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Thread: The Battle of Camperdown.

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    Default The Battle of Camperdown.

    British fleet[edit]

    Ship Rate Guns Commander Casualties Notes
    Killed Wounded Total
    Windward division
    HMS Triumph Third rate 74 Captain William Essington 29 55 84 Hull and masts damaged, ten guns dismounted
    HMS Venerable Third rate 74 Admiral Adam Duncan
    Captain William George Fairfax
    15 62 77 Hull and masts very badly damaged
    HMS Ardent Third rate 64 Captain Richard Rundle Burges 41 107 148 Hull and masts very badly damaged
    HMS Bedford Third rate 74 Captain Sir Thomas Byard 30 41 71 Hull and rigging badly damaged
    HMS Lancaster Third rate 64 Captain John Wells 3 18 21 Lightly damaged
    HMS Belliqueux Third rate 64 Captain John Inglis 25 78 103 Hull and rigging badly damaged
    HMS Adamant Fourth rate 50 Captain William Hotham 0 0 0 Undamaged
    HMS Isis Fourth rate 50 Captain William Mitchell 2 21 23 Lightly damaged
    HMS Circe Sixth rate 28 Captain Peter Halkett 0 0 0 Not engaged in the action.
    Leeward division
    HMS Russell Third rate 74 Captain Henry Trollope 0 7 7 Lightly damaged
    HMS Director Third rate 64 Captain William Bligh 0 7 7 Masts and rigging damaged
    HMS Montagu Third rate 74 Captain John Knight 3 5 8 Lightly damaged
    HMS Veteran Third rate 64 Captain George Gregory 4 21 25 Three guns dismounted, otherwise lightly damaged
    HMS Monarch Third rate 74 Vice-Admiral Richard Onslow
    Captain Edward O'Bryen
    36 100 136 Hull and masts very badly damaged
    HMS Powerful Third rate 74 Captain William O'Bryen Drury 10 78 88 Hull and masts badly damaged
    HMS Monmouth Third rate 64 Captain James Walker 5 22 27 Lightly damaged
    HMS Agincourt Third rate 64 Captain John Williamson 0 0 0 Very lightly damaged
    HMS Beaulieu Fifth rate 40 Captain Francis Fayerman 0 0 0 Undamaged
    Minor warships
    HMS Martin Sloop 16 Commander Charles Paget 0 0 0 Not engaged in the action.
    Rose Hired cutter 10 Lieutenant Joseph Brodie 0 0 0 Not engaged in the action.
    King George Hired cutter 12 Lieutenant James Rains 0 0 0 Not engaged in the action.
    Active Hired cutter 12 Lieutenant J. Hamilton 0 0 0 Not engaged in the action.
    Diligent Hired cutter 6 Lieutenant T. Dawson 0 0 0 Not engaged in the action.
    Speculator Hired lugger 8 Lieutenant H. Hales 0 0 0 Not engaged in the action.
    Total casualties: 203 killed, 622 wounded
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  2. #2
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    Captain William Essington.


    (c. 1753 - 12 July 1816) was an officer in the Royal Navy during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.


    On July 19, 1794 the Baltimore built whaler Sarah and Elizabeth, now based out of Hull, was homeward bound after a season in the the Arctic Ocean. Off St. Abb’s Head, Scotland, she was intercepted by the HMS Aurora (28) commanded by Captain William Essington.


    Under British law governing the impressing of sailors, outward bound ships were exempt from the press. Homeward bound ships, however, were fair game. While the captain, mates and master were exempt, a Royal Navy warship could take as many men as it desired from her crew so long as she was left with enough men to get her to port.
    Captain Essington sent a boarding party headed by Aurora’s master and bosun onto Sarah and Elizabeth with the intent of pressing some of the crew. The crew was in no mood to cooperate. They barricaded themselves in the hold and refused orders to come on deck. A master’s mate was sent back to the Aurora. At this point a larger party — now consisting of the original cutter, the captain’s barge, some of Aurora’s marine detachment as well as more seamen — was assembled and returned to Sarah and Elizabeth.
    Essington brought Aurora along side of Sarah and Elizabeth and, in Captain Essington’s words:
    I then ordered the cutter manned and armed, likewise the barge with Lieutenant ..ppings on board, and by the time my boats was on board her, she was within hail. I told the master of her, if he had lost the command of his ship I would consider her in a state of piracy, and desired him to come on board the Aurora, and what people were willing to come with him; for if his men would not obey him, I was determined to fire into her.
    The men from Aurora set about removing one of the hatches. At this point the stories diverge. The whalers story is:
    [T]he boatswain of the Aurora, holding a hand-grenade in one hand, and a lighted match in the other, asked Captain Essington, if he should fire the hand-grenade amongst the people, which the Captain ordered him to do; but on the representation of the matter of the Sarah and Elizabeth, that the ship was full of oil, and if the hand-grenade was fired she would immediately blow up, he desisted; the crew then proceeded then with crow [bars]to break up the hatches, and as the men still refused to come up on deck, one of the officers from on board the Aurora, hailed the Captain and said, ‘will you give us leave to fire,’ to which Captain Essington answered in the affirmative, and the marines, to about sixteen to eighteen in number, fired down the hatchways, by which one man of the Sarah and Elizabeth’s people was killed, and three badly wounded; the boatswain of the Aurora [the boatswains of both ships were wounded in the exchange, which might lead to some confusion] was wounded in the leg.
    Essington says:
    …I was informed one of my men was wounded; I then told my officers which was on board her I would run the Aurora alongside, which I immediately did; by this I was in hopes of bringing her people into subjection; they were then again asked if they would come up, and the same terms again offered to them; one of the hatches was ordered to be taken off, in doing which Mr. Williamson, the boatswain, was shot through the leg by one of the Sarah and Elizabeth’s people; a fire then commenced from the Greenlandman, and my men who went on board in the boats (without my orders or any ones) the officers of the Aurora on board of her did all in their power to stop the firing,
    Eventually Essington got his way, the crew of Sarah and Elizabeth was paraded and 24 men, including three of the wounded, were pressed.
    The people of Hull were outraged. A coroner’s jury held an inquest on the death of carpenter’s mate Edward Boggs, the Sarah and Elizabeth crewman killed, and returned a verdict of Willful Murder against Captain Essington and the members of the boarding party.
    The Admiralty was in a quandry. Because if it honored the arrest warrant against Essington not only would he undoubtedly be convicted and be hanged but it would have a chilling effect on other captains and it might incite otherwise submissive merchant crews to resist impressment. So Captain Essington was sent far away. The men pressed from Sarah and Elizabeth were released from the Aurora, after some time, and returned home.
    There is little written material available on the eventual Rear Admiral Sir William Essington but this much is clear. While Aurora remained in the North Sea, by early 1795 Captain Essington is in command of HMS Sceptre (64) at St. Helena en route to take the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope.


    On 15 June 1795, he was in command of Sceptre at Saint Helena. There, with the assistance of several East Indiamen, primarily the General Goddard, he captured eight Dutch East Indiamen on their way back to Europe.
    Essington replaced Erasmus Gower as captain of HMS Triumph on 4 June 1797. Phillip Parker King named Port Essington, an inlet in Australia's Northern Territory, after Essington in 1803. On 23 April 1804, Essington was knighted and promoted to Rear Admiral of the Blue. He was present at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807, flying his flag aboard HMS Minotaur. He died at Nottingham Place on 12 July 1816 at the age of 63, with the rank of vice-admiral.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Admiral Adam Duncan.

    Adam was the second son of Alexander Duncan of Lundie, Angus, (d. May 1777) Provost of Dundee, and his wife (and first cousin once removed) Helen, daughter of John Haldane of Gleneagles, was born at Dundee. In 1746, after receiving his education in Dundee, he entered the Royal Navy on board the sloop Trial, under Captain Robert Haldane, with whom, in HMS Trial and afterwards in HMS Shoreham, he continued till the peace in 1748. In 1749 he was appointed to HMS Centurion, then commissioned for service in the Mediterranean, by the Hon. Augustus Keppel (afterwards Viscount Keppel), with whom he was afterwards in HMS Norwich on the coast of North America, and was confirmed in the rank of lieutenant on 10 January 1755.

    Seven Years War.

    In August 1755 he followed Keppel to the Swiftsure, and in January 1756 to the Torbay, in which he continued till his promotion to commander's rank on 21 September 1759, and during this time was present in the expedition to Basque Roads in 1757, at the reduction of Gorée in 1758, and in the blockade of Brest in 1759, up to within two months of the battle of Quiberon Bay, from which his promotion just excluded him.

    From October 1759 to April 1760 he had command of the Royal Exchange, a hired vessel employed in petty convoy service with a miscellaneous ship's company, consisting to a large extent of boys and foreigners, many of whom (he reported) could not speak English, and all impressed with the idea that as they had been engaged by the merchants from whom the ship was hired they were not subject to naval discipline. It would seem that a misunderstanding with the merchants on this point was the cause of the ship's being put out of commission after a few months.

    As a commander Duncan had no further service, but on 25 February 1761 he was posted and appointed to the HMS Valiant, fitting for Keppel's broad pennant. In her he had an important share in the reduction of Belle Île in June 1761, and of Havana in August 1762. He returned to England in 1763, and, notwithstanding his repeated request, had no further employment for many years.

    Peacetime.

    During this time he lived principally at Dundee, and married on 6 June 1777 Henrietta, daughter of Robert Dundas of Arniston, Lord President of the Court of Session. It would seem that his alliance with this influential family obtained him the employment which he had been vainly seeking during fifteen years. Towards the end of 1778 he was appointed to HMS Suffolk, from which he was almost immediately moved into HMS Monarch.

    In January 1779 he sat as a member of the court-martial of Admiral Keppel for the poor performance of the Channel Fleet during the First Battle of Ushant. During the course of the trial Duncan objected several times to stop the prosecutor in irrelevant and in leading questions, or in perversions of answers. The admiralty was therefore desirous that he should not sit on the court-martial of Sir Hugh Palliser for failure to obey orders during the same battle. The court-martial was set for April. The day before the assembling of the court the admiralty sent down orders for the Monarch to go to St. Helens. Her crew, however, refused to weigh the anchor until they were paid their advance; and as this could not be done in time, the Monarch was still in Portsmouth harbour when the signal for the court-martial was made; so that, sorely against the wishes of the admiralty, Duncan sat on this court-martial also.

    During the summer of 1779 the Monarch was attached to the Channel fleet under Sir Charles Hardy; in December was one of the squadron with which Rodney sailed for the relief of Gibraltar, and had a prominent share in the action off St. Vincent on 16 January 1780. On returning to England Duncan quit the Monarch, and had no further command till after the change of Ministry in March 1782, when Keppel became first lord of the admiralty. He was then appointed to HMS Blenheim of 90 guns, and commanded her during the year in the Grand Fleet under Howe, at the relief of Gibraltar in October, and the encounter with the allied fleet off Cape Spartel. He afterwards succeeded Sir John Jervis in command of the Foudroyant, and after the peace commanded HMS Edgar as guardship at Portsmouth for three years. He attained flag rank on 24 September 1787, became Vice Admiral 1 February 1793, and In February 1795 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, North Sea, and hoisted his flag on board HMS Venerable. He was promoted to Admiral in June 1795.

    In action with the Dutch.

    During the first two years of Duncan's command the work was limited to enforcing a rigid blockade of the enemy's coast, but in the spring of 1797 it became more important from the knowledge that the Dutch fleet in the Texel was getting ready for sea.The situation was one of extreme difficulty, for the mutiny which had paralysed the fleet at the Nore broke out also amongst the crews under Duncan, and kept him for some weeks in enforced inactivity. Duncan's personal influence and some happy displays of his vast personal strength held the crew of Venerable to their duty; but with one other exception, that of Adamant, the ships refused to quit their anchorage at Yarmouth, leaving Venerable and Adamant alone to keep up the pretence of the blockade.Fortunately the Dutch were not at the time ready for sea; and when they were ready and anxious to sail, with thirty thousand troops, for the invasion of Ireland, a persistent westerly wind detained them in harbour till they judged that the season was too far advanced. For political purposes, however, the French Revolutionaries who controlled the government in Holland, in spite of the opinion of their admiral, De Winter, to the contrary, ordered him to put to sea in the early days of October.

    Duncan, with the main body of the fleet, was at the time lying at Great Yarmouth revictualling, the Texel being watched by a small squadron under Captain Henry Trollope in HMS Russell, from whom he received early information of the Dutch being at sea. He at once weighed anchor, and with a fair wind approached the Dutch coast, saw that the fleet was not returned to the Texel, and steering towards the south sighted it on the morning of 11 October about seven miles from the shore and nearly halfway between the villages of Egmont and Camperdown. The wind was blowing straight on shore, and though the Dutch forming their line to the north preserved a bold front, it was clear that if the attack was not made promptly they would speedily get into shoal water, where no attack would be possible. Duncan at once realised the necessity of cutting off their retreat by getting between them and the land. At first he was anxious to bring up his fleet in a compact body, for his numbers were at best equal to those of the Dutch; but seeing the absolute necessity of immediate action, without waiting for the ships astern to come up, without waiting to form line of battle, and with the fleet in very irregular order of sailing, in two groups, led respectively by himself in Venerable and Vice-admiral Richard Onslow in Monarch, he made the signal to pass through the enemy's line and engage to leeward.

    It was a bold departure from the absolute rule laid down in the Fighting Instructions, still new, though warranted by the more formal example of Howe on 1 June 1794; and on this occasion, as on the former, was crowned with complete success. The engagement was long and bloody; for though Duncan, by passing through the enemy's line, had prevented their untimely retreat, he had not advanced further in tactical science, and the battle was fought out on the primitive principles of ship against ship, the advantage remaining with those who were the better trained to the great gun exercise, though the Dutch inflicted great loss on the Royal navy.

    It had been proposed to De Winter to make up for the want of skill by firing shell from the lower deck guns, and some experiments had been made during the summer which showed that the idea was feasible. However, want of familiarity with an arm so new and so dangerous presumably prevented its being acted on in the battle.

    Rewards.

    The news of the victory was received in Britain with the warmest enthusiasm. It was the first certain sign that the mutinies of the summer had not destroyed the power and the prestige of the Royal Navy. Duncan was at once (21 October) raised to the peerage as Viscount Duncan, of Camperdown, and Baron Duncan, of Lundie in the Shire of Perth (with which came the lands now known as Camperdown Park in Dundee), and there was a strong feeling that the reward was inadequate. Even as early as 18 October his aunt, Lady Mary Duncan, wrote to Henry Dundas, at that time secretary of state for war: Report says my nephew is only made a Viscount. Myself it is nothing, but the whole nation thinks the least you can do is to give him an English earldom. … Am sure were this properly represented to our good king, who esteems a brave, religious man like himself, would be of my opinion. …. It was not, however, till 1831, many years after Duncan's death, that his son, then bearing his title, was raised to the dignity of an earl, and his other children to the rank and precedence of the children of an earl.

    Duncan was awarded the Large Naval Gold Medal and an annual pension of £3,000, to himself and the next two heirs to his title - this was the biggest pension ever awarded by the British government. Additionally, he was given the freedom of several cities, including Dundee and London.

    Death.

    Duncan continued in command of the North Sea fleet until 1801, but without any further opportunity of distinction. Three years later, 4 August 1804, he died quite suddenly, aged seventy-three, at the inn at Cornhill, a village on the border, where he had stopped for the night on his journey to Edinburgh and was buried in Lundie.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Captain William George Fairfax.

    William was born in Bagshot, the eldest son of Joseph Fairfax of the Horse Guards and Mary Anne. He married firstly Hannah Spears (d.1770) in 1767, and secondly in 1772, Janet Margaret Charters. William was the father of eight children. A daughter, Mary Somerville, became a noted science writer and polymath.

    Career.

    Fairfax entered the navy in 1750 and initially served in the Mediterranean under Captain Hon. Augustus Keppel aboard the Centurion 60. His next employment was with the Mars 64, Captain John Amherst, and from 1754 he served on the Garland 24 commanded by Captain Marriot Arbuthnot.

    During the Seven Years War he was commissioned lieutenant of Rear-Admiral Henry Harrison’s Plymouth-based flagship Duke 90, Captain Thomas Hanway, on 20 December 1757, and from 1758-60 he was aboard the Eurus 20, Captain John Elphinston, which took part in the St. Lawrence operations and the reduction of Quebec.

    He was unemployed from August 1760 until June 1766 and from June 1769 until September 1776, the three-year interim being spent in command of the cutter Greyhound 4, serving off his new wife’s home town of Burntisland, Fifeshire.

    The American Revolutionary War.

    During 1777 he had the command of the small sloop Hazard 8, sailing in the early part of the year from Sheerness for Fifeshire. On 13 May 1778, he was one of the beneficiaries of their Majesties’ review of the fleet, being promoted commander out of Admiral Hon. Augustus Keppel’s flagship Prince George 90, Captain Jonathon Faulknor, to the cutter Alert 14, which was attached to the Channel fleet. During the campaign which resulted in the Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778 he defeated the lugger Coureur 14 in a brisk action in view of the fleet on 17 June. A month later on 17 July his command was captured in the Channel by the Junon 40, and having been detained as a prisoner of war he returned to England some time before the spring of 1780.

    Fairfax briefly commanded the Belle Poule 36 in a temporary capacity for Captain Philip Patton during 1781. In 1782 Fairfax was released as a post captain and commanded HMS Tartar, in which he went out to Jamaica from Ireland in April. He remained with the Tartar until the peace, sailing to North America with Admiral Hugh Pigot’s Leeward Islands fleet and driving the rebel privateer Count de Grasse ashore on 7 August. He failed however to assist Captain Horatio Nelson in his abortive attempt to retake Turk’s Island in the spring of 1783, sailing away without apparent reason, and the Tartar was paid off in November.

    His next employment was not until 1793 when he joined the Sheerness 44, which became flagship to Rear-Admiral Henry Harvey in the North Sea during 1794. From March 1795 he commanded the Repulse 64 in home waters, capturing the privateer Petit Pearen 6 off the coast of Holland on 3 December.

    The Battle of Camperdown.

    I
    n 1796 became flag captain of HMS Venerable under Admiral Adam Duncan and was heavily engaged at the Battle of Camperdown the following year on 11 October, where his ship suffered casualties of fifteen men killed and sixty-two wounded. For these services he was knighted, and on 14 February 1799 he was appointed a colonel of marines. In the meantime the badly damaged Venerable remained under repair until the spring of 1799, whereupon he recommissioned her and rejoined the Channel fleet.
    Following the Brest fleet’s breakout on 25 April 1799 the Venerable was attached to Rear-Admiral Charles Pole’s squadron which blockaded five Spanish sail of the line from Ferrol in the Aix Roads. He remained with her until being promoted rear-admiral on 1 January 1801, serving in the Baltic Sea but had made an enemy of Lord Spencer and was permanently placed in reserve. In 1810 he was promoted to Vice-Admiral of the Red. Fairfax was promoted vice-admiral on 13 December 1806 as a result of the Admiralty’s determination to have his junior on the list, Sir James Saumarez, raised to that rank.


    He married Hannah Spears, daughter of the Reverend Spears of Burntisland, Fife, on 23 July 1767 by whom he had a daughter prior to his wife’s death in 1770. In April 1772 he married Margaret Charters, cousin of Admiral Sir Samuel Grieg of the Russian service, by whom he had four sons and three daughters. His youngest son Henry later became a baronet, whilst his second daughter, Mary Somerville, was a celebrated science writer, mathematician and astronomer.


    Death.

    He died in Edinburgh in 1813. His fourth son Henry Fairfax was made a baronet in 1836 in recognition of his father's service.

    Rob.


    Last edited by Bligh; 03-23-2017 at 09:09.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Captain Richard Rundle Burgess.



    His first known Service was on 21st November 1772.
    He was promoted to Lieutenant, 1702/11/21.
    Commander on the, 12/07/ 1782.

    From January 1786 to 1790 he was Commander of the Savage.

    Promoted to Captain on the 21st of September 1790 he took command of the Ferret until January 1791.
    In 1794 he captained HMS Culloden until June of that year when he fought at the Glorious First of June.

    From February 1795 until June 1796 he was Captain of the Argo, and then the Ardent until his death on this ship on the 10th of November 1797 following the battle of Camperdown.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  6. #6
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    Captain Sir Thomas Byard.

    Sir Thomas Byard was baptised on 25 September 1743 at Burton-on-Trent.

    He was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. He is best known for his service in two significant battles, fighting at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797 and the Battle of Tory Island in 1798. In these engagements Byard was highly praised for his conduct and he contributed materially to both victories. He was also knighted in 1789 for his service to King George III, personally steering the King's barque at the fleet review at Portsmouth in that year.

    Life.


    After serving in the Victory from the 9th of December 1782 until 27th of the 12th 1783 Byard was promoted to post captain at the end of the American Revolutionary War, and remained in service during the ten year Peace of Paris. By 1789, he had become flag captain of the new second rate HMS Impregnable and in this role was tasked with escorting King George III and the royal party during the fleet review. Byard took personal command of the King's barque during the review, steering it himself. So pleased was the King with his treatment during the day that Byard was knighted as a reward.


    The following year, Byard was sent to the Mediterranean in Impregnable under Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton and remained there after Bickerton's death in 1792 under Admiral Phillips Cosby. In 1793, Impregnable returned to British waters, and Cosby and Byard joined HMS Windsor Castle before moving to HMS Alcide and returning to Britain themselves.

    The Battle of Camperdown.

    By 1797, Byard was in command of HMS Bedford and took part in October in the Battle of Camperdown, at which a Dutch fleet was defeated off the Dutch coast. Byard was praised for his conduct in the battle and soon afterwards moved to the new 80-gun HMS Foudroyant, participating in the October 1798 campaign against a French invasion of Ireland that was defeated at the Battle of Tory Island. Foudroyant was too slow to participate in most of the battle, but did engage a number of French ships during the course of the engagement, and Byard was again praised. He died on board on 31 October 1798 at sea and is buried at St Budeaux Church.

    Rob.


    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Captain John Inglis.


    1743-1807. Born of Scottish descent on 20 March 1743 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his father, John Inglis, was a merchant who had re-located to America, and his mother was Catherine M’Call.
    Inglis entered the service in 1758 aboard the Hussar 28, Captain John Elliot, and was commissioned lieutenant on 22 October 1761. He commissioned the newly acquired revenue cutter Sultana 8 in July 1768, going out to North America in the following month and seeing service off Boston and Rhode Island in the following years before returning home to pay her off in December 1772.

    The American Revolutionary War.

    Having been promoted commander on 11 April 1778, he went out to North America aboard the Trident 64, Captain Elliot, and arrived in June to join the Senegal 14. This vessel was unfortunately captured by the Comte d’Estaing’s fleet on 14 August during the Rhode Island campaign, although interestingly she was retaken by the Zephyr 14 and a privateer in the Gambia River on 2 November 1780 with the British commander on that occasion being his namesake, John Inglis.

    In the spring of 1779 Inglis joined the Delight 14, in which he went out to North America in June, taking the American letter of marquee Industry on 18 February 1780 and the privateer Macaroni on 16 April. He later served under Captain Andrew Barkley of the Blonde 32 in an expedition from Charleston to clear the Americans from the Cape Fear River in January 1781.

    Promotion.

    He was posted captain on 23 August 1781 and commanded the Squirrel 20, taking the French privateers Furet on 15 February 1782 and Aimable Manon 18 on 21 June off Lands’ End prior to being paid off later that summer.
    In June 1795, after many years unemployment, he commissioned the ex-merchantman Coromandel 56, armed with 28 carronades, although this vessel was handed over to the Transport Board in May 1796. During the same month he recommissioned the Belliqueux 64 for the North Sea fleet, this ship being prominent at the mutiny on that station from 27 May, and sailing to join the mutiny at the Nore which had commenced earlier on 12 May.

    The Battle of Camperdown.

    Following the return to duty he commanded her at the Battle of Camperdown on 11 October 1797 where he famously threw down his signal book prior to the action in response to the signals flying up his commander-in-chief’s halyards, vowing instead to sail straight into the middle of the fight. The Belliqueux’s casualties of twenty-five men killed and seventy-eight wounded were the second highest in the fleet. Having taken a break from duty he rejoined her in October 1798 after Captain Henry Inman had held the acting command from December 1797 and Captain Robert England from June 1798, but he had left her by the following May.

    Inglis was promoted a rear admiral on 1 January 1801, a vice-admiral on 9 November 1805.

    He married his cousin, Barbara Inglis, the co-heiress of Auchindinny and Langbyres. The couple had three sons and two daughters with the second son, George Inglis, entering the navy and achieving the rank of lieutenant. The eldest daughter, Jane, married Captain James Coutts Crawford, and the youngest son, Archibald, became a lieutenant-colonel in the Madras Army.

    Inglis succeeded to the estate of Redhall and purchased a share of Auchindinny and Langbyres. He was renowned for his short temper.

    He died at Edinburgh on 11 March 1807.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Captain John Wells.

    Created a lieutenant in1779. Towards the conclusion of the American war this officer commanded the Raven, of 14 guns, at the Leeward Islands, on which station he had the misfortune to be captured by two French frigates. He was afterwards appointed to the Wasp sloop, and cruised with so much activity against the smugglers as to call forth the thanks of the Commissioners of the Customs, who sent a sum of money to be distributed amongst his officers and crew as a reward for their exertions.

    Promotion.

    Raised to the rank of Commander in 1782, his post commission bears date March 1, 1783, from which period I can find no mention of him until the month of October, 1794, when he is in command of the Defence, 74 guns.

    Camperdown.

    Early in 1797, Captain Wells was appointed to the Lancaster, 64, stationed in the North Sea, under the orders of the late Lord Duncan; and on the memorable 11th, October, in the same year, he made a powerfull contribution to the defeat of the Dutch fleet, under Admiral de Winter. The Lancaster, on that occasion, had 3 men killed and 18 wounded; and Captain Wells, for his meritorious conduct, was honoured with a gold medal. He afterwards walked in the procession to St. Paul’s, when their late Majesties, processed to the metropolitan church to deposit the various colours taken from the enemy during the war[. He continued to command the Lancaster until the month of May 1799, after which time, he was not re employed.

    His promotions as a flag-officer took place in the following order; Rear-Admiral of the Blue, Nov. 9, 1805; Vice-Admiral, July 31, 1810; and Admiral, July 19,1821. He was nominated an extra K.C.B. May 20, 1820.
    Sir John Wells married on April 29, 1815, a Miss Jane Dealty, of Rottingdean, Sussex.
    No date of death has yet been discovered in the Admiralty records.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Captain William Hotham.

    He was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

    Born into a military family Hotham joined the navy as a captain's servant and able seaman, rising through the ranks with service in the Caribbean and Newfoundland. A lieutenant by the outbreak of war with revolutionary France in 1793, Hotham served initially in the Mediterranean, and had been promoted to his first command by 1794. He saw action with his uncle Lord Hotham's fleet at the Battle of Hyères Islands in 1795, after which he returned home, taking command of the 50-gun HMS Adamant shortly before the mutiny at the Nore. His ship and Admiral Adam Duncan's flagship were the only two deckers to remain loyal, and the only two ships left to enforce the blockade of the Dutch coast. Despite their severe disadvantage in numbers, Hotham and Admiral Duncan were able to trick the Dutch to stay in port through use of false signals.

    Camperdown.

    After this, Hotham continued to serve with Duncan in the North Sea, and took part in his victory at the Battle of Camperdown in October 1797 when he captained the Adament 50.


    After further service in the English Channel Hotham went out to the Cape of Good Hope, taking part in the blockade of the French possessions in the Indian Ocean, and in 1799 helping to destroy the French frigate Preneuse. Taking command of HMS Raisonnable shortly after the end of the temporary Peace of Amiens, Hotham served in the Channel until ill health forced him to resign his command and go ashore.

    Though he briefly commanded a unit of Sea Fencibles, and later the yacht HMS Royal Sovereign, no seagoing command could be found for him. He spent the rest of the wars ashore, being promoted through the ranks, and being appointed first a Knight Commander and then a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. William Hotham died in 1848 at the age of 76.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Captain William Mitchell

    (c. 1745 – 7 March 1816) was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Mitchell is best known for rising from humble origins to high rank, having joined the Navy in 1766 as an able seaman and died in 1816 as a vice-admiral. His service was highly varied, including a circumnavigation of the world, command of a ship at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797 and a period as Sir James Saumarez's flag captain. He was also rumoured to have once been flogged round the fleet for desertion, although no firm evidence of this has been discovered.

    Life.

    Nothing is known of William Mitchell's birth, youth or childhood, other than that he must have been born in either 1745 or 1746 as his age at his death was reported to be 70. The first time that he appears in the historical record is in 1766, when he joined the Royal Navy ship HMS Dolphin under Captain Samuel Wallis. As he was already rated as an able seaman, it is likely that he was already experienced at sea, and he remained on board Dolphin during Wallis' circumnavigation of the world between 1766 and 1768.


    Promotion.
    He then disappears from Navy records, not reappearing again until July 1777, when he reenlisted on HMS Hector during the American Revolutionary War. As an experienced seaman, he was able to secure a promotion to master's mate and midshipman, transferring to HMS Victory and then in 1781 to HMS Foudroyant as an acting lieutenant.


    In November 1781 he went before a Navy board and was confirmed in the rank of lieutenant. In 1790, after the Peace of Paris, Mitchell was promoted to post captain and in 1792 took command of the 14-gun HMS Pigmy, moving to HMS Adamant and then HMS Isis two year later.

    Camperdown.

    Mitchell remained in command of Isis for the next six years, and saw action at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797, defeating the much larger Dutch ship Gelijkheid.


    In 1800, Mitchell moved to HMS Resolution and then in 1803 to HMS Zealand, the flagship of Admiral Sir James Saumarez. By 1807, Mitchell had been returned to shore service, commanding the sea fencibles at Shoreham-by-Sea. In 1808 he was promoted to rear-admiral and continued to rise through the ranks during his years on shore, becoming a vice-admiral in 1813 and being made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath shortly before his death at Camberwell in Surrey on 7 March 1816.

    Many years after his death, Sir John Ross wrote of him that he had "risen to the rank of rear-admiral by his good conduct, after having been flogged round the fleet for desertion". This claim, which has never been backed up by firm evidence, may be accurate given the odd disappearance of Mitchell from Navy records between 1768 and 1777.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Captain Peter Halkett.


    (c. 1765 – 7 October 1839) was a senior Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century who is best known for his service in the French Revolutionary Wars. The younger son a Scottish baronet, Halkett joined the Navy and by 1793 was a lieutenant, becoming a post captain after service at the Siege of Williamstadt in the Netherlands. He later commanded the frigate HMS Circe during the Battle of Camperdown in 1797 and later achieved success in the Caribbean in command of HMS Apollo. He was made a rear-admiral in 1812, but his first major command was in the West Indies in 1836, lasting two years. Shortly before his death he inherited the Halkett Baronetcy from his brother Charles, later passing it to his son John.

    Life.

    Peter Halkett was born in 1765, the second son of Sir John Halkett, the 4th Halkett Baronet of Pitfirrane in Fife. At a young age, Halkett entered the Royal Navy and as a lieutenant achieved his first command, that of the tiny sloop HMS Placentia in 1789. By 1793 was serving on HMS Syren, which conveyed the Duke of York to the Netherlands for service in the French Revolutionary Wars. During the campaign, Halkett served in gunboats assisting the Dutch garrison during the Siege of Williamstadt and impressed the Duke with his activity, being rewarded with a promotion to post captain and an expensive medal from the Prince of Orange.

    On his return to Britain, Halkett was given command of the frigate HMS Circe in the North Sea, and in 1797 his ship was one of the few not to suffer from the effects of the Nore Mutiny that brought the fleet to a standstill.

    Camperdown.

    For his conduct during the crisis, Halkett was praised by the Admiralty and later in the year Circe acted as a signal frigate for the fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan that destroyed a Dutch fleet at the Battle of Camperdown. In the aftermath of the battle, Halkett moved to the larger frigate HMS Apollo, but his ship was lost on the Dutch coast, Halkett and his men rescued by a Prussian ship. At the subsequent court martial Halkett was cleared of any blame in the loss of his ship and he was given command of a new frigate, also named HMS Apollo.
    In Apollo, Halkett sailed for the West Indies and remained there for two years, capturing a number of French and Spanish vessels, including privateers. He returned to Britain in 1802 and subsequently joined the ship of the line HMS Ganges.

    At the Second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 Ganges carried commodore Richard Goodwin Keats' flag. Halkett remained in command of Ganges until 1812 when he was made a rear-admiral. Halkett did not see a lot of subsequent high command, although he remained in service during the Napoleonic Wars, stationed at Portsmouth aboard HMS Gladiator.

    After the war Halkett remained in service, becoming a vice-admiral in 1821 and a full admiral in 1837. In 1837 he inherited his father's baronetcy from his brother. In 1836 he got his only major seagoing command when he spent two years as Commander in Chief of the North America and West Indies Station, before returning to Britain.
    Halkett died at home in Pitfirrane in October 1839. His wife Elizabeth, whom he had married in 1802, had died in 1814, but Halkett was survived by his son John, who inherited the baronetcy.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Captain Henry Trollope.


    (20 April 1756 – 2 November 1839) was an officer of the British Royal Navy.

    Early career.

    He entered the navy at the age of 14. In the American Revolutionary War he served aboard HMS Captain and HMS Asia. He fought at the battles of Lexington (19 April 1775) and Bunker Hill (17 June 1775) and the Siege of Boston (1775–1776). He served with John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore during the latter's campaigns in Virginia and Rhode Island.

    In 1777 he was appointed third lieutenant to the fourth-rate Bristol and took part in attacks on Fort Montgomery, Fort Clinton, Philadelphia and Mud Island.

    Post Captain.

    He was promoted to Post Captain in 1781. Following the peace of 1783 between Britain and the United States of America, he lived in Wales before returning to sea in 1790 as the captain of the 38-gun fifth rate Prudente.
    Trollope, described as "carronade-crazy" in Gardiner's Warships of the Napoleonic Era, commanded two ships armed entirely with carronades: Rainbow, a 44-gun frigate with which he stunned the French frigate Hébé (1782) into surrendering without resistance; and Glatton, with which he routed a French squadron of four frigates, two corvettes, a brig and a cutter, and drove them into Flushing.

    The Nore Mutiny.

    In March–April 1797, Trollope kept Glatton's crew from joining the Nore mutiny. By threatening to fire on the 64-gun Overyssel and the 40-gun Beaulieu, which were in open mutiny, he convinced their crews to return to duty.

    The battle of Camperdown.

    Later in 1797 he commanded the 74-gun Russell at the Battle of Camperdown. For his part in this victory he was made a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath and elevated as a Knight Grand Cross in 1831.

    Retirement.

    He was promoted to Rear Admiral on 1 January 1801 and to Admiral in 1812, but did not serve in an active role. He committed suicide at Freshford, near Bath on 2 November 1839.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Captain William Bligh.


    William Bligh was born on 9 September 1754 but it is not clear where. It is likely that he was born in Plymouth, Devon, as he was baptised at St Andrew's Church, Plymouth on 4 October 1754, where Bligh's father, Francis (1721–80), was serving as a customs officer. Bligh's ancestral home of Tinten Manor in St Tudy near Bodmin, Cornwall, is also a possibility. Bligh's mother, Jane Pearce (1713–68), was a widow (née Balsam) who married Francis at the age of 40.[2] Bligh was signed for the Royal Navy at age seven, at a time when it was common to sign on a "young gentleman" simply to gain, or at least record, the experience at sea required for a commission. In 1770, at age 16, he joined HMS Hunter as an able seaman, the term used because there was no vacancy for a midshipman. He became a midshipman early in the following year. In September 1771, Bligh was transferred to the Crescent and remained on the ship for three years.

    In 1776, Bligh was selected by Captain James Cook for the position of sailing master of Resolution and accompanied Cook in July 1776 on Cook's third voyage to the Pacific, during which Cook was killed. Bligh returned to England at the end of 1780 and was able to give details of Cook's last voyage.

    Bligh married Elizabeth Betham, daughter of a customs collector (stationed in Douglas, Isle of Man), on 4 February 1781. The wedding took place at nearby Onchan. A few days later, he was appointed to serve on HMS Belle Poule as master. Soon after this, in August 1781, he fought in the Battle of the Dogger Bank under Admiral Parker, which at last won him his commission as a lieutenant. For the next 18 months, he was a lieutenant on various ships. He also fought with Lord Howe at Gibraltar in 1782.

    Between 1783 and 1787, Bligh was a captain in the merchant service. Like many lieutenants, he would have found full-pay employment in the Navy; however, commissions were hard to obtain with the fleet largely demobilised at the end of the War of American Independence. In 1787, Bligh was selected as commander of Bounty.

    The breadfruit voyage.

    In 1787, Bligh took command of Bounty. In order to win a premium offered by the Royal Society, he first sailed to Tahiti to obtain breadfruit trees, then set course for the Caribbean, where breadfruit was wanted for experiments to see whether it would be a successful food crop for slaves there. The notion that breadfruit had to be collected from Tahiti was intentionally misleading. Tahiti was merely one of many places where esteemed seedless breadfruit could be found. The real reason for choosing Tahiti has its roots in the territorial contention that existed between France and England at the time. The Bounty never reached the Caribbean, as mutiny broke out on board shortly after the ship left Tahiti.

    The Mutiny.

    The mutiny on the Royal Navy vessel HMS Bounty occurred in the south Pacific on 28 April 1789. Led by Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, disaffected crewmen seized control of the ship, and set Bligh and 18 loyalists adrift in the ship's open launch. The mutineers variously settled on Tahiti or on Pitcairn Island. Bligh meanwhile completed a voyage of more than 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) in the launch to reach safety, and began the process of bringing the mutineers to justice.

    Bounty's log shows that Bligh resorted to punishments relatively sparingly. He scolded when other captains would have whipped, and whipped when other captains would have hanged. He was an educated man, deeply interested in science, convinced that good diet and sanitation were necessary for the welfare of his crew. He took a great interest in his crew's exercise, was very careful about the quality of their food, and insisted upon the Bounty's being kept very clean. He tried (unsuccessfully) to check the spread of venereal disease among the men. The modern historian John Beaglehole has described the major flaw in this otherwise enlightened naval officer: "[Bligh made] dogmatic judgements which he felt himself entitled to make; he saw fools about him too easily ... thin-skinned vanity was his curse through life ... [Bligh] never learnt that you do not make friends of men by insulting them."

    Aftermath.

    In October 1790, Bligh was honourably acquitted at the court-martial inquiring into the loss of Bounty. Shortly thereafter, he published A Narrative of the Mutiny on board His Majesty's Ship "Bounty"; And the Subsequent Voyage of Part of the Crew, In the Ship's Boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch Settlement in the East Indies. Of the 10 surviving prisoners eventually brought home in spite of Pandora's loss, four were acquitted, owing to Bligh's testimony that they were non-mutineers that Bligh was obliged to leave on Bounty because of lack of space in the launch. Two others were convicted because, while not participating in the mutiny, they were passive and did not resist. They subsequently received royal pardons. One was convicted but excused on a technicality. The remaining three were convicted and hanged.

    Subsequent career. The Rum Rebellion.

    In February 1797, while Bligh was captain of HMS Director, he surveyed the River Humber, preparing a map of the stretch from Spurn to the west of Sunk Island.

    In April–May, Bligh was one of the captains whose crews mutinied over "issues of pay and involuntary service for common seamen" during the Nore mutiny. The mutiny was not triggered by any specific actions by Bligh; the mutinies "were widespread, [and] involved a fair number of English ships". Whilst Director's role was relatively minor in this mutiny, she was the last to raise the white flag at its cessation. It was at this time that he learned "that his common nickname among men in the fleet was 'that Bounty bastard'."

    The Battle of Camperdown.

    As captain of Director at the Battle of Camperdown on 11 October, Bligh engaged three Dutch vessels: Haarlem, Alkmaar and Vrijheid. While the Dutch suffered serious casualties, only seven seamen were wounded on Director. Director captured Vrijheid and the Dutch commander Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter.

    Bligh went on to serve under Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801, in command of Glatton, a 56-gun ship of the line, which was experimentally fitted exclusively with carronades. After the battle, Nelson personally praised Bligh for his contribution to the victory. He sailed Glatton safely between the banks while three other vessels ran aground. When Nelson pretended not to notice Admiral Parker's signal "43" (stop the battle) and kept the signal "16" hoisted to continue the engagement, Bligh was the only captain in the squadron who could see that the two signals were in conflict. By choosing to fly Nelson's signal, he ensured that all the vessels behind him kept fighting.

    Bligh had gained the reputation of being a firm disciplinarian. Accordingly, he was offered the position of Governor of New South Wales on the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks (President of the Royal Society and a main sponsor of the breadfruit expeditions) and appointed in March 1805, at £2,000 per annum, twice the pay of the retiring Governor Philip Gidley King. He arrived in Sydney on 6 August 1806, to become the fourth governor. As his wife Elizabeth had been unwilling to undertake a long sea voyage, Bligh was accompanied by his daughter Mary Putland who would be the Lady of Government House; Mary's husband John Putland was appointed as William Bligh's aide-de-camp. During his time in Sydney, his confrontational administrative style provoked the wrath of a number of influential settlers and officials. They included the wealthy landowner and businessman John Macarthur and prominent Crown representatives such as the colony's principal surgeon, Thomas Jamison, and senior officers of the New South Wales Corps. Jamison and his military associates were defying government regulations by engaging in private trading ventures for profit: Bligh was determined to put a stop to this practice.

    The Rum Rebellion.

    The conflict between Bligh and the entrenched colonists culminated in another mutiny, the Rum Rebellion, when, on 26 January 1808, 400 soldiers of the New South Wales Corps under the command of Major George Johnston marched on Government House in Sydney to arrest Bligh. A petition written by John Macarthur and addressed to George Johnston was written the day of the arrest but most of the 151 signatures were gathered in the days after Bligh's overthrow. A rebel government was subsequently installed and Bligh, now deposed, made for Hobart in Tasmania aboard HMS Porpoise. Bligh failed to gain support from the authorities in Hobart to retake control of New South Wales, and remained effectively imprisoned on the Porpoise from 1808 until January 1810.

    Shortly after Bligh’s arrest, a watercolour illustrating the arrest by an unknown artist was exhibited in Sydney at perhaps Australia’s first public art exhibition. The watercolour depicts a soldier dragging Bligh from underneath one of the servants’ beds in Government House and with two other figures standing by. The two soldiers in the watercolour are most likely John Sutherland and Michael Marlborough and the other figure on the far right is believed to represent Lieutenant William Minchin. This cartoon is Australia’s earliest surviving political cartoon and like all political cartoons it makes use of caricature and exaggeration to convey its message. The New South Wales Corps' officers regarded themselves as gentlemen and in depicting Bligh as a coward, the cartoon declares that Bligh was not a gentleman and therefore not fit to govern.

    Of interest, however, was Bligh's concern for the more recently arrived settlers in the colony, who did not have the wealth and influence of Macarthur and Jamison. From the tombstones in Ebenezer and Richmond cemeteries (areas being settled west of Sydney during Bligh's tenure as governor), can be seen the number of boys born around 1807 to 1811 who received "William Bligh" as a given name, e.g. William Bligh Turnbull b. 8 June 1809 at Windsor, ancestor of Malcolm Bligh Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia; and James Bligh Johnston, b.1809 at Ebenezer, son of Andrew Johnston who designed Ebenezer Chapel, Australia's oldest extant church and oldest extant school.

    Bligh received a letter in January 1810, advising him that the rebellion had been declared illegal, and that the British Foreign Office had declared it to be a mutiny. Lachlan Macquarie had been appointed to replace him as governor. At this news Bligh sailed from Hobart. He arrived in Sydney on 17 January 1810 only two weeks into Macquarie's tenure. There he would collect evidence for the coming court martial in England of Major Johnston. He departed to attend the trial on 12 May 1810, arriving on 25 October 1810. In the days immediately prior to their departure, his daughter, Mary Putland (widowed in 1808), was hastily married to the new Lieutenant-Governor Maurice Charles O'Connell and remained in Sydney. The following year, the trial's presiding officers sentenced Johnston to be cashiered, a form of disgraceful dismissal that entailed surrendering his commission in the Royal Marines without compensation. (This was a comparatively mild punishment which enabled Johnston to return, a free man, to New South Wales, where he could continue to enjoy the benefits of his accumulated private wealth.) Bligh was court martialled twice again during his career, being acquitted both times.

    Soon after Johnston's trial had concluded, Bligh received a backdated promotion to rear admiral. In 1814 he was promoted again, to vice admiral of the blue. Significantly perhaps, he never again received an important command, though with the Napoleonic Wars almost over there would have been few fleet commands available. He did, however, design the North Bull Wall at the mouth of the River Liffey in Dublin. Its purpose was to clear a sandbar by Venturi action. As a result of its building. North Bull Island was formed by the sand cleared by the river's now more narrowly focused force. Bligh also charted and mapped Dublin Bay.

    Death.

    Bligh died in Bond Street, London on 7 December 1817 and was buried in a family plot at St. Mary's, Lambeth (this church is now the Garden Museum). His tomb, notable for its use of Lithodipyra (Coade stone), is topped by a breadfruit. A plaque marks Bligh's house, one block east of the Garden Museum at 100 Lambeth Road, near the Imperial War Museum.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Captain John Knight.

    John Knight was born in Dundee in February 1747, the son of Rear-Admiral John Knight and his wife Jean Hay.

    Early career.

    In 1758, aged 11, he followed his father into service with the Royal Navy aboard HMS Tartar, participating in the Raid on Cherbourg that year during the Seven Years' War. Knight remained with his father for five more years, until moving at the end of the war in 1763 to HMS Romney on the North American station.
    He was promoted lieutenant on 25 May 1770 and placed in command of the survey vessel Diligent, assisting the esteemed Swiss-born cartographer, Joseph des Barres, in his mapping of the North American coast for the next five summers whilst spending the winters with his young family in Nova Scotia.

    The American Revolution.

    Although he returned to Europe, some years later he went back to North America in 1775 at the start of the American Revolutionary War. Serving on the sloop HMS Falcon, Knight witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill while anchored off Boston, and in 1776 he was captured in an attack on an American schooner.
    He was exchanged in December 1776 and given the independent hired vessel HMS Haerlem to conduct raiding operations along the Eastern Seaboard.

    In 1777 he was aboard Lord Howe's flagship HMS Eagle, and his knowledge of the coast played a vital part in Howe outmanoeuvring the French fleet of d'Estaing. The same year he married a woman named Prudence Reynolds in America, with whom he would have eight children, and in February 1778 he returned to Britain.
    In 1780, Knight returned to the Americas again aboard HMS Barfleur and participated in the Battle of Fort Royal and the Battle of the Chesapeake, briefly becoming post captain in command of HMS Shrewsbury in 1782 before returning to Barfleur as captain and fighting at the Battle of St. Kitts and the Battle of the Saintes. At the end of the war, Knight remained in command of Barfleur and was given personal responsibility for the naval education of the young Prince William who served aboard.

    French Revolutionary Wars.

    After the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, Knight had periods in command of Barfleur in the Channel Fleet and HMS Victory in the Mediterranean, before taking over HMS Monatgu with the North Sea fleet. At the Nore Mutiny in 1797, Montagu was heavily involved, but Knight resumed command once the uprising had collapsed.

    Camperdown.

    In October he was engaged at the Battle of Camperdown against the Dutch fleet. Knight’s ship assisting the Russell 74 in forcing the surrender of the Delft 68.

    In 1798 he commanded a squadron off Ireland and the following year was in command of the blockade squadron off Brest. He also remarried, his first wife having died sometime previously, to a widow named Love Pickman Oliver.
    In 1801 Knight was promoted to rear-admiral, and in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars he was named as commander at Gibraltar, where he remained for another ten years until the war's end in 1815 when he retired from the Navy as a full admiral and a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. He settled with his family at Woodend House in Soberton, Hampshire, and died there in June 1831.

    Although he was respected professionally, Knight was skilled in surveying and astronomical observations, and was regarded as being a very able officer, but with a tendency to moaning and one who was unpopular with his peers. The commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, Admiral Lord Collingwood, stated privately that having Knight at Gibraltar was worse than having nobody there. His London address from 1803-26 was 45 Grafton Street. Knight Island, off New Zealand, was named after him by Captain William Broughton, who had been a fellow prisoner in North America in 1775, having been captured whilst commanding a boat from the Falcon.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Vice-Admiral Richard Onslow.

    He was the younger son of Lt-Gen. Richard Onslow and his wife Pooley, daughter of Charles Walton.[1] Onslow's uncle was Arthur Onslow, Speaker of the British House of Commons,[1] and he enjoyed considerable interest as he rapidly rose through the Navy.

    Promotion.

    He was made fourth lieutenant of the Sunderland on 17 December 1758 by V-Adm. George Pocock, fifth lieutenant of the Grafton on 3 March 1759, and fourth lieutenant of Pocock's flagship, the Yarmouth on 17 March 1760, upon which he returned to England.

    Onslow became commander of the Martin on 11 February 1761, cruising in the Skagerrak until his promotion to captain of the Humber on 14 April 1762. He joined the Humber in June, but she was wrecked off Flamborough Head while returning from the Baltic in September.Onslow was court-martialed for her loss, but was acquitted, the pilot being blamed for the wreck. On 29 November 1762, he was appointed to command the Phoenix.

    The American Revolution.

    Onslow did not receive another command until 31 October 1776, when he was appointed to the St Albans. He took a convoy to New York City in April 1777 and joined Lord Howe in time for the repulse of d'Estaing on 22 July 1777 at Sandy Hook. Onslow sailed for the West Indies on 4 November 1778 with Commodore Hotham, and took part in the capture of Saint Lucia and its defense against d'Estaing that December at the Cul-de-Sac. In August 1779, he brought a convoy from St Kitts to Spithead.

    He was placed in command of the Bellona, in the Channel Fleet under Admiral Francis Geary, in February 1780, and captured the Dutch 54-gun ship Prinses Carolina on 30 December 1780. Onslow took part in the Relief of Gibraltar under Admiral Darby in April 1781, and again under Howe in October 1782. The Bellona captured La Solitaire in the West Indies before Onslow returned home and took half-pay in June 1783.
    In early 1789, he was appointed to command the Magnificent at Portsmouth, but was out of employment again in September 1791. He was promoted rear-admiral of the white on 1 February 1793 and vice-admiral on 4 July 1794. In 1796, he was made port admiral at Portsmouth, and in November, he went aboard the Nassau to act as second-in-command of the North Sea Fleet under Admiral Duncan.

    During the Spithead and Nore mutinies, Onslow suppressed a rising aboard the Nassau, and was sent by Duncan to quell the Adamant. When the Nassau refused to sail on 26 May 1797, Onslow moved his flag to the Adamant and until the end of the mutiny, Duncan (in the Venerable) and Onslow maintained the blockade off the Texel alone, making signals to an imaginary fleet over the horizon.

    Camperdown.

    Onslow moved his flag again to the Monarch on 25 July 1797, and it was aboard her that he took part in the Battle of Camperdown on 11 October 1797. His flag captain, Edward O'Bryen, supposedly warned him that the Dutch ships were too close together to get between, to which Onslow replied "The Monarch will make a passage." Indeed, Monarch was the first to break the Dutch line and attack the Jupiter of 72 guns, flagship of Vice-Admiral Reyntjes, who subsequently surrendered to Onslow.

    The victory was captured by the artist Thomas Rowlandson, a friend of Onslow's brother-in-law, Matthew Michell, in the painting "Glorious Defeat of the Dutch Navy Octr 10 1797, by Admirals Lord Duncan and Sir Richard Onslow, with a View Drawn on the Spot of the Six Dutch Line of Battle Ships Captured and Brought into Yarmouth".
    For his exertions at Camperdown, Onslow was created a baronet and presented with the Freedom of the City of London. He became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in 1796.

    He went on sick leave on 10 December 1798 and retired as Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth a few weeks later. He was promoted Admiral of the Red on 9 November 1805 and received the GCB in 1815. He died on 27 December 1817 at Southampton aged 76 years.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  16. #16
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    Captain Edward O'Bryen.

    Nothing is known of Edward O'Bryen's parents or childhood, and he first appears as a junior officer aboard the frigate HMS Aeolus during the early 1770s. He later moved to HMS Prudent in the East Indies and then in 1775 became a lieutenant, at which time he was at least 21 years old. He then served on a number of ships, including the galley HMS Ferret that fought under Lord Howe in Narragansett Bay in August 1778 and later HMS Ostrich and HMS Ambuscade in the Channel Fleet. In 1781 he sailed for the Caribbean in HMS Actaeon and two years later took over the sloop HMS Jamaica.

    Post Rank
    .

    In 1784 he was promoted to post captain and returned to Europe in HMS Resistance. He was then immediately placed on the reserve list on half-pay, not serving at sea again until 1795.


    As O'Bryen lacked any influence at the Admiralty, he was forced to wait more than ten years for another commission, finally being given command of HMS Southampton in April 1795. In June of that year he transferred to HMS Windsor Castle, the flagship of Rear-Admiral Robert Mann. He was still in post in July 1796 when Man abandoned Gibraltar and returned to Britain without orders, inviting severe censure from the Admiralty, government and Admiral Sir John Jervis. Mann was dismissed from the service and O'Bryen had to wait until February 1797 for another ship, when he was given HMS Nassau at Yarmouth, flagship of Vice-Admiral Richard Onslow. Nassau was a disaffected ship, its men had been unpaid for the previous 19 months service, and when the Nore Mutiny broke out in May 1797, O'Bryen's authority was challenged and resisted by his crew. When the crew attempted to hang two men who would not join them, O'Bryen insisted that if anyone should die he would be the first and threatened to throw himself overboard. This checked the actions of the mutineers, but reportedly O'Bryen was left close to suicide. He left the ship shortly afterwards, and although the crew, who expressed their affection for him, invited him to return, he refused until the mutiny was over.

    Camperdown.


    In July, Onslow and O'Bryen moved to HMS Monarch and on 11 October 1797 served with Admiral Adam Duncan's fleet at the Battle of Camperdown. Monarch lead the larboard division into action against the Dutch rear. O'Bryen's ship was heavily engaged, and fought successfully against the Dutch ships Jupiter, Haarlem and Monnikendam, all of which were eventually captured. Monarch suffered 136 casualties and O'Bryen was praised by King George III for his role in the battle. Monarch remained active in the North Sea during the remainder of 1797, but in 1798 O'Bryen was struck by the first of recurring bouts of ill-health and briefly retired ashore, returning briefly to service in 1801 to command HMS Kent in the Mediterranean. O'Bryen retired permanently from the Navy in 1803.


    O'Bryen subsequently lived with his wife Mary Alsop and their daughter, also named Mary, at Catisfield in Hampshire until his wife's death in 1807, shortly after which he was married to Martha Charlotte Bradbury. O'Bryen was promoted to rear-admiral in 1805, but ill-health prevented any return to the sea and he died in December 1808, acknowledging an illegitimate son named James Cavendish in his will.


    Rob.

    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  17. #17
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    Captain William O'Bryen Drury.

    Made Lieutenant on 28th of November Drury was acting as Commander of Tickler in 1781.Premoted to Captain in 1783 , he commanded Squirrel from 1790-93 and Trusty between 1793-95.

    Camperdown.

    Drury served as commander of the ship of the line HMS Powerful during the French Revolutionary Wars, during which he was heavily engaged at the Battle of Camperdown, at which a Dutch fleet was destroyed in 1797.In April 1804, Drury was promoted to Rear-Admiral of the Blue and in 1808 was sent to be commander of the East Indies Station as Commander in Chief.

    Drury's command overlapped with that of Albemarle Bertie at the Cape of Good Hope and the two engaged in numerous political struggles, even appointing separate officers to command the same ships to spite one another.

    Having been commissioned Vice-Admiral of the Blue in July 1810, In November, Drury was ordered to provide Bertie with a fleet of small transport ships for the Invasion of Île de France, which he accompanied and insisted on command despite orders not to infringe on Bertie's command of the operation. When Bertie was subsequently made a baronet as a reward for the successful conclusion of this operation Drury complained at length about Bertie to the Admiralty. Bertie demanded a court martial on his behaviour, which was dismissed by the Admiralty, who were becoming irritated by Drury and Bertie's squabbling. The issue remained unresolved at Drury's sudden death on 6 March 1811 on station in India, just having been promoted Vice Admiral of the White.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  18. #18
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    Captain James Walker.


    (1764 – 13 July 1831) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, rising to the rank of Rear-Admiral.

    In 1776 he was appointed Midshipman in the Frigate Southampton. Walker spent his early years in the navy in North American waters and on the Jamaica Station under Sir Charles Hardy. In 1781 he was promoted Lieutenant into HMS Princess Royal 98, but exchanged into the Torbay 74 as the Princess Royal was bound for England.
    Whilst in the Americas he saw action at most of the decisive naval battles of the war., particularly at the Chesapeake, St. Kitts serving under Sir Samual Hood and at the Saintes in April 1782 with Rodney.

    He reached the rank of lieutenant before the end of hostilities and spent the interwar years traveling on the continent. Returning to service with the outbreak of war with the French, he again participated in many of the key naval actions of the period, with his service at the Glorious First of June securing his promotion to his own commands. His career was almost ended with an accusation of disobeying orders, which led to his dismissal from the navy, but he was reinstated in time to develop a plan to subdue the mutinies at Spithead and the Nore.

    Camperdown.

    He commanded HMS Monmouth at the Battle of Camperdown, and another at the Battle of Copenhagen, earning Nelson's praise for his actions.

    The early part of the Napoleonic Wars were spent in the Caribbean, where Walker played an important role in the Haitian Revolution, and took the surrender of a French garrison. After time spent escorting convoys, Walker joined the ships covering the transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil, and struck up a friendship with the Prince Regent.
    His association with royalty continued with his services in transporting the Duke of Clarence, Tsar Alexander I of Russia and King Frederick William III of Prussia, and he was duly invested as a Companion of the Order of the Bath and a Knight of the Order of the Tower and Sword.

    His later years were spent managing a fleet off the American coast during the War of 1812, and he commanded several ships after the end of the wars, retiring with the rank of rear-admiral.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  19. #19
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    Captain John Williamson.


    1746- 1798. He was apparently of Irish extraction.


    Williamson joined the navy in 1759 aboard the Dorsetshire 70, Captain Peter Denis, which ship fought at the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November. In 1760 he transferred with this officer to the newly commissioned Bellona 74 in the grand fleet, remaining with her for nearly three years under the further command of Captains Robert Faulknor and Charles Ellys.


    Following the end of hostilities he briefly served aboard the Siren 20, Captain William Paston, and after she was paid off at the end of 1763 the Deptford 60 with the same officer, prior to her also being paid off in the late spring of 1764. For the next two years he was aboard the Tamar, Captain Patrick Mouat, during her voyage around the world, and having been commissioned lieutenant on 8 March 1774 he joined the Ramillies 74, Captain Sir Edward Vernon, who was the commodore and commander-in-chief at the Nore.
    Captain Williamson earned infamy when he failed to assist Captain James Cook when the great explorer was attacked and killed in Hawaii in 1779.

    Cooks Last Voyage.



    Williamson served as a junior lieutenant aboard the Resolution in Captain James Cook’s last voyage of exploration which departed England in July 1776. He was to be castigated by his shipmates for keeping his boat away from the beach when Cook was attacked and murdered on 14 February 1779. Williamson later claimed that he had misunderstand Cook’s signal for help, but the slur on his reputation would never leave him, not least because he had failed to attempt the recovery of Cook’s body. To compound matters he later refused the challenge to a duel from the Resolution’s marine lieutenant. It was to his good fortune that the commander of the Resolution’s consort Discovery, Commander Charles Clerke, died before reaching England, as this officer had intended to see Williamson court-martialled for his conduct on the day of Cook’s death. In the event Williamson became a beneficiary of a re-organisation following Clerke’s death when he became first lieutenant of the Discovery.


    He was promoted commander on 3 October 1780, and in April 1782 recommissioned the Belleisle 64 for service in the Channel, being posted captain on 11 June. He then recommissioned the Crocodile 24, joining the Channel fleet and going out with a convoy to Newfoundland in October. Retaining this vessel after the peace, he went out to the East Indies in early 1783 but after returning home his command was wrecked off Start Point, Devon, on 9 May 1784.


    Williamson remained unhappily unemployed for the next twelve years before joining the Grampus 54 in September 1795, going out to Jamaica in the following March and returning to pay her off in September.


    In October 1796 he commissioned the new Agincourt 64, which ship was involved in the Nore mutiny from 12 May 1797.

    Camperdown.

    At the Battle of Camperdown on 11 October 1797 the Agincourt did not suffer a single casualty, and Williamson was subsequently brought to a court-martial for cowardice, negligence and disaffection He was found guilty of disobeying signals and of not getting into action, but cleared of cowardice and disaffection after his court-martial at Sheerness lasting from 4 December to 1 January. The sentence, one of being placed at the bottom of the list of captains and rendered incapable of further service, appears to have broken him.


    Williamson died on 27 October 1798 at his lodgings in Woodstock Street, near Bond Street in London after a short illness caused by an inflammation to the liver and bowels.


    He married Frances Young of Dublin who died in 1812, and it was assumed they had no issue. His address was given as St. George, Hanover Square, Middlesex.


    Although regarded as intelligent, Williamson was a most difficult and tyrannical individual who appeared to be disliked by all. One officer went so far as to state that he was a ‘wretch, feared & hated by his inferiors, detested by his equals, & despised by his superiors; a very devil, to whom none of our midshipmen have spoke for above a year.’ Apparently he was involved in several challenges, including one against Lord Chatham when he was first lord of the Admiralty. Lady Spencer, wife of a subsequent first lord, went so far as to label him ‘a blackguard’.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  20. #20
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    Captain Francis Fayerman.


    All that I can find on this Captain is as follows:-

    He became a Lieutenant on the 30th of May 1777.
    Promoted to Commander on the 20th of May 1781.
    From 1782 to 1783 he commanded the Victor
    From October 1791 the 24th of April 1793 the Trimmer.
    He was promoted to Captain on the 24th of April 1793.
    From July 1797 until 1800 he commanded the Beaulieu, during which time he commanded her at the Battle of Camperdown.
    From January 1801 until 1803 he was the Captain of Terrible.
    In March 1804 he took command of Athenian. A post he held until October 1805.
    In July 1805 until 1809 he was Captain of Formidable.
    On 31st July 1810 he was elevated to Rear Admiral of the Blue.
    12th of August 1812 Rear Admiral of the White and on the 4th of June 1814 Rear Admiral of the Red.
    He died in 1819.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  21. #21
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    Commander Charles Paget.


    (1778–1839) was the son of Henry Bayly Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge, and Jane Champagné, and was brother to the second earl who became the first Marquess of Anglesey, famous for losing his leg at the Battle of Waterloo while commanding the cavalry.

    The Battle of Camperdown.


    Charles joined the Royal Navy in 1790, and by 1797 he was captain of HMS Martin, a sloop of war serving at the Battle of Camperdown.

    In 1798 he became post-captain of HMS Brilliant, a small frigate in which he captured le Dragon of 11 guns, and the St Jago, a Spanish privateer of 10 guns. In 1800 he removed into HMS Egyptienne.

    Captain Paget's next appointment was to HMS Hydra, a frigate of 38 guns, in which he proceeded to the Mediterranean where he remained about twelve months. On 6 April 1803 he commissioned HMS Endymion, a frigate of the largest class, and in the course of the ensuing summer he captured Bacchante, a French corvette of 18 guns, Adour, a store ship pierced for 20 guns, and General, a Morcau schooner privateer of 16 guns. He subsequently intercepted several richly laden Spanish merchantmen coming from South America, and he also captured Colombe, a French corvette of 10 guns off Ushant.

    Towards the close of the long French war, Paget, while cruising in the Endymion on the coast of Spain, sighted a French ship-of-the-line in imminent danger, embayed among rocks upon a lee shore, bowsprit and foremast gone, and riding by a stream cable, her only remaining one. Though it was blowing a gale, Paget bore down to the assistance of his enemy, dropped his sheet anchor on the Frenchman's bow, buoyed the cable, and veered it athwart his hawse. This the disabled ship succeeded in getting in, and thus seven hundred lives were rescued from destruction. After performing this chivalrous action, Endymion, being herself in great peril, hauled to the wind, let go her bower anchor, club-hauled and stood off shore on the other tack.

    Paget participated in an attack on a French frigate squadron anchored at Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue at the Action of 15 November 1810, which ultimately led to the destruction of the Elisa.

    He was appointed to HMS Superb, another third rate belonging to the Channel Fleet, and during a cruise in the bay of Biscay he took several prizes. In 1814 he was employed on the coast of North America under the orders of Sir Alexander Cochrane by whom he was entrusted with the command of a squadron stationed off New London and took part in an attack upon Wareham, Massachusetts during the War of 1812.

    Captain Paget was appointed to the command of HMY Prince Regent on 1 January 1819 and afterwards to the Royal George. He attended King George IV, and before his accession he nominated Charles as a Knight Grand Cross of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order and a Knight Bachelor at Brighton on 19 October 1819. In January 1822, Sir Charles succeeded his brother Lieut Gen Sir Edward Paget as a Groom of the Bedchamber, and he continued to hold that appointment during the whole reign of King William IV.

    He was made a commodore on board the Royal George on 26 July 1822 and was advanced to the rank of Rear Admiral on 9 April 1823.

    In March 1828 he was appointed Commander in chief on the Cork Station. He attained the rank of Vice Admiral on 10 January 1837 and succeeded Vice Admiral Sir Peter Halkett in the command of the North America and West Indies Squadron using HMS Cornwallis as his flagship.

    Sir Charles Paget died onboard HMS Tartarus, whilst she was on her way from Port Royal to Bermuda. His death ensued after a violent attack of yellow fever during which for three days his death was hourly expected. Of his staff of twenty, six had died including Dr Scott the surgeon. Feeling better, but weak, and strangely free from rheumatic pain on 19 January he embarked on board the Tartarus, for the purpose of going to the Bermudas. He was off those islands for three days, but being unable to reach them was obliged to go back to St Thomas's.

    Parliament.

    He was Member of Parliament for the rotten borough of Milborne Port from 1804 to 1806, then succeeded his elder brother Edward Paget as MP for Caernarvon Boroughs from 1806 to 1826, and was its MP again from 1831 to 1835. According to Hansard's records, Paget made no contributions to debates in parliament.

    Family.

    He was buried in St Bartholomew's Church in Rogate in West Sussex. In the same place is buried his daughter Fredericka Georgina Augusta who died at Fair Oak, Rogate on 12 September 1853 aged 13 years. His 15-year-old son Horatio Henry Paget died as a midshipman on board HMS Talbot on 28 April 1828. His son Lieutenant Brownlow Henry Paget died on board HMS Dublin on 18 February 1843, aged 24 years.
    His widow died at Fair Oak on 17 August 1843, aged 56 years.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  22. #22
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    Lieutenant James Rains.


    He was born on the 8th of June, 1769, son of the late Capt. Stephen Rains, R.N.; and brother of Commander John Rains, R.N., who died in 1832 at Fatcham Field, aged 63) also of Capt. Stephen Rains, R.N. who died 1 Feb. 1824.

    Rains joined the Navy on the 12th of Aug.1779, as a Captain’s Servant, on board the Loudon, commanded by his father, with whom he served in the North Sea until May,1781, during which time he was appointed a Midshipman. From the following Dec. until July,1783, he served on the Home and West India stations in the Seaford, 20, Nemesis, 28, and Enndymion, 40, all under the command of Capt. Isaac Valliant.

    He served for nearly two years in the Channel aboard the Cutter Sprightly, Lieut.-Commander Swann, and then, from Aug. 1786 until July, 1792, on general service in the Myrmidon, 20, Capt. Thomas. Rawe, and the Cutter Viper,commanded by his brother Lieut. S. Rains. He later transferred to the Cambridge, 74, the flag-ship of Admiral Graves.

    In the early part of 1793 he became a Master’s Mate aboard the Monarch, 74, Captain James Wallace, and was promoted to Lieutenant on the 2nd of Dec. While serving on this ship he took part in silencing a battery on Martinique, and in rescuing a number of French royalists. On the 4th of July, 1796 he became the acting commander of the King George a cutter, employed in the North Sea and off the Naval base of Boulogne. On the 27th of October. 1800, he became First Lieutenant of the Sirius, 36, under Captain Richard King, and on the 26th of September 1801, to HMS Magnificent, 74,commanded by Captain John Giffard, with whom he sailed to the West Indies in a similar capacity.

    Canmperdown.

    In 1797, in command of the King George, he reported to Admiral Duncan about the sailing of the Dutch fleet, which led to the victory of 11th of October at Camperdown. In 1800 he came up with, and for an hour and a half engaged in an action with a large 20 gun French lugger, full of troops. The King George being of a deeper draught than her opponent, was unable to prevent the Frenchman escaping into Ostend, after having almost disabled the British ship. For the gallantry which Rains displayed, after having been wounded in the leg, he was highly commended by the Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge, and also by Earl Spencer, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Later, in the same ship on the 23rd of July 1797, together with the sloops Natilus and Seagull, he assisted in the capture of several privateers on the Norwegian coast. One of which was the cutter Capitaine Thurot housing 2 guns, 4 swivels, and 22 crewmen.

    Next we find him on the 28th of January. 1801, after a two day, In company with L'Oiseau 36 and Amethyst 36, and as First Lieutenant of the Sirius taking part in the capture of the French 36-gun frigate La Dédaigneuse. With the surrender of the enemy’s ship he was ordered by Capt. King to take command of her, but on the arrival of L'Oiseau, commanded by Captain Samuel Hood, he being the Senior Officer, bypassed Rains and awarded the command of the prize to his own First Lieutenant.

    In May 1802 whilst serving on the Magnificent Rains was invalided home, and from May of the following year until December 1814, was in command of a signal-station on the Dorsetshire coast. He was promoted to Commander on the 25th of April, 1829.

    Commander Rains' first marriage was in 1792, to Miss J. Wallace, a niece of the late Sir James. Wallace, and on her death, secondly to Miss R. T. Williams in 1804. He had two sons and one daughter.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  23. #23
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    Lieutenant J. Hamilton.

    The man to the left of Admiral Duncan in this painting by Daniel Orme is Lt. John Hamilton. His Cutter Active can be seen in the background assisting the rescue of Dutch sailors from a burning ship.

    Born the son of James and Jane Hamilton he was baptized in Dover on the 17th of March 1765.
    In 1788 at the age of 23 he married Sarah Hedgecock.
    Shortly after this he started out his seafaring career, although as not a regular Naval Officer he was taken on as an auxiliary ships Master.

    By 1792 reference to Hamilton's sea service becomes more transparent. In that year at the age of 27 he was serving on the Charlotte armed Cutter under Admiral John McBride on patrol along the downs. A year later he is mentioned as being "in support" of the Duke of York's siege at Dunkirk.
    Just after its completion he was engaged as a regular Lieutenant in Command of the armed Cutter Active, built in 1794 and armed with 10 guns.
    He was destined to continue command of this vessel with Admiral Duncan both during the Nore Mutiny and also at Camperdown.

    By 1795, Active was part of the Flotilla sent to Cruxhaven to greet Caroline of Brunswick on her way to wed the Prince of Wales. In May Hamilton was in action as part of Sir John Warren's expedition to transfer the Emigre Army to France in Quiberon Bay. Active continued to support Sir John, becoming a part of Edward Pellew's famous Hunting Squadron patrolling around the Channel Islands.
    Later that year Active was transferred to Admiral Duncan's Squadron blockading the Texel.

    Nore Mutiny.

    During the mutiny at the NoreActive was mentioned as being one of the not mutinous vessels. in fact the two Cutters Active and Rose aided Duncan in his deception of the Dutch, by looking into the Texel and reporting by flag signals to Duncan and his non existent fleet the degree of readiness and numbers of the ships sheltering therein.Hamilton was later commended by Duncan as having been "honourably distinguished and prominent in this action."

    Camperdown.

    On Friday the 6th of October Hamilton apprehended and boarded a Dutch Galliot and obtained information from her captain that the Dutch Fleet intended to sail on the following day. He then sailed along the line to gauge their numbers, and having been chased off informed Captain Halkett of his findings. By the time Duncan left Yarmouth Roads the next morning Hamilton was on his way to rendezvous with his Admiral. The Active was espied at 11 in the forenoon as the Admiral noted in his l
    Log. Having spoken to Duncan, Hamilton headed back to the Texel.

    During the actual action which followed, Active acted as a Tender to Duncan's Flagship HMS Venerable. After the battle Hamilton was promoted to the rank of Captain. He and Duncan were invited to visit Prime Minister Pitt at Walmer castle where Duncan praised Hamilton's most important service.
    Unfortunately on the 9th of October 1800 during an observation mission in the River Ems both the Active and the Rose were cut off on a receding tide by several Dutch Gunboats and a french Privateer. Despite a spirited action they were eventually overcome with a great loss of life.

    Later Life.

    After Hamilton being released from captivity,Duncan had retired from active service.
    He used his influence to get Hamilton a post Captaining a Post office Packet.
    In 1807 he had a Packet designed specially for him and named it Lord Duncan in honour of his Admiral.
    After Napoleon's final defeat in 1815 Hamilton continued in the Cross Channel Packet service, and was one of the first Captains of a steam Packet "Spitfire."
    Date of Death not ascertained but after 1825.

    Rob.
    Last edited by Bligh; 03-27-2017 at 12:56.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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