LIFE OF CAPT. ROSS 
67 
The piace, which claims the honor of having given birth to 
Capt. Ross, is Stanraer, a small fishing town, remarkable for its 
•oysters, on the west coast of Scotland. He is the younger son 
of the Rev. Andrew Ross, minister of the Inch, in Galloway, and 
has one surviving brother, Mr. George Ross, the projector, we 
believe of the Arctic Land Expedition, which is now in progress 
under Capt. Back. A second brother was the late Major General 
Andrew Ross. 
At an early period Capt. Ross evinced a predilection for the 
navy, but very little information is extant of the early period of 
bis professional services. In the year 1805, he was promoted 
to his lieutenancy, and in February 1812, through the recom¬ 
mendation of Admiral Sir George Hope, was promoted to the rank 
of commander, and on the 21st March of the same year, was ap¬ 
pointed to the Briseis brig of 10 guns, then serving on the Baltic 
station. His bravery in this ship procured for him the Swedish 
order of the sword. In the night of the 28th June 1812, his 
lieutenant Thomas Jones, with a midshipman and 18 men, most 
gallantly attacked and recaptured an English merchant ship 
lying in Pillau Roads, armed in expectation of such an event, 
with 6 guns and 4 swivels, defended by a party of French 
troops on her deck, and surrounded by small crafts in the act of 
receiving her cargo. In October, the Briseis captured the Le 
petit Poneet, French privateer, of 4 guns, and 23 men; and 
drove on shore three other vessels of the same description. The 
subsequent appointments of Capt. Ross, were June 7th 1814, to 
the Actaeon of 16 guns, and August 23rd 1815, to the Driver 
sloop. At the close of the war, he had to share the lot of a 
multitude of gallant and meritorious officers, in being consigned 
to half-pay, and compulsory inactivity. To an ardent and enter¬ 
prising spirit, accustomed to the bustle and restlessness of the 
sailors life, a state of inactivity is always irksome, and in the 
highest degree depressing to the spirits. Capt. Ross appeared 
determined to emancipate himself from the languor which is ever 
ihe attendant upon a want of employment, and the return of 
peace, presented him with a favorable opportunity for under¬ 
taking an enterprise, upon which he had nrobably first thought 
