James Gordon (Royal Navy officer) James Gordon (Royal Navy officer) Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Alexander Gordon, GCB (6 October 1782 – 8 January 1869) was a Royal Navy officer. As a volunteer, he fought at the Battle of Groix, at the Battle of the Glorious First of June and at the Battle of Cape St Vincent during the French Revolutionary Wars and then, as a midshipman, served under Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson at the Battle of the Nile. Gordon became commanding officer of the 28-gun frigate which took part of a hard-fought action between three British ships and the combined forces of a
Battle of the Nile a year old. "Tonnant" and "Spartiate", both of which later fought at the Battle of Trafalgar, joined the Royal Navy under their old names while "Franklin", considered to be "the finest two-decked ship in the world", was renamed HMS "Canopus". The total value of the prizes captured at the Nile and subsequently bought into the Royal Navy was estimated at just over £130,000 (the equivalent of £ as of 2019). Additional awards were presented to the British fleet: Nelson was awarded £2,000 (£ as of 2019) a year for life by the Parliament of Great Britain and £1,000 per annum