Was midshipman in Royal Navy. In 1783 he commanded a gun battery in the engagement between Admiral Rodney and Count de Grasse. He was tried by a court-martial and sentenced to be shot, for challenging his superior officer for countermanding a humane order relative to prisoners on board his ship at Port Royal, 1783. His life was saved by intercession of Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, afterwards King William IV. of England, and a fellow midhsipman. On leaving the naval service he became a captain in the United States service, 1784. In 1797 commanded the "Fair American," sailing to France. He m., May 27, 1797, Elizabeth, daughter of John (d. 1784) and Elizabeth (Gorham, b. 1747, d. 1822) Leighton. HIs wife was b. at Lunenburg, Mass., 1776. He lived in Lancaster, Mass., as farmer and sheep raiser; 1805 removed to Cambridge; 1821 purchased a farm in Skaneateles, N. Y., where he d. in 1828. His wife d. in 1871 [1]
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