Alexander Ruddach (1758 - 1811)

The son of a St Magnus Cathedral Minister, Alexander Ruddach (Alex) was an experienced seaman and excellent navigator who had an illustrious career in the Royal Navy, elements of which are reminiscent of C. S. Forester's fictional character, Horatio Hornblower. Alex served throughout much of the American War of Independence during which he was nearly captured by the Americans and was briefly held in captivity by the French when the frigate he was serving on found itself in the midst of a large French fleet. After being released he was back serving on the ship that took the British Commander Sir Guy Carleton, to a meeting with George Washington, to try and bring an end to hostilities. Alex showed his humanity by rescuing the crew of a French vessel in mid-Atlantic and going out of his way to take them to the nearest landfall. During the French Revolutionary War, he fought in a major sea battle which he was lucky to survive. 

He ended his career in command of a 16-gun sloop-of-war stationed in Cork from where her captured three French naval vessels. In times of peace, he traded to the West Indies, but commercial business was not his forte, often having to be bailed out by his benevolent uncle, Charles Steuart. Alex's career is told through the letters he wrote to this influential uncle, whose interesting career is also examined. 

After Alex's death, his widow married another naval Orcadian, Donald Trail, and this circumstance provides the opportunity to compare the two contemporaries who served in similar theatres of war and fought at the same major sea battle. They also traded in times of peace, but there the similarity disappears, for Trail can only be described as the archetypal ruthless, sadistic slave trader whose name has gone down in infaamy in Australian history for his treatment of convicts he transported to New South Wales. Trail's career shows the darker side of Britain's colonial ambitions.