74 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



17. ADAM DUNCAN. 



ADAM DUNCAN was born July 1, 1731, at Lundie, Forfarshire, Scotland. 

 After receiving the rudiments of an education at Dundee, he went to sea in 1746, 

 under his mother's brother's son, Captain James Haldane. In 1755 he was lieu- 

 tenant on the Norwich, one of the fleet under Admiral Keppel, which convoyed 

 General Braddock's forces to America. In 1780, as captain in the Monarch, 

 under Sir George Rodney, he was the first to engage the Spanish enemy off Cape 

 St. Vincent. In May 1797, as rear admiral, he took his station off the Texel, 

 where lay the Dutch squadron of 15 sail under De Winter. Owing to the wide- 

 spread mutiny in the British fleet, he had only two ships. From tune to time he 

 caused signals to be made, as if to the main body of his fleet in the offing, and by 

 this ruse prevented an attack on his helpless ships until, the mutiny quelled, he 

 became heavily reinforced. On October 11 the enemy put to sea and he attacked 

 them with a slightly superior force, capturing 11 of the 19 Dutch vessels. The 

 water was shoal, the shore near, and a gale coming on; so he ceased action and took 

 his battered prizes homeward, one sinking en route. For this victory he was created 

 Viscount Duncan of Camperdown. He died 1804. 



Duncan was a fighter of fighting stock. He declined a preferred command 

 hi order to watch and defeat the Dutch off the Texel. He married Henrietta 

 Dundee, whose half-brother was a general in the army and the governor of Cape 

 of Good Hope. Duncan's brother Alexander, a lieutenant colonel in the army, saw 

 service in Canada and was the Major Duncan of Fenimore Cooper's "The Path- 

 finder." Another brother, John, was in the employ of the East India Company. 

 Adam's son Henry (V 13) was a captain in the Royal Navy, and another son, 

 Alexander, was a lieutenant colonel of the Coldstream Guards. Four second cousins 

 of these sons (children of Captain James Haldane) gained some distinction in the 

 navy. The first was Robert (1764-1842), who was under Adam Duncan on the 

 Monarch and gained distinction; but in 1783 he left the navy to organize religious 

 movements, in which he was somewhat successful. With others he organized the 

 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at Home. The other son was James 

 Alexander (1768-1851), who at 17 became a midshipman, and eventually a captain. 

 During a long detention of his ship he began the study of the Bible, abruptly 

 quitted the naval service, began open-air preaching, and made repeated missionary 

 journeys. He helped his brother organize the Propagandist Society and was or- 

 dained pastor of a large independent congregation. The scanty available genea- 

 logical data does not disclose the source of this family tendency to piety late in life. 



FAMILY HISTORY OF ADAM DUNCAN, FIRST VISCOUNT DUNCAN. 



I 1 (consort's F F F), Robert Dundas, Lord Arniston, an eminent lawyer; member of 

 Parliament. I 2 (consort's F F M), Margaret Sinclair. I 3 (F F F), Alexander Duncan, provost 

 of Dundee, 1682-1685. He defended Dundee when John Graham tried to seize its municipal 

 charters. I 5 (F M F), Sir Patrick Murray. I 6 (F M M), Margaret Haldane, daughter of 

 Mungo Haldane, of Gleneagles county, Perth. 



II 1, Anne Gordon. II 2 (consort's F F), Robert Dundas (1685-1753), was solicitor-general, 

 1717, and lord advocate of Scotland, 1720; a judge of session and, in 1748, president of the court. 

 II 3 (consort's F M), Elizabeth Watson. II 4 (F F), Alexander Duncan (died 1719), provost, 

 1717. II 5 (F M), Isabella Murray. II 6 (M F), John Haldane of Gleneagles, member of 

 Parliament. 



Ill 1, Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville (1742-1811), became solicitor-general to 

 Scotland and then lord advocate. In 1791 he was home secretary; 1794-1801, secretary of war; 

 in 1804 first lord of the admiralty, of which he was treasurer between 1782 and 1800. Ill 2, 



