James Nicoll Morris was born in 1763, the son of Captain John Morris RN. When his father was killed in command of hms Bristol at the unsuccessful attack on Sullivan’s Island, Charlestown, in 1776 during the War of American Independence, James, aged thirteen, had been in the service for nearly one year. His father, like Nelson, left his progeny to King and Country.

Prior to Trafalgar, his naval career was relatively uneventful. In 1779, he was in the Prince of Wales at the actions of St Lucia and Grenada and was promoted lieutenant a year later. In 1793, on the Newfoundland station, his sloop Plato took part in the capture of the French Lutine. In the same year, he was promoted captain. Five years later, his frigate Lively was lost on Rota Point, near Cadiz, and a year later he conducted Lord Elgin to Constantinople in the Phaeton, staying in the Mediterranean to co-operate with the Austrians.

During 1804/5, he commanded the Colossus (74), ‘an excellent sailer’ according to Collingwood, and took part in the blockade of Brest and the watch off Cadiz. When he first assumed command, she was a sickly ship with an unpromising crew, but by October 1805 he had transformed her into a formidable fighting vessel. She gave a good account of herself at Trafalgar where she was the sixth ship of Cuthbert Collingwood’s somewhat ragged division. Once engaged, Morris’s ship suffered from heavy fire from the French Swiftsure and Argonaute. The latter collided with the Colossus and sandwiched her between the two enemy ships. She endured a furious and heavy punishment from their great guns. Even though the Colossus’s carronades were able to clear the enemy upper decks of men, the Argonaute’s crew prepared to board but were prevented from doing so when the two ships were driven apart by the swell. Morris next engaged the Bahama and was able to bring down her mizzen mast, before being supported by Codrington in the Orion.

At the end of the battle, Morris was able to share in a success that had accounted for three of the enemy ships. However, the Colossus had suffered the highest casualties of any of the British ships: forty killed and 160 wounded. Morris was among them. He was hit in the knee. The pain was great, but he applied his own tourniquet to stop the bleeding and refused to leave the quarterdeck. Nevertheless, at the close of the action, he fainted from loss of blood and was finally carried below. He recovered in Gibraltar and subsequently received the thanks of Parliament, the naval gold medal and a vase from the Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund for his part in the battle.

In 1810, Morris was appointed a Colonel of Marines and in 1811, was raised to Rear Admiral. In 1812, he wsa third in command in the Baltic and in 1815, he was made KCB. His last promotion was to Vice Admiral. Morris died in Marlow on 15 April 1830. His wife, whom he had married in 1802, wrote of him that his ‘strict sense of honour rendered him universally respected and esteemed,’ and that he was ‘distinguished in simplicity and singleness of heart for which he was remarkable.’

PW