June 23, 1795[1] His advancement to the rank of Commander took place in Feb. 1797.
Captain Fitzgerald subsequently commanded the Vesuvius bomb, and in that vessel assisted at the bombardment of Havre by a squadron under Sir Richard J. Strachan; and at the destruction of la Confiante of 36 guns, and a French national cutter, in May 1798[2]. His conduct on this occasion was honorably noticed in the London Gazette.
The Vesuvius was afterwards ordered to the Mediterranean, from whence Captain Fitzgerald returned to England in the Tonnant, a French 80-gun ship, taken at the battle of the Nile. His post commission bears date Dec. 24, 1798. During the latter part of the war, he commanded the Triton of 32 guns, in which ship he captured a French vessel from Gnadaloupe, laden with colonial produce. The Triton was paid off at Plymouth, April 9, 1802.
Soon after the renewal of hostilities, Captain Fitzgerald, whose health would not allow him to serve afloat, was appointed senior officer of the Sea Fencibles in the Isle of Wight. Previous to the dissolution of that corps, he held the chief command of the district between Kidwelly and Cardigan. In July 1816, he was elected Governor of the Royal Naval Asylum; but the power of nomination being afterwards considered not to rest with the Commissioners, the appointment did not take place.
Captain Fitzgerald married, in Aug. 1800, Jane, a daughter of Richard Welch, Esq., formerly Chief Justice of the island of Jamaica, and sister to the lady of Sir George Thomas, Bart., by whom he has five sons and four daughters remaining, of eleven children. His only brother, an officer in the 3d regiment of Guards, aide-de-camp and equerry to H.R.H. the Duke of York, died in 1802.
Agent.– Hugh Stanger, Esq.
- ↑ See Vol. I. p. 246. N.B. The London was commanded by Captain Griffith, nephew of Rear-Admiral Colpoys. See id. p. 548.
- ↑ See Vol. I. p. 448.
