Michael Dixon

Biography

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Friends and Family
Older Brother: Mr. James Dixon, businessman and owner of the cargo ship 'Capitalist'

Record of Achievement
February the 14th 1722 - Enlisted in the squadron

Background Story
Early Life - (1688 - 1702)

Captain Michael Dixon was born in the spring of 1688 in a growing market village and port in the north west of England, the younger son to a comfortable family, which could neither be classed as being particularly wealthy - nor especially poor, and which owned a small business employed in maintaining and repairing the various river going boats tasked with transporting their assorted cargo of gunpowder and explosives from inland, down the river to the village port.

Michael was expected to follow in the footsteps of his older brother James and join their father's business when the time came, on the other hand he had always wanted more than the simple life, a chance to fight for honour and glory and serve his King, as his grandfather had done before him during the bloody Civil War. As such Michael went against his father's wishes and left home at the age of 14 to persue a life of adventure in the Royal Navy.

War of the Spanish Succession - (1702 - 1713)

Joining the Navy as a Midshipman in the summer of 1702, Dixon was assigned to the 42 gun Frigate 'HMS Condor', which found itself attached to Admiral Shovell's Squadron as it patrolled off the north west coast of France at the time of the famous naval victory at the Battle of Vigo Bay.

It was not until 1704 that Dixon was able to take part in his first major engagement, the Condor - having transfered to the Squadron of Admiral Rooke, took part in the successfull capture of Gibraltar from the Spanish, after which she was present at the indecisive naval battle of Vélez-Málaga on the 24th of August, taking many casualties and being heavily damaged in the engagement, Dixon finding himself unharmed - but bound for England as the Condor headed home for repairs.

For the next three years the Condor was assigned various coastal and convoy defence duties in an effort to counter the increasing threat from French and Spanish Privateers, capturing a number of ships between late 1704 and 1707, after which she was ordered back home.

Whilst back home in England, Midshipman Dixon successfully passed his Lieutenant's exam, however it was another year until he was finally promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in the October of 1708 and assigned to the newly launched 50 gun Fourth-Rate 'HMS Chester.'

Lieutenant Dixon served aboard the Chester as it's Third Lieutenant for a number of years, including in the Americas during the failed Quebec Expedition of 1711, under Admiral Walker - in which eight ships were wrecked in an accident - for the loss of over 800 lives.

Dixon continued to serve aboard the Chester until the year 1713, at which point he returned home to England to be made Lieutenant Commanding the 'HMS Bell', a small 6 gun Light Corvette.

Dixon set out in the Bell at the end of March 1713, with orders to scout the channel for any sign of enemy Privateers. He never had the chance to test his skills as a Captain during the War, however - as the Treaty of Utrecht was signed the following month, ending the War of the Spanish Succession - much to his own personal distress.