Adam Mackenzie was an officer of the Royal Navy. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1790, to Commander in 1796, and to Captain on September 2, 1799. He died in 1823.
In 1799 he was captain of HMS Pylades, a 16-gun sloop. On 11 August, Pylades, accompanied by the 16-gun brig-sloop HMS Espiegle and the cutter HMS Courier, attacked the ex British gun-brig HMS Crash, moored between the island of Schiermonnikoog and Groningen. In the attack, which resulted in the surrender of the Crash, Pylades lost one man killed and two wounded. The Crash had a crew of 60 men and was armed with 12 carronades. The boats of the squadron then attacked a six gun Dutch schooner Vengeance and a battery on Schiermonnikoog. The British were able to burn the schooner and spike the guns of the battery. Following these actions, Mackenzie was advanced to the rank of post captain.
In 1806, as captain of the frigate HMS Magicienne, he was present at the Battle of San Domingo. Earlier, on January 25, he had captured the packet El Carmen, armed with two guns and with a crew of 18 men, after a 12-hour chase.
At the Battle of Copenhagen (1807) he was Second Captain on Prince of Wales, a 98-gun first-rate and flagship for Admiral James Gambier. The First Captain was Sir Home Riggs Popham. Mackenzie had been appointed to Prince of Wales in June-July of that year.
In 1808-9, Mackenzie commanded HMS President (1806), a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate while off Brazil.
In 1810, he took command of the newly commissioned HMS Armada, a 74-gun fourth rate. On November 22, Armada was in the company of the 74-gun HMS Northumberland when she captured the the 14-gun French privateer ketch La Glaneuse.
In 1820 he was captain of the 74-gun third-rate, HMS Superb as part of a squadron the Admiralty maintained off South America to counter possible interventions by the United States. In July 1821, i.e., during winter, he brought Superb around Cape Horn to Peru where he protected British vessels and property threatened by the fighting as San Martín liberated Peru. One of his tasks was to limit the activities of Admiral Thomas Cochrane, then serving as commander of the Chilean Navy.