ADAM DUNCAN, 1ST VISCOUNT DUNCAN OF CAMPERDOWN

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'Adam Duncan, Viscount Duncan of Camperdown' (1 July 1731 - 4 August 1804), born in Lundie, Angus, Scotland, and receiving his education in Dundee - defeated the Dutch fleet off Camperdown (north of Haarlem) on 11 October 1797. This victory was considered one of the most significant actions in naval history.

Contents

Life

In Action with the Dutch

Recognition

References

Life

Adam Duncan, second son of Alexander Duncan of Lundie, Provost of Dundee, and his wife Helen Haldane, daughter of John Haldane of Gleneagles. He entered the navy in 1746 on board the ''Trial'' sloop, under the care of his maternal uncle, Captain Robert Haldane, with whom, in HMS ''Trial'' and afterwards in HMS ''Shoreham'', he continued till the peace in 1748. In 1749 he was appointed to HMS ''Centurion'', then commissioned for service in the Mediterranean, by the Hon. Augustus Keppel (afterwards Viscount Keppel), with whom he was afterwards in the ''Norwich'' on the coast of North America, and was confirmed in the rank of lieutenant on 10 January 1755.
In August 1755 he followed Keppel to the ''Swiftsure'', and in January 1756 to the ''Torbay'', in which he continued till his promotion to commander's rank on 21 September 1759, and during this time was present in the expedition to Basque Roads in 1757, at the reduction of Goree in 1758, and in the blockade of Brest in 1759, up to within two months of the battle of Quiberon Bay, from which his promotion just excluded him.
From October 1759 to April 1760 he had command of the ''Royal Exchange'', a hired vessel employed in petty convoy service with a miscellaneous ship's company, consisting to a large extent of boys and foreigners, many of whom (he reported) could not speak English, and all impressed with the idea that as they had been engaged by the merchants from whom the ship was hired they were not subject to naval discipline. It would seem that a misunderstanding with the merchants on this point was the cause of the ship's being put out of commission after a few months.
As a commander Duncan had no further service, but on 25 February 1761 he was posted and appointed to the ''Valiant'', fitting for Keppel's broad pennant. In her he had an important share in the reduction of Belle Île in June 1761, and of Havana in August 1762. He returned to England in 1763, and, notwithstanding his repeated request, had no further employment for many years.
During this time he lived principally at Dundee, and married on 6 June 1777 Henrietta, daughter of Robert Dundas of Arniston, lord-president of the court of session. It would seem that his alliance with this influential family obtained him the employment which he had been vainly seeking during fifteen years. Towards the end of 1778 he was appointed to the ''Suffolk'', from which he was almost immediately moved into the ''Monarch''. In January 1779 he sat as a member of the court-martial of Keppel, and in the course of the trial interfered several times to stop the prosecutor in irrelevant and in leading questions, or in perversions of answers. The admiralty was therefore desirous that he should not sit on the court-martial of Sir Hugh Palliser, which followed in April, and the day before the assembling of the court sent down orders for the ''Monarch'' to go to St. Helens. Her crew, however, refused to weigh the anchor until they were paid their advance; and as this could not be done in time, the ''Monarch'' was still in Portsmouth harbour when the signal for the court-martial was made (Considerations on the Principles of Naval Discipline, 8vo, 1781, p. 106n.); so that, sorely against the wishes of the admiralty, Duncan sat on this court-martial also.
During the summer of 1779 the ''Monarch'' was attached to the Channel fleet under Sir Charles Hardy; in December was one of the squadron with which Rodney sailed for the relief of Gibraltar, and had a prominent share in the action off St. Vincent on 16 January 1780. On returning to England Duncan quitted the ''Monarch'', and had no further command till after the change of ministry in March 1782, when Keppel became first lord of the admiralty. He was then appointed to the ''Blenheim'' of 90 guns, and commanded her during the year in the grand fleet under Howe, at the relief of Gibraltar in October, and the rencounter with the allied fleet off Cape Spartel. He afterwards succeeded Sir John Jervis in command of the ''Foudroyant'', and after the peace commanded the ''Edgar'' as guardship at Portsmouth for three years. He attained flag rank on 24 September 1787, became vice-admiral 1 February 1793, and admiral 1 June 1795. In February 1795 he was appointed commander-in-chief in the North Sea, and hoisted his flag on board the ''Venerable''.

In Action with the Dutch

During the first two years of Duncan's command the work was limited to enforcing a rigid blockade of the enemy's coast, but in the spring of 1797 it became more important from the knowledge that the Dutch fleet in the Texel was getting ready for sea. The situation was one of extreme difficulty, for the mutiny which had paralysed the fleet at the Nore broke out also in that under Duncan, and kept it for some weeks in enforced inactivity. Duncan's personal influence and some happy displays of his vast personal strength held the crew of the ''Venerable'' to their duty; but with one other exception, that of the ''Adamant'', the ships refused to quit their anchorage at Yarmouth, leaving the ''Venerable'' and ''Adamant'' alone to keep up the pretence of the blockade. Fortunately the Dutch were not at the time ready for sea; and when they were ready and anxious to sail, with thirty thousand troops, for the invasion of Ireland, a persistent westerly wind detained them in harbour till they judged that the season was too far advanced (Life of Wolfe Tone, ii. 425–35). For political purposes, however, the government in Holland, in spite of the opinion of their admiral, De Winter, to the contrary, ordered him to put to sea in the early days of October.
Duncan, with the main body of the fleet, was at the time lying at Yarmouth revictualling, the Texel being watched by a small squadron under Captain Henry Trollope in the ''Russell'', from whom he received early information of the Dutch being at sea. He at once weighed, with a fair wind stood over to the Dutch coast, saw that the fleet was not returned to the Texel, and steering towards the south sighted it on the morning of 11 October. about seven miles from the shore and nearly halfway between the villages of Egmont and Camperdown. The wind was blowing straight on shore, and though the Dutch forming their line to the north preserved a bold front, it was clear that if the attack was not made promptly they would speedily get into shoal water, where no attack would be possible. Duncan at once realised the necessity of cutting off their retreat by getting between them and the land. At first he was anxious to bring up his fleet in a compact body, for at best his numbers were not more than equal to those of the Dutch; but seeing the absolute necessity of immediate action, without waiting for the ships astern to come up, without waiting to form line of battle, and with the fleet in very irregular order of sailing, in two groups, led respectively by himself in the ''Venerable'' and Vice-admiral Richard Onslow in the ''Monarch'', he made the signal to pass through the enemy's line and engage to leeward.
It was a bold departure from the absolute rule laid down in the ''Fighting Instructions,'' still new, though warranted by the more formal example of Howe on 1 June 1794; and on this occasion, as on the former, was crowned with complete success. The engagement was long and bloody; for though Duncan, by passing through the enemy's line, had prevented their untimely retreat, he had not advanced further in tactical science, and the battle was fought out on the primitive principles of ship against ship, the advantage remaining with those who were the better trained to the great gun exercise (CHEVALIER, Histoire de la Marine Française sous la première République, 329), though the Dutch by their obstinate courage inflicted great loss on the English.
It had been proposed to De Winter to make up for the want of skill by firing shell from the lower deck guns; and some experiments had been made during the summer which showed that the idea was feasible (WOLFE TONE, ii. 427); but want of familiarity with an arm so new and so dangerous presumably prevented its being acted on in the battle.

Recognition

The news of the victory was received in England with the warmest enthusiasm. It was the first certain sign that the mutinies of the summer had not destroyed the power and the prestige of the British navy. Duncan was at once (21 October.) raised to the peerage as Baron Duncan of Lundie and Viscount Duncan of Camperdown (with which came the lands now known as Camperdown Park, Dundee), and there was a strong feeling that the reward was inadequate. Even as early as 18 October his aunt, Lady Mary Duncan, wrote to Henry Dundas, at that time secretary of state for war: ''‘Report says my nephew is only made a viscount. Myself is nothing, but the whole nation thinks the least you can do is to give him an English earldom. … Am sure were this properly represented to our good king, who esteems a brave, religious man like himself, would be of my opinion. …’'' (Arniston Memoirs, 251). It was not, however, till 1831, many years after Duncan's death, that his son, then bearing his title, was raised to the dignity of an earl, and his other children to the rank and precedence of the children of an earl.
Duncan was awarded the Large Naval Gold Medal and an annual pension of £3000, to himself and the next two heirs to his title - this was the biggest pension ever awarded by the British government. Additionally, he was given the freedom of several cities, including Dundee and London.
Till 1801 Duncan continued in command of the North Sea fleet, but without any further opportunity of distinction. Three years later, 4 August1804, he died quite suddenly, aged seventy three, at the inn at Cornhill, a village on the border, where he had stopped for the night on his journey to Edinburgh (ib. 252) and is buried in Lundie. He left a family of four daughters, and, besides the eldest son who succeeded to the peerage, a second son, Henry, who died a captain in the navy and K.C.H. in 1835.
Several ships have been named HMS ''Duncan'' after him, also a street in Leeds town centre is named after him (Duncan Street), The pub on this street honours him with its name and many pictures and paintings of him.
A statue of Duncan was erected in 1997 in Dundee, on the corner of High Street and Commercial Street.

References

★ Rampant Scotland - Famous Scots - Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Camperdown (1731-1804)

★ Taynet - Admiral Lord Duncan, Hero of Camperdown

★ Gazeteer for Scotland - Admiral Adam Duncan