt. were enabled to break their bonds. After travelling together a distance of 40 leagues, the two, from prudential motives, parted company – Lieut. Jackson making his way to the coast of Normandy.[1] He there, on a Saturday in April, 1812, embarked, alone and unseen, in a small boat, and on the following Monday was picked up off the Owers in a state of great exhaustion by the Mutine sloop. His subsequent appointments in the capacity of Lieutenant, we find, were – 9 July, 1812, to the Indefatigable 44, Capt. John Fyffe, employed for nearly four years on the Home, Brazilian, and South Sea stations – 3 July, 1816, as Senior, to the Hecla bomb, Capt. Wm. Popham, under whom he fought at Algiers, and continued to serve until the following Nov. – 9 Oct. 1817, to the Sybille 38, flag-ship of Sir Home Popham in the West Indies, whence he invalided in July, 1818 – and 24 Dec. in the latter year, to the command of the Serapis receiving-ship at Port Royal, Jamaica. During a period of nearly seven years that Capt. Jackson remained in the Serapis (in which he was made Commander by commission dated 13 July, 1824) he served with credit under, and occasionally bore the flags of, five successive Commanders-in-Chief, Sir Home Popham, Commodore Thos. Huskisson, Sir Chas. Rowley, Sir Edw. W. C. R. Owen, and Sir Lawrence Wm. Halsted. After his name had been borne for short periods, as Supernumerary-Commander, on the books of the Plyades, Primrose, and Britomart sloops, he was confirmed, 16 Sept. 1825, in the command of the Pylades; in which vessel he was for six months Senior officer off the Havana, and in one instance gained the approbation of the Commander-in-Chief for his conduct in detaining a steam-vessel clandestinely carrying slaves. He at length, in Feb. 1328, returned to England with a valuable freight of dollars and cochineal; and on his arrival he received from the Bishop of Jamaica, to whom he had afforded a passage, a very flattering letter, accompanied by a piece of plate. He was then paid off, and has not been since able to procure employment. His advancement to the rank he now holds took place 23 Nov. 1841.
Capt. Jackson, since he has been on half-pay, has been offered the command of a line-of-battle ship in the service of the Pacha of Egypt, of which however the existing regulations prevented his acceptance. Several ingenious improvements and contrivances as connected with shipping have at various times been submitted by him to the Admiralty. He married, in 1842, Jane Oldham Johnson, of Kirby, Lancashire. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
JACKSON. (Retired Commander, 1845. f-p., 20; h-p., 30.)
John Jackson (a) entered the Navy, in Aug. 1797, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Veteran 64, Capts. Geo. Gregory, Jas. Robt. Mosse, and Sir Archibald Collingwood Dickson, under the last mentioned of whom he was present in the action off Copenhagen 2 April, 1801. Joining next, in 1802, the Centaur 74, Capt. Bendall Robt. Litthales, he sailed for the West Indies, where he served for upwards of ten years – at first with Capt. Conway Shipley in the Ste. Lucie, Cyane, and Hippomenes – then again with Sir Sam. Hood in the Centaur, as also with Capt. Hon. Geo. Cadogan in the Cyane, and with Sir Alex. Cochrane in the Northumberland 74 – for a short time with Capt. Wm. Hargrove, as Acting Lieutenant (order dated 11 Oct. 1805) in his former ship the Cyane – and finally, as Acting-Lieutenant and Lieutenant, in command, from Jan. 1806, to Oct. 1812, of the Mozambique schooner, and Netley brigantine. He assisted, during the period of his original attachment to the Centaur, at the reduction of Ste. Lucie in June, 1803; and when in command of the Mozambique (in which vessel, mounting 14 guns, he was confirmed a Lieutenant by commission dated 16 June, 1808) he was the gallant cause, although in company with the Lily 18, and Express 4, of the capture, on 21 April in that year, of the Jean Jacques French privateer of 6 guns.[2] His last appointments afloat were – 27 July, 1813, to
- ↑ Lieut. L’Estrange succeeded in reaching Bordeaux, where he took a boat and got on board the Hannibal 74, Capt, Sir Michael Seymour, who immediately wrote a strong letter in his favour to head-quarters. On his arrival in England, three months after Lieut. Jackson, he was received at the Horse Guards by the Duke of York in the most gracious manner, was allotted three years retrospective rank as Captain, with many indulgences, and in two years attained his majority. Lieut. Jackson, however, to whose plans and exertions he had been entirely indebted for his escape, on waiting on the Port- Admiral at Portsmouth, had not the satisfaction of being greeted with even a word of approbation, nor; on repairing to the Admiralty, could he obtain cither an interview with the first Lord, or the slightest notice, from any one in authority, of his manifold sufferings and privations.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1808, p. 872.
