John Steel

According to his son, John Steel was born in South Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland around 1766. We do not know anything of his parents but one of his brothers, Donald Steel, went to Prince Edward Island in the Gulf of St Lawrence around 1805.
He became a cooper/mariner and married Mary Smith at Greenock on the Firth of Clyde, in 1788. They had two sons, the first dying of the pox when he was 20 months old, then James, born in 1792.
A year or two later, John Steel was impressed into Nelson's navy from a merchant vessel in the West Indies. He served in the Culloden and was at many naval actions including the Battle of the Nile, The Battle of Cape St Vincent and the landing at Teneriffe, where Nelson lost his arm. It seems likely that he was also in Naples when Nelson was wooing Lady Hamilton.
After nine years, he came home after the Peace and was employed as Master of a sloop in the coasting trade and herring fishing for ten years with a share in the sloop. But he became ill for about 4 years and died in Greenock in 1817. He was buried in Inverkip Street cemetery where his monument Lair No. 71 can be found on the north wall. Ivy is threatening to cover it these days, so please take some time to remove it if you are visiting.