James Nicoll Morris
He joined the Royal Navy in 1772 and subsequently fought as a junior officer in the Leeward Islands in the battles of St Lucia, Grenada, and the Saintes.
[1][2] Morris joined the Royal Navy on 19 January 1772 when he was entered in the books of the 14-gun sloop HMS Otter, commanded by his father, as a captain's servant.
[4] Morris ended his naval hiatus on 31 March 1778 when he transferred to the 74-gun ship of the line HMS Prince of Wales, which was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Samuel Barrington on the Leeward Islands Station, as a midshipman.
Staying in the English Channel, he subsequently transferred into the 90-gun ship of the line HMS Namur, in which he participated in the second naval relief of Gibraltar on 12 April 1781.
Namur then travelled to the Leeward Islands, where she joined the fleet of Admiral Sir George Rodney in time to fight at the Battle of the Saintes on 12 April 1782.
[1][7][9] Morris spent little time in Pluto, because on 7 October of the same year he was promoted to post-captain in recognition of his capture of Lutine and given command of the 32-gun frigate HMS Boston.
Boats from other British ships were sent in the morning to rescue the crew, and while one crewmember was killed by the fire of some Spanish batteries the rest were safely taken off and Lively was burned.
[1] At the time the French and Austrian armies were engaging each other in Genoa, and Morris in Phaeton was detached to assist the forces of Peter Karl Ott von Bátorkéz.
In 1801 Phaeton moved from the centre of the Mediterranean to continue serving off the coast of Spain and on 16 May Morris sent his ship's boats, in tandem with those of the 32-gun frigate HMS Naiad, in to Marin where they captured the Spanish armed packet L'Alcudia and destroyed her compatriot El Raposo.
[1][3][13][15] Morris stayed on half pay throughout the Peace of Amiens but upon the start of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803 he was given command of the Sea Fencibles located between Blackwater and the River Stour on 12 July.
As he reached the enemy line, Morris had Colossus fire her starboard guns in order to create a smoke screen to assist their advance.
[Note 2] At one point Colossus was almost overwhelmed by a boarding party, but she was saved when her crew on the lower decks climbed up and fought off the attackers.
[25] Morris himself had become a casualty during the fighting, receiving a severe wound to his thigh or knee, but he stayed on deck after applying his own tourniquet until the combat had finished, at which point he fainted from a lack of blood and was carried below.
[1][15][20] Colossus was then taken in tow by the 64-gun ship of the line HMS Agamemnon, her mainmast having been cut away on the afternoon of 23 October and Morris in fear that she would succumb to her many injuries and founder.
[20] He continued in command of Colossus after the battle; she was paid off on 29 December but Morris recommissioned her on 5 July 1806, from when he served off Rochefort in the squadron of Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Strachan.
[30] His next command came on 1 April 1810 when he joined the 98-gun ship of the line HMS Formidable in the Baltic Fleet, and on 31 July of that year he was further rewarded for his services when he was made a Colonel of Marines.
[1][20][29][33] Morris spent his time in the Baltic escorting convoys and protecting against Danish attacks around the Great Belt and thus was not part of the force that fought at the Siege of Riga towards the end of the year.
