Thomas Dundas (Royal Navy officer)

An effective frigate captain he made a number of small captures, but did not see action in any major fleet clashes, until he was present at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

[1][2] He was promoted to lieutenant on 15 July 1793, shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War, with one of his earliest commands being the sloop HMS Merlin.

[1][3] Dundas received command of the 20-gun sixth rate HMS Prompte shortly afterwards and in 1799 he captured a valuable Spanish whaling ship.

[5] Naiad managed to escape, evading fire from the lead French frigates, and on 20 August Dundas fell in with Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Calder's squadron, on its way to blockade Ferrol.

[5] With the arrival on 28 September of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson to take command of the fleet, the main British force withdrew over the horizon.

[5] As the two fleets came within sight on the morning of 21 October, Nelson summoned the four frigate captains, Dundas of the Naiad, Prowse of the Sirius, Blackwood of the Euryalus and Capel of the Phoebe, to come aboard his flagship HMS Victory.

[5] Dundas's most significant challenge of the battle was navigating both the Naiad and the crippled Belleisle through the rising storm to the safety of Gibraltar.

By 22 October they had lost contact with most of the rest of the fleet, but Dundas persevered, several times having to haul the ships off the coast as strong winds threatened to drive them onshore.

At first it seemed that it could be one of the squadron that had escaped from Trafalgar under Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley, but after an exchange of signals the mystery ship was revealed to be HMS Donegal, rushing northwards to join the fleet.

[11] During his career Dundas is said to have invented a type of inflammable ball, ... applicable for besieging a town, and peculiar for its small weight, by which means may be thrown to a great distance; and it takes fire on a very curious plan: it spreads a flame on three distinct openings, which is so strong, that the fire extends a full yard in length from the ball itself, and is so powerful, that anything under, over, or near, cannot escape its effects.