Mr. George Duff was born in 1764; and we first find him serving under his grand-uncle, Commodore, afterwards Vice-Admiral, Robert Duff; who married Helen, fourth daughter of the above-mentioned nobleman, and died at Queen’s Ferry, in Linlithgowshire, June 6, 1787. He appears to have joined that experienced and distinguished officer, whose broad pendant was then hoisted on board the Panther 60, in Sept. 1777. He was present at the capture of the Spanish Admiral Don Juan de Langara, Jan. 16, 1780; and he also served under Captain Houlton, of the Montagu 74, in Sir George Rodney’s actions with the Count de Guichen, off Martinique, April 17th, and May the 15th and 19th, 1780[1]. In the ensuing year, he shared in two other actions with the French fleet; the first of which was conducted by Sir Samuel Hood, off the same island; and the latter by Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves, near the Chesapeake[2]. In 1782, he witnessed the masterly manoeuvres of Hood, when opposed to De Grasse, during the siege of St. Kitts; and bore a part at the battles of the 9th and 12th April, terminating in the capture of that celebrated French commander[3]. The total loss sustained by the Montagu, in her various encounters with the enemy, amounted to at least 120 officers and men, killed and wounded.
While serving in the West Indies, Mr. Duff received a severe wound in the leg, which was healed with great difficulty, and often proved troublesome to him during the remainder of his life. This injury was occasioned by the falling of one of the Montagu’s masts, in a tremendous hurricane, on which occasion she was blown out from the anchorage at St. Lucia, thrown upon her beam-ends, and only saved by cutting away all her spars.
In 1784, Mr. Duff came home senior lieutenant of the Camilla 20, Captain John Hutt; in which ship he soon returned to the Jamaica station, where we subsequently find him serving as first of the Europa 50, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Gardner, commander-in-chief. He was promoted to the command of the Martin sloop, employed on the coast of Scotland, in 1790; and advanced to post rank Feb. 9, 1793. These steps he obtained through the influence of the Duke and Duchess of Gordon, who recommended him in the first instance to the patronage of the late Lord Melville, then Treasurer of the Navy; and secondly to the Earl of Chatham, presiding at the Board of Admiralty.
Captain Duff’s appointments during the French revolutionary war were to the Resource of 28 guns, the Glory 98, Duke 98, Ambuscade 32, Glenmore 36, and Vengeance 74.
The Duke bore the broad pendant of Commodore the Hon. George Murray, and had her main-mast shivered to pieces by lightning, during the