Description
Memorandum signed by Rear Admiral Donald Hugh Mackay, as Commander in Chief at Cork, addressed to Captain William Hutcheon Hall of H.M.Steam Frigate Dragon, informing him of the appointment of Naval Cadet J.W.O’Grady to his ship. 6 x 8 inches, remains of guard. HMS Crocodile at Cork, [Ireland] 4 June 1849. Donald Hugh Mackay (1780-1850) entered the Royal Naval Academy in January 1792, and embarked in 1794 as midshipman on the Daedalus. He was made Lieutenant in 1798 into the Ariadne, and accompanied Sir Home Popham on his mission to destroy the Bruges locks. After various appointments and actions, including the fall of the Helder fortress, Mackay served in various ships in the Channel fleet as Commander. From 1811 to 1816 he served on the East India station, in the Volage, the Malacca and the Minden. Part of the time he was under the command of Sir Samuel Hood, seeing arduous service in the Eastern Archipelago and the China seas. In HMS Malacca he co-operated with a squadron under Sir George Sayer in a serious attack made in June 1813 on the pirate settlement of Sambas in the island of Borneo. HMS Crocodile was a 28-gun sixth rate launched in 1825. She was on harbour service from 1850 and was sold in 1861.