The Battle of the Basque Roads.

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This was a major naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars, fought in the narrow Basque Roads at the mouth of the Charente River on the Biscay coast of France. The battle, which lasted from 11-25 April 1809, was unusual in that it pitted a hastily-assembled squadron of small and unorthodox British Royal Navy warships, distantly supported by a larger fleet, against the main strength of the French Atlantic Fleet, the circumstances dictated by the cramped, shallow coastal waters in which the battle was fought. The battle is also notorious for its political aftermath in both Britain and France.

In February 1809 the French Atlantic Fleet, based at Brest was ordered to sail to the Caribbean to disrupt a British attack on Martinique. The fleet sailed on 22 February but was unable to escape British pursuit and four days latter anchored in the sheltered position of Basque Roads (or Aix Roads), under the batteries of the fortified Île-d'Aix. A detachment from the British Channel Fleet, commanded by Admiral Lord Gambier, had followed the French to the harbour and there enacted a close blockade. While Gambier debated what action to take, command of the French fleet was awarded to Contre-amiral Zacharie Allemand, who strengthened the fleet's defences and awaited a British attack. In Britain, First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Mulgrave, called on one of the nation's most popular, maverick young naval officers, Captain Lord Cochrane, to prepare an inshore squadron to attack the French.

Cochrane fitted out 24 fireships and explosion vessels and on the night of 11 April led them into the Roads, accompanied by a squadron of small vessels. The fireships caused panic among the French crews, who cut their anchor cables and drifted onto the rocks and shoals of the anchorage. When morning came, Cochrane found that almost the entire French fleet was at his mercy, and signaled to Gambier suggesting that if he would lead the British fleet into the Roads they could destroy the entire French force. Gambier did not respond, and eventually in frustration Cochrane led his own ship directly into combat. Unable to leave his subordinate unsupported, Gambier sent a small squadron of ships of the line to reinforce Cochrane, and on 12 April three French ships of the line, a frigate, and a large storeship were battered into surrender and then set on fire as damaged beyond repair.

Gambier then ordered the reinforcements to withdraw, leaving Cochrane again unsupported against the rest of the main French fleet which was gradually dragging itself off the shoals and into the relative safety of the Charente River. Cochrane renewed his attack on 13 April but was unable to cause any significant damage to the French ships as they threw stores and guns overboard to facilitate their escape. On the morning of 14 April Gambier directly ordered Cochrane to retire, turning command of the operation over to Captain George Wolfe. Cochrane reluctantly complied, and on 15 April sailed back to Britain with dispatches.

Wolfe renewed attacks on the remaining stranded ships of the French fleet over the next week, but with little effect. The battle concluded, Gambier sailed his fleet back to Britain. The engagement was a victory for the British, with five French ships destroyed and several others badly damaged, but there was much discontent in Britain, both among the Navy and the public, that a larger victory had been lost through over-caution. In the aftermath several French captains were subject to courts-martial, and one was shot for cowardice, while in Britain the acrimony between Cochrane and Gambier resulted in a dramatic court-martial of Gambier, in which he was sensationally acquitted.


British fleet.

Note that as carronades were not traditionally taken into consideration when calculating a ship's rate, these ships may have been carrying more guns than indicated below.
Ships in this colour were destroyed during the Battle of the Basque Roads

Inshore Squadron.

Ship	Rate	Guns	Commander	Casualties			Notes
Killed	Wounded	Total
HMS Indefatigable	Frigate	44	Captain John Tremayne Rodd	0	0	0	Engaged on 12 April. Withdrawn on 13 April.
HMS Imperieuse	Frigate	38	Captain Lord Cochrane	3	11	14	Heavily engaged on 12-14 April. Withdrawn on 14 April.
HMS Aigle	Frigate	36	Captain George Wolfe	0	0	0	Engaged on 11-14 April. Remained until 24 April.
HMS Emerald	Frigate	36	Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland	0	0	0	Engaged on 11-12 April.
HMS Unicorn	Frigate	32	Captain Lucius Hardyman	0	0	0	Engaged on 11-12 April.
HMS Pallas	Frigate	32	Captain George Seymour	0	0	0	Engaged on 11-13 April.
HMS Mediator	Explosion ship		Captain James Wooldridge	1	4	5	Deliberately destroyed in the attack of 11 April.
HMS Beagle	Sloop	18	Captain Francis Newcombe	0	0	0	Heavily engaged 12-24 April.
HMS Doterel	Sloop	18	Captain Anthony Abdy	0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
HMS Foxhound	Sloop	18	Captain Pitt Barnaby Greene	0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
HMS Insolent	Brig	14	Lieutenant John Row Morris	0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
HMS Insolent	Brig	12	Lieutenant James Hugh Talbot	0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
HMS Conflict	Brig	12	Lieutenant Joseph B. Batt	0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
HMS Contest	Brig	12	Lieutenant John Gregory	0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
HMS Fervant	Brig	12	Lieutenant John Edward Hare	0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
HMS Growler	Brig	12	Lieutenant Richard Crossman	0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
HMS Lyra	Sloop	10	Captain William Bevians	0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
HMS Redpole	Sloop	10	Captain John Joyce	0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
HMS Thunder	Bomb		Captain James Caulfield	0	0	0	Engaged 20 - 24 April.
HMS Aetna	Bomb		Captain William Godfrey	0	0	0	Heavily engaged 11 - 24 April.
HMS Whiting	Rocket ship			0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
Nimrod	Rocket ship			0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
King George	Rocket ship			0	0	0	Engaged 12-24 April.
Total casualties: 4 killed, 15 wounded.
Sources: James, pp. 94–129; Clowes, pp. 252–257; "No. 16248". The London Gazette. 21 April 1809. p. 538.

Admiral Lord Gambier's Fleet.
Ship	Rate	Guns	Commander	Casualties			Notes
Killed	Wounded	Total
HMS Caledonia	First rate	120	Admiral Lord Gambier Captain Sir Harry Neale Captain William Bedford	0	0	0	Did not participate in the battle.
HMS Caesar	Third rate	80	Rear-Admiral Robert Stopford Captain Charles Richardson	4	0	4	Casualties incurred in a ship's boat during night attack on 11 April. Ship entered anchorage late on 12 April, withdrew without seeing action.
HMS Gibraltar	Third rate	80	Captain Henry Lidgbird Ball	0	1	1	Casualty incurred while serving on fireship, 11 April.
HMS Hero	Third rate	74	Captain James Newman-Newman	0	0	0	Did not participate in the battle.
HMS Donegal	Third rate	74	Captain Pulteney Malcolm	0	0	0	Did not participate in the battle.
HMS Resolution	Third rate	74	Captain George Burlton	0	0	0	Did not participate in the battle.
HMS Theseus	Third rate	74	Captain John Poer Beresford	0	1	1	Casualty incurred while serving on fireship, 11 April. Entered anchorage late on 12 April, withdrew without seeing action.
HMS Valiant	Third rate	74	Captain John Bligh	0	0	0	Entered anchorage on 12 April. Heavily engaged during the day. Withdrew on morning 13 April.
HMS Illustrious	Third rate	74	Captain William Robert Broughton	0	0	0	Did not participate in the battle.
HMS Bellona	Third rate	74	Captain Stair Douglas	0	0	0	Did not participate in the battle.
HMS Revenge	Third rate	74	Captain Alexander Robert Kerr	5	13	18	Entered anchorage on 12 April. Heavily engaged during the day. Withdrew on morning 13 April.
Total casualties: 9 killed, 15 wounded.
Sources: James, pp. 94–129; Clowes, pp. 252–257; "No. 16248". The London Gazette. 21 April 1809. p. 538.

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Captain John Tremayne Rodd.





Little is known of Rodd's early life, but during the French Revolutionary Wars he served as a commander in the sloops HMS Bonetta and HMS Scorpion. In the former he participated in the capture of the French privateer Le Poisson Volant in the West Indies on 4 August 1796, and in the latter he captured the Dutch privateer Courier, for which was promoted to post captain on 7 September 1798.

After the Peace of Amiens in 1803, Rodd briefly took command of the first rate ship of the line HMS San Josef under Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, but by 1805 had moved to the veteran frigate HMS Indefatigable. In Indefatigable, Rodd served as the main scout for the British squadron blockading Brest, France. In 1805 he sighted the French fleet under Admiral Ganteaume attempting to escape and warned the Offshore Squadron, who drove the French back into Brest in a brief engagement. In 1806, Rodd was working in conjunction with Captain Lord Cochrane in HMS Pallas and on 15 July Indefatigable was the launch point for a fleet of small boats that attacked a French convoy in the Gironde.

In early 1809, Rodd gained information concerning the departure of the French frigate Niémen from Brest, which led to her capture in early April. The same month, Indefatigable was heavily engaged at the Battle of Basque Roads, in which the French fleet in Brest was driven onto shoals by fireships launched by Cochrane who then attacked. Cochrane was inadequately supported by Admiral Lord Gambier and as a result only five French ships were destroyed instead of the entire fleet. Throughout the battle Rodd was heavily engaged with superior enemy forces, closely supporting Cochrane's attack.
In the summer of 1809 he was called as a witness at the Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier which assessed whether Gambier had failed to support Cochrane at the battle. Gambier was controversially cleared of all charges. He left Indefatigable soon afterwards.

In 1809, Rodd married Jane Rennell, daughter of Major James Rennell, a noted geographer who often assisted her father in his work. In 1814, Rodd moved to the ship of the line HMS Warrior but was placed in reserve at the end of the war in the same year.

In 1825, Rodd was promoted to be a Rear-Admiral of the Red, and on 20 February 1832 he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

He died at Tunbridge Wells in October 1838, survived by his wife and recently promoted to vice-admiral.

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Captain Lord Cochrane.



Early life.

Thomas Cochrane was born at Annsfield, near Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald and Anna Gilchrist. She was the daughter of Captain James Gilchrist and Ann Roberton, the daughter of Major John Roberton, 16th Laird of Earnock.Cochrane spent much of his early life in Culross, Fife where his family had an estate.
Through the influence of his uncle Alexander Cochrane, he was listed as a member of the crew on the books of four Royal Navy ships starting when he was five years old. This common (though unlawful) practice called false muster was a means of acquiring the years of service required for promotion, if and when he joined the Navy. His father secured him a commission in the British Army at an early age, but Cochrane preferred the Navy. He joined it in 1793 upon the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars.

Service in the Royal Navy.

On 23 July 1793, aged 17, Cochrane joined the navy as a midshipman, spending his first months at Sheerness in the 28-gun sixth-rate frigate HMS Hind commanded by his uncle Captain Alexander Cochrane. He transferred to the 38-gun fifth rate HMS Thetis, also under his uncle's command. While aboard Thetis, he visited Norway and next served at the North America station. In 1795, he was appointed acting lieutenant. The following year on 27 May 1796, he was commissioned lieutenant after passing the examination. After several transfers in North America and a return home in 1798, he was assigned as 8th Lieutenant on Lord Keith's flagship HMS Barfleur in the Mediterranean.

During his service on Barfleur, Cochrane was court-martialled for showing disrespect to Philip Beaver, the ship's first lieutenant. The board reprimanded him for flippancy. This was the first public manifestation of a pattern of Cochrane being unable to get along with many of his superiors, subordinates, employers, and colleagues in several navies and Parliament, even those with whom he had much in common and who should have been natural allies. His behaviour led to a long enmity with John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent.
In February 1800, Cochrane commanded the prize crew taking the captured French vessel Généreux to the British base at Mahón. The ship was almost lost in a storm, with Cochrane and his brother Archibald going aloft in place of crew who were mostly ill. Cochrane was promoted to commander and took command of the brig sloop HMS Speedy on 28 March 1800. Later that year, a Spanish warship disguised as a merchant ship almost captured him. He escaped by flying a Danish flag and fending off a boarding by claiming that his ship was plague-ridden. On another occasion, he was being chased by an enemy frigate and knew that it would follow him in the night by any glimmer of light from Speedy, so he placed a lantern on a barrel and let it float away. The enemy frigate followed the light and Speedy escaped.

In February 1801 at Malta, Cochrane got into an argument with a French Royalist officer at a fancy dress ball. He had come dressed as a common sailor, and the Royalist mistook him for one. This argument led to Cochrane's only duel. Cochrane wounded the French officer with a pistol shot and was himself unharmed.

One of his most notable exploits was the capture of the Spanish xebec frigate El Gamo on 6 May 1801. El Gamo carried 32 guns and 319 men, compared with Speedy's 14 guns and 54 men. Cochrane flew an American flag and approached so closely to El Gamo that its guns could not depress to fire on the Speedy's hull. The Spanish tried to board and take over the ship but, whenever they were about to board, Cochrane pulled away briefly and fired on the concentrated boarding parties with his ship's guns. Eventually, Cochrane boarded El Gamo and captured her, despite being outnumbered about five to one.

In Speedy's 13-month cruise, Cochrane captured, burned, or drove ashore 53 ships before three French ships of the line under Admiral Charles-Alexandre Linois captured him on 3 July 1801. While Cochrane was held as a prisoner, Linois often asked him for advice. In his autobiography, Cochrane recounted how courteous and polite the French officer had been. A few days later, he was exchanged for the second captain of another French ship. On 8 August 1801, he was promoted to the rank of post-captain.

After the Peace of Amiens, Cochrane attended the University of Edinburgh. Upon the resumption of war in 1803, St Vincent assigned him in October 1803 to command the sixth-rate 22-gun HMS Arab. Cochrane alleged that the vessel handled poorly, colliding with Royal Navy ships on two occasions (Bloodhound and Abundance). In his autobiography, he compared Arab to a collier. He wrote that his first thoughts on seeing Arab being repaired at Plymouth were that she would "sail like a haystack." Despite this, he intercepted and boarded the American merchant ship Chatham. This created an international incident, as Britain was not at war with the United States. Arab and her commander were assigned to protect Britain's important whaling fleet beyond Orkney in the North Sea.

In 1804, St Vincent stood aside for the incoming new government led by William Pitt the Younger, and Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville took office. In December of that year, Cochrane was appointed to command of the new 32-gun frigate HMS Pallas. He undertook a series of notable exploits over the following eighteen months.

In August 1806, he took command of the 38-gun frigate HMS Imperieuse, formerly the Spanish frigate Medea. One of his midshipmen was Frederick Marryat, who later wrote fictionalised accounts of his adventures with Cochrane.

In Imperieuse, Cochrane raided the Mediterranean coast of France during the continuing Napoleonic Wars. In 1808, Cochrane and a Spanish guerrilla force captured the fortress of Mongat, which straddled the road between Gerona and Barcelona. This delayed General Duhesme's French army for a month. On another raid, Cochrane copied code books from a signal station, leaving behind the originals so that the French would believe them uncompromised. When Imperieuse ran short of water, she sailed up the estuary of the Rhone to replenish. A French army marched into Catalonia and besieged Rosas, and Cochrane took part in the defence of the town. He occupied and defended Fort Trinidad (Castell de la Trinitat) for a number of weeks before the fall of the city forced him to leave; Cochrane was one of the last two men to quit the fort.

While captain of Speedy, Pallas, and Imperieuse, Cochrane became an effective practitioner of coastal warfare during the period. He attacked shore installations such as the Martello tower at Son Bou on Menorca, and he captured enemy ships in harbour by leading his men in boats in "cutting out" operations. He was a meticulous planner of every operation, which limited casualties among his men and maximised the chances of success.

In 1809, Cochrane commanded the attack by a flotilla of fire ships on Rochefort, as part of the Battle of the Basque Roads. The attack did considerable damage, but Cochrane blamed fleet commander Admiral Gambier for missing the opportunity to destroy the French fleet, accusations that resulted in the Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier. Cochrane claimed that, as a result of expressing his opinion publicly, the admiralty denied him the opportunity to serve afloat. But documentation shows that he was focussed on politics at this time and, indeed, refused a number of offers of command.
Return to Royal Navy.

Cochrane inherited his peerage following his father's death on 1 July 1831, becoming the 10th Earl of Dundonald. He was restored to the Royal Navy list on 2 May 1832 as a Rear Admiral of the Blue. Cochrane's full return to Royal Navy service was delayed by his refusal to take a command until his knighthood had been restored, which took 15 years. He continued to receive promotions in the list of flag officers, as follows:

• Rear Admiral of the Blue on 2 May 1832
• Rear Admiral of the White on 10 January 1837
• Rear Admiral of the Red on 28 June 1838
• Vice Admiral of the Blue on 23 November 1841
• Vice Admiral of the White on 9 November 1846
• Vice Admiral of the Red on 3 January 1848
• Admiral of the Blue on 21 March 1851
• Admiral of the White on 2 April 1853
• Admiral of the Red on 8 December 1857

On 22 May 1847 Queen Victoria reinstated him as a knight in the Order of the Bath. He returned to the Royal Navy, serving as Commander-in-Chief of the North America and West Indies Station from 1848 to 1851. During the Crimean War, the government considered him for a command in the Baltic, but decided that there was too high a chance that Cochrane would risk the fleet in a daring attack. On 6 November 1854, he was appointed to the honorary office of Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom, an office that he retained until his death.

He was buried in Westminster Abbey where his grave is in the central part of the nave.

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Captain George Wolfe.



He was born on Aug. 3rd, 1766, and had the misfortune to lose his father when only eight years of age. His mother after repeated attempts to divert him from his early intentions of becoming a sailor, at length yielded to the persuasions of the late Lady Spencer, under whose patronage he entered the naval service as a Midshipman on board the Ocean of 90 guns, commanded by Captain George Ourry, on April 2nd, 1780.

The Ocean formed part of the Channel fleet under Admiral Geary, at the capture of twelve French West Indiamen, valued at £9,100 July 3, 1780. She was likewise present at the relief of Gibraltar, under Vice-Admiral Darby; and the capture of fifteen transports, laden with military stores and full of troops, in 1781; as also at the capture of twelve others, April 20th, 1782.
Mr. Wolfe continued in the Ocean, which was successively commanded by Captains Ourry, Edgar, Cleland, and Phipps, until May 1782, when he was transferred into the Royal George, a first rate,bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Kempenfelt, in the Channel fleet. Fortunately for him he escaped sharing the fate of many of his former messmates, who were lost in that ship at Spithead, by following Captain Phipps into the Berwick of 74 guns.

The Berwick accompanied Earl Howe to the relief of Gibraltar, in 1782; and took part in the subsequent action with the combined fleets off Cape Spartel, where Mr. Wolfe was wounded in the face and neck. During the remainder of the war, he was stationed in the West Indies, under the orders of Admiral Pigot. The ship was decommissioned on June 30th, 1783.
During the ensuing peace, Mr. Wolfe served in the various ships commanded by Captains Herbert Sawyer, Charles Chamberlayne, Robert Fanshawe, Charles M. Pole, J. Smith, and Thomas Hicks.

In 1790, an explosion accidentally took place on board the Orion 74, Captain Chamberlayne, then at anchor in Carlisle Bay, Barbados. Mr. Wolfe was at that time confined to his bed by a fever, which had already carried off 23 men, and to which the Surgeon, predicted that he would also fall a victim in less than twenty-four hours. Not relishing the idea of being burnt alive, he contrived to pull on his trousers and crawl to the gun-room ports, where he saw the Surgeon hanging by the rudder chains”, Mr. Wolfe managed to hand the poor wretch a rope’s end, by which he was enabled once more to obtain a firm footing on the Orion’s deck.

At the beginning of the French revolutionary war, Mr. Wolfe, who had passed his examination four years previously, joined the Windsor Castle, a second rate, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Cosby, with whom he soon after sailed for the Mediterranean station. During the occupation of Toulon by the allied forces, he served as a volunteer in several land and floating batteries, and was consequently often engaged with the enemy. After the evacuation of that place, and while the fleet was lying among the Hieres islands, an hospital ship parted her cable, and drifted into a small bay, where she was completely commanded by the republicans.
It being determined to attempt a rescue, an order was issued for all the boats to assemble alongside a frigate, sent in shore to cover them in their approach. The Windsor Castle’s launch was this time commanded by Mr. Wolfe, who volunteered his services, and was fortunate enough to bring off 13 of the wounded men. Mr. Wolfe was very much hurt by a soldier in a heavy wooden cradle falling from the gunwale of the hospital ship into the launch, striking him on his head, and bending him backwards. He was confined to his hammock for the space of two months.

Subsequent to his recovery, Mr. Wolfe served on shore, under Captains Serecold, Miller, and Cooke, at the reduction of Corsica. By the latter officer he was introduced to Lord Hood, who received him very kindly, and ordered him to be removed to the Victory; in which ship he returned to England as Master’s Mate, towards the close of 1794.
On his arrival at Portsmouth, Mr. Wolfe was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant in the Phaeton frigate, commanded by the Hon. Robert Stopford, with whom he continued to serve for two years and nine months. In Sept. 1797, he was made a Commander, and appointed to the Sally armed ship, on the North Sea station.

Soon after this promotion, Captain Wolfe being on a cruise off the Yorkshire coast, in a very thick fog, suddenly found himself close to a French ship, which afterwards proved to be le Republicain of 36 guns and 360 men. The Sally, originally a collier, mounted 14 old fashioned carronades (24-pounders), and had a complement of 45 men. On the fog beginning to disperse, the enemy, then within pistol-shot, was observed lowering a boat to take possession of his expected prize, whose starboard guns, loaded with two rounds of grape-shot, were immediately discharged into the French frigate, with such effect as to bring down her jib and spanker, which afforded Captain Wolfe an opportunity of putting about and effecting his escape: Captain Wolfe’s conduct on this occasion was highly approved by the Admiralty.

The Sally was afterwards employed affording protection to the Baltic and Hamburg trade; and in the course of the two following years, captured several Dutch vessels
Captain Wolfe obtained post rank on Dec. 10th, 1800; and was appointed to the Galatea of 32 guns in April 1801. During the ensuing peace, he was employed in conveying troops from Guernsey and different ports in England, to Holland. His next appointment was made on Dec. 24th, 1802, to the recently launched Aigle frigate. In the following March he received orders to sail to Portland, for the purpose of impressing seamen, and raising volunteers for the navy. On his arrival he landed, at 4 P.M. on the 1st of April, at the head of 50 seamen and marines, but had scarcely got on shore before his party were fired on by a number of sailors collected on the beach; A scuffle now ensued, and two of the rioters, named Porter and Wey, were secured, one armed with a poker,and the other with a reap-hook. The remainder of the mob retiring towards the Bill of Portland, were soon reinforced by nearly 300 men, armed with muskets, pistols, and cutlasses, which had been plundered from the transports wrecked on that coast in 1795. This formidable body, urged on by two constables, lost no time in attacking their unwelcome visitors, 16 or 17 of whom were dreadfully wounded. At length, after the most patient forbearance on the part of Captain Wolfe, who was himself seized and cruelly treated, the marines opened fire, killed 4 of the rioters, and obliged the remainder to retreat; which they did so rapidly, that only 3 could be taken.
As soon as the Aigle’s wounded men reached their ship, Captain Wolfe sent a Lieutenant, (the present Earl of Huntingdon) to lay a correct account of this unfortunate affair before the Admiralty, and prevent any misrepresentations but on landing at Weymouth, the officer and Mr. Morgan, a Midshipman, were recognized by the mob, who seized them, and compelled the Mayor, by threatening worse consequences, to commit them to Dorchester gaol for the alleged murder of the dead men. The Coroner having returned a verdict of wilful murder against Captain Wolfe, Lieutenant Francis Hastings, Lieutenant Jefferies of the marines, and Mr. John Fortescue Morgan, the Midshipman, they all surrendered themselves for trial at the ensuing summer assizes, and after a full investigation of their conduct were fully acquitted, the jury agreeing that they had merely acted in self defence.

In the interim, between the holding of the coroner’s inquest and his trial, Captain Wolfe went on a cruise, and was fortunate enough to intercept six homeward bound French West Indiamen. Towards the latter end of the same year, he captured, after a long chase, l’Alert privateer of 16 guns and 90 men.

On the 12th July, 1804, the Aigle fell in with two French corvettes, proceeding from Rochefort to Bayonne, with ordnance and stores for a ship of the line just launched at that port. These vessels, at first, seemed determined to try their strength with the British frigate; but on her near approach, fired a single broadside, and ran on shore about ten leagues to the southward of Cordouan. Every effort was made by Captain Wolfe, during the ensuing night and part of the next day, to get them afloat again, but without success. he was eventually obliged to destroy them by fire. The ships were la Charante of twenty 6-pounders, 4 swivels, and 104 men; and la Joie of eight 12-pounders (pierced for 14 guns), 2 swivels, and 75 men. The greater part of their crews escaped to the shore; several were drowned by the swamping of the boats, owing to the heavy surf on the beach; and the remainder, amounting to 26 officers and men, were taken prisoners. In Sept. 1805, Captain Wolfe, being off Vigo, was attacked during a calm, by nine Spanish gun -boats. After an hour’s cannonade, a breeze sprang up, and enabled him to capture the Commodore’s vessel, sink another, and drive the rest on shore. The prize carried a long 24-pounder, and 29 men, 4 of whom belonged to the artillery.

From this period onward, there is no mention of Captain Wolfe until March 1808 during which month, he found two French frigates heading for l’Orient.The Aigle immediately went in pursuit, passing between Isle Groais and the main; and after sustaining a heavy fire from the land batteries on both sides, compelled one of the enemy’s ships to take shelter under a fort on the S.E. side of the island. The other, la Furieuse of 40 guns, was shortly after this brought to close action, and ultimately forced to run ashore on Point du Chat. The Aigle, during this affair, had three guns split and dismounted, a bower anchor cut in two, her masts and yards much damaged, and 22 officers and men wounded. Amongst the former, we find Captain Wolfe and Lieutenant Lamb. Shortly after this action Aigle also captured les Six Freres of 18 guns, from Bourdeaux bound to the Mauritius.

The Aigle formed part of the detachment sent from Lord Gambier’s fleet to attack a French squadron in Aix Roads, April 12, 1809; and on that occasion was the second ship which opened fire on the enemy. After assisting at the destruction of four 2-deckers, Captain Wolfe relieved Lord Cochrane in the command of the advanced squadron, consisting of a bomb, several gun-brigs, and other small vessels; forced the enemy to burn a frigate which had got on shore in the Charante, and the remainder of their ships to retreat up that river, after throwing overboard all their guns and stores. On the 11th Aug. the Aigle had 1 man killed and 4 wounded, by the explosion of an 18-inch shell, which fell on board her when forcing the passage of the Scheldt, in company with a squadron of frigates, under the orders of Lord William Stuart.

In Sept. 1810, Captain Wolfe during a cruise off the Western islands, fell in with, and after a chase of one hundred and thirty-four miles, captured le Phoenix a French privateer, mounting eighteen 18-pounders, with a complement of 129 men, commanded by M. Jacques Perrond, a Lieutenant in the French navy, and a Member of the Legion of Honour. In addition to the foregoing services, he appears to have taken, at different times during the war, two Prussian, three Danish, one American, one Russian, and upwards of one hundred and fifty French vessels; the latter principally coasters of from 10 to 100 tons. He was nominated a C.B. in 1815.

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Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland.




Maitland was born at Rankeilour, Fife on 7 September 1777, as the third son of Frederick Lewis Maitland (1730–1786), himself a distinguished naval officer. Having received an education at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, Maitland followed his father into the Navy, spending his first years aboard the sloop HMS Martin, under Captain George Duff, followed by a period aboard the frigate HMS Southampton with Robert Forbes. Whilst aboard Southampton, Maitland was present at the Glorious First of June in 1794.

Promotion to lieutenant.

Maitland was promoted to lieutenant on 3 April 1795 and appointed to HMS Andromeda. He soon moved to HMS Venerable, which was then in the North Sea, serving as the flagship of Admiral Adam Duncan. Maitland then moved to the Mediterranean in April 1797, joining the fleet under John Jervis, Lord St Vincent. Jervis appointed him to the sloop HMS Kingfisher. Maitland was part of several successful cruises, and assisted in the capturing of several privateers. He quickly became noted for his courage, and the ships' company subscribed £50 to present him with a sword. He did not spend long with Kingfisher though, as she was wrecked on 3 December 1798 as she was leaving the Tagus. Maitland had been in temporary command at the time, and received the customary court-martial. He was honourably acquitted and appointed to serve at Gibraltar as flag lieutenant to Lord St Vincent.

A spell in captivity and first commands.

The combined fleets of France and Spain were retiring from the Mediterranean by mid-1799, and on 7 July St Vincent ordered Maitland to go aboard the hired armed cutter Penelope with orders for her to carry out reconnaissance on the enemy fleets, as St Vincent put it, 'to go, count and dodge them'.^[1] When Maitland arrived however, he found the Penelope's lieutenant was sick and unable to take command. Maitland took over instead and attempted to follow his orders. He was apparently hampered by the cowardice and disobedience of the crew of the cutter, and the next day the Spanish captured Penelope and brought her into Cadiz as a prize. There Maitland met the Spanish admiral, Mazaredo. Mazeredo discovered that Maitland was Lord St Vincent's flag lieutenant. Being under an obligation to St Vincent, Mazaredo set Maitland free and returned him to Gibraltar without requesting an exchange.
On his return, St Vincent promoted Maitland to commander and gave him the sloop HMS Cameleon, with the promotion being backdated to 14 June. Maitland commanded her off the coast of Egypt, under Sir Sidney Smith until the signing of the convention of al-'Arish on 24 January 1800. Maitland was sent home overland with dispatches, but quickly returned to his command. He spent the rest of 1800 aboard the Cameleon, before Lord Keith moved him to the command of the storeship HMS Wassenar. The Wassenar was at that time moored at Malta, and had been deemed unfit for service. Maitland was given permission instead to accompany the expedition to Egypt. He was appointed to command the boats that were covering the landings and acquitted himself well. He then moved to support the army's right flank during operations on 13 March, and at the Battle of Alexandria on 21 March 1801. His service was specially acknowledged by the commanders-in-chief, and he was mentioned in Sidney Smith's report. These actions caused him to be rewarded with a promotion to post rank, dated to 21 March. He temporarily took command of the 74-gun HMS Dragon, but had moved to command HMS Carrère in August. He returned with her to England, and she was paid off in October 1802.
Further action.

Maitland married Catherine, the second daughter of Daniel Connor of Ballybricken, County Limerick, Ireland in April 1804. They had only one child, which died in infancy. By this time Maitland's patron St Vincent had been made first lord of the Admiralty. With the outbreak of war he appointed Maitland to the 38-gun HMS Loire, which Maitland sailed off the west coast of France and the north coast of Spain. Maitland spent three years with the Loire, during which time he captured or destroyed a number of privateers and coastal batteries. He was involved in a particularly heroic action on 4 June 1805 in Muros Bay, south of Cape Finisterre, for which he received the thanks of the City of London, the freedom of Cork, and a sword from the Patriotic Fund. He also took part in the capture of the French frigate Libre on 24 December 1805. His next command was the 36-gun HMS Emerald, which he took up in November 1806. The service was the same as the Loire's, and Maitland continued his successes aboard her. He was at the Battle of the Basque Roads in April 1809, but due to the confusion Emerald was one of the ships that were not sent in until 12 April.

Aboard the Bellerophon.

Maitland was given command of the 58-gun HMS Goliath between 1813 and 1814, and was sent aboard her to the Halifax and West Indian stations. He was appointed to the 98-gun HMS Boyne in November 1814 and ordered to sail to North America. Maitland spent the early part of 1815 gathering a fleet of transports and merchants in Cork harbour in preparation for crossing the Atlantic, but found himself unable to set sail due to a succession of strong westerly winds. Before he could sail, news reached England of Napoleon's escape from Elba and his return as Emperor of the French. Maitland's orders were immediately countermanded, and he was moved to the 74-gun HMS Bellerophon. He sailed aboard her from Plymouth on 24 May, under the orders of Sir Henry Hotham.
The Bellerophon was stationed off Rochefort in the Bay of Biscay, watching the French warships in the harbour. Whilst the Bellerophon was off Rochefort, Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. News of this reached Maitland on 28 June, followed by a letter from Bordeaux that warned him that Napoleon was planning an escape to America from the French Atlantic coast, probably from Bordeaux. Maitland believed that Rochefort was the more likely point of escape, but took the precaution of sending two smaller craft to cover other ports, one to Bordeaux, and another to Arcachon. He kept the Bellerophon herself off Rochefort. Hotham was aboard HMS Superb covering Quiberon Bay, whilst a string of British frigates, corvettes, and brigs were watching all along the coast. Hotham told Maitland that should he intercept Bonaparte, he was to take the former emperor to England.

Maitland and Napoleon.

Maitland's instincts proved correct, and Napoleon arrived at Rochefort in early July. By this time, he was in an untenable position. He could no longer remain in France without risking arrest; indeed, Prussian troops had orders to capture him dead or alive. However, the Bellerophon and the rest of Hotham's fleet were blocking every port. He therefore authorised the opening of negotiations with Maitland. The negotiations opened on 10 July. Maitland refused to allow Napoleon to sail for America, but offered to take him to England instead. The negotiations went on for four days, but eventually Napoleon acquiesced. He surrendered to Maitland on 15 July and embarked on the Bellerophon with his staff and servants.
Maitland placed his cabin at the former emperor's disposal and sailed the Bellerophon to England. She reached Torbay on 24 July, but was ordered to Plymouth, whilst a decision was made by the government over Bonaparte's fate. She sailed again on 4 August and whilst off Berry Head on 7 August, Napoleon and his staff were removed to HMS Northumberland, which conveyed him to his final exile on Saint Helena. Maitland later wrote a detailed narrative of Bonaparte's time on the Bellerophon, which he subsequently published in 1826.

Royal duties and rise to rear admiral.



Maitland took command of the 74-gun HMS Vengeur in October 1818, and in 1819 sailed her to South America. He took Lord George Beresford from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon in 1820, and then returned to the Mediterranean. He then carried Ferdinand I, king of the Two Sicilies from Naples to Livorno. The passage was rough and lasted seven days, but they arrived safely on 20 December. As a token of gratitude the king invested Maitland with the insignia of a knight commander of the Order of St Ferdinand and Merit, and presented him with his portrait, set with diamonds, in a gold box.

Maitland then returned to England, and was appointed to command the 74-gun HMS Genoa, the guardship at Portsmouth. He spent three years aboard her, leaving her in August 1823. He commanded HMS Wellesley in the Mediterranean between 1827 and 1830, and was promoted to Rear Admiral of the Blue on 22 July 1830, and Rear Admiral of the Red on 10 January 1837. He had been appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) on the restructuring of the Order in 1815, and on 17 November 1830 he was advanced to Knight Commander (KCB).^] He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Fife on 5 March 1831.

Indian service.

He was admiral superintendent of the dockyard at Portsmouth between 1832 and 1837. He was appointed commander-in-chief in the East Indies and China Station in July 1837, and raised his flag in the Wellesley again. He co-operated with the army during its advance from Bombay towards Afghanistan in February 1839, and captured the town and fort of Karachi, going on to oversee the landing of troops and supplies. News then reached him of disturbances at Bushehr, so he set off to investigate. He landed Marines and evacuated the resident and his staff, without punishing the rioters. The Anglo-Indian press subsequently criticised this action as being injudiciously lenient.
Death.

Maitland died on 30 November 1839 whilst at sea on board the Wellesley, off Bombay. He was buried at Bombay. A monument was later erected by subscription to his memory in the cathedral. His wife, Lady Maitland, died in 1865 at Lindores, Fife.

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Captain Lucius Hardyman.



He was a son of the late Captain Hardyman, of Portsmouth, and a brother of Major-General Hardyman, who died in India Nov. 28th, 1821. There is no known referencence to him previous to March 1, 1799; on the day when he greatly distinguished himself as first Lieutenant of the Sybille frigate, in an action with la Forte of 52 guns, the command of which was afterwards conferred upon him by Vice-Admiral Rainier. His post commission bears the date of Jan. 27th, 1800.

La Forte was wrecked in the Red Sea about June 1801; but fortunately her crew were saved. Captain Hardyman subsequently commanded the Unicorn frigate, on the West India station, and at the reduction of Monte Video, by Rear-Admiral Stirling, and Brigadier-General Auchmuty. He also assisted at the destruction of a French squadron in Aix Roads, April 11, 1809.
His next appointment was to the Armicle of 38 guns, employed cruising off the French coast.

On the 4th May, 1801, Captain Hardyman sent .the boats of that ship, assisted by those of the Cadmus, Daring, and Monkey, to attack a number of the enemy’s armed and coasting vessels, at the isle of Rhé; thirteen of which were destroyed under a heavy fire from the batteries, and four others driven on shore.

He was afterwards transferred to the Armide frigate, which he commanded on the coast of France till the peace. In 1815 he was made a C.B.; commanded the Ocean from 1823 to 1825 as flag-captain to Lord Amelius Beauclerk and became a rear-admiral on 22 July 1830.

He died in London on 17 April 1834.

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Captain George Seymour.




Seymour was the eldest son of Vice-Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour and Anna Horatia Waldegrave (a daughter of James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave) and joined the Royal Navy in October 1797.

He was assigned to the Royal yacht HMY Princess Augusta and then transferred to the third-rate HMS Sans Pareil in the Channel Squadron in March 1798 and to the second-rate HMS Prince of Wales in the West Indies later that year. He was present when the Batavian Republic surrendered Suriname to British forces in August 1799 during the French Revolutionary Wars and, having been promoted to midshipman, transferred to the fifth-rate HMS Acasta early in 1800.

Promotion.

He joined the fifth-rate HMS Endymion in 1802 and then transferred to the first-rate HMS Victory, flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron, in 1803, to the fourth-rate HMS Madras in February 1804 and, having been promoted to lieutenant on 12 October 1804, to the third-rate HMS Donegal later that month.

In HMS Donegal he took part in the pursuit of the French Fleet, under the command of Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, to the West Indies and back in Summer 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars before seeing action at the capture of the Spanish 100-gun Rayo in October 1805
.
Promoted to commander on 23 January 1806, Seymour became commanding officer of the third-rate HMS Northumberland, flagship of the West Indies Squadron, in January 1806 and fought under Admiral Sir John Duckworth at the Battle of San Domingo where he was wounded off the southern coast of the French-occupied Spanish colony San Domingo in the Caribbean Sea in February 1806.
He went on to be commanding officer of the sloop HMS Kingfisher and took part in the blockade of Rochefort. He became commanding officer of the sloop HMS Aurora in the Mediterranean Squadron in June 1806 and, having been promoted to captain on 29 July 1806, he was given command of the fifth-rate HMS Pallas in February 1808.

In HMS Pallas he fought under Admiral Lord Gambier at the Battle of the Basque Roads in April 1809. In the summer of 1809 he was called as a witness at the Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier which assessed whether Gambier had failed to support Captain Lord Cochrane at the battle. Gambier was controversially cleared of all charges. He went on to be commanding officer of the fifth-rate HMS Manilla in September 1809.

The war of 1812.

Seymour became commanding officer of the fifth-rate HMS Fortunée in June 1812 and of the fifth-rate HMS Leonidas in January 1813 during the War of 1812. In HMS Leonidas he captured the privateer USS Paul Jones in May 1813.
He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 4 June 1815. He became Serjeant-at-Arms to the House of Lords in 1818 and was given a short leave of absence to undertake a tour as commanding officer of the fifth-rate HMS Briton on "particular service" in 1827. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order in 1831, awarded a British knighthood on 23 March 1831 and advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order on 9 December 1834. In June 1837 he attended the funeral of King William IV, Seymour's last act as Master of the Robes to the King.

Senior command.

Seymour was appointed Third Naval Lord in the Second Peel ministry in September 1841. Promoted to rear admiral on 23 November 1841, he became Commander-in-Chief Pacific Station, with his flag in the third-rate HMS Collingwood, in May 1844. Later that year the French Admiral Abel Thouars entered into a confrontation with Queen Pōmare IV of Tahiti and with the English missionary and consul George Pritchard, expelling the consul and establishing a French protectorate over the territory: this matter became known as the "Pritchard Affair", a business which Seymour handled tactfully avoiding a confrontation with the French Government who had already denounced Thouars' actions. Tensions with United States were high as a result of the Oregon boundary dispute and Seymour avoided inflaming this situation in discussions over fisheries.

Promoted to vice-admiral on 27 March 1850,^] Seymour became Commander-in-Chief North America and West Indies Station, with his flag in the third-rate HMS Cumberland, in January 1851. He was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 6 April 1852 and became Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, with his flag in the first-rate HMS Victory in 1856.

Promoted to full admiral on 14 May 1857 and advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 18 May 1860, he was appointed Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom on 16 May 1863 and Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom on 23 September 1865.

Promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 20 November 1866, he died of bronchitis at his home at Eaton Square in London on 20 January 1870. Seymour's body was placed in a tomb, on which rests a recumbent marble sculpture of him by Victor Gleichen, at Holy Trinity Church in Arrow, not far from the Seymour family seat at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire.

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Captain Francis Newcombe.




Newcombe was made a Lieutenant in 1794, and advanced to the rank of Commander in 1801. He subsequently commanded the Beagle sloop, stationed off Boulogne, where he captured the French privateers le Hazard, of 14 guns and 49 men; Vengeur, 10 guns and 48 men; and la Fortune, of 14 guns and 58 men.
His gallant conduct in Aix Roads on the memorable 11th April (and following days) 1809, is thus recorded in the minutes of a court-martial which was afterwards assembled to investigate the conduct of Lord Gambier:

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Royal_Naval_Biography/Newcombe,_Francis


Captain Newcombe’s gallantry and activity on that occasion were duly appreciated, his post commission being dated back to the 11th April, 1809. He subsequently commanded the Wanderer, of 20 guns; Chesapeake frigate; Bulwark 74 (pro tempore); and Pyramus 42; the latter ship employed at the Leeward Islands, on the peace establishment. The Pyramus was paid off in June, 1825.

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Captain Anthony Abdy.



Abdy was made a Lieutenant in Feb. 1800; advanced to the rank of Commander, April 29, 1802; appointed to the Zephyr fire-ship, in 1804; to the Dotterell brig, about Nov. 1808;where he served at the Basque Rhodes, and later to acting Captain in the Tonnant 80, off Ferrol, about June, 1809. His post commission bears the date of Oct. 21, 1810. Captain Abdy married, in 1808, a daughter of the late Admiral Sir Thomas Rich, Bart.

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Admiral Lord Gambier.



Born the second son of John Gambier, the Lieutenant Governor of the Bahamas and Deborah Stiles, a Bermudian, Gambier was brought up in England by an aunt. He was a nephew of Vice-Admiral James Gambier and of Admiral Lord Barham and became an uncle of the novelist and travel writer Georgiana Chatterton.

Gambier entered the Navy in 1767 as a midshipman on board the third-rate HMS Yarmouth, commanded by his uncle, which was serving as a guardship in the Medway, and followed him to serve on board the 60-gun fourth-rate HMS Salisbury in 1769 where he served on the North American Station. He transferred to the 50-gun fourth-rate HMS Chatham under Rear Admiral Parry, in 1772, in the Leeward Islands. Gambier was placed on the sloop HMS Spy and was then posted to England to serve on the 74-gun third-rate HMS Royal Oak, a guardship at Spithead. He was commissioned as a lieutenant on 12 February 1777, in which rank he served in a successively in the sloop Shark, the 24-gun frigate HMS Hind, the third-rate HMS Sultan under Vice-Admiral Lord Shuldham, and then in HMS Ardent under his uncle's flag. Lord Howe promoted Gambier to commander on 9 March 1778 and gave him command of the bomb ship HMS Thunder, which was promptly dismasted and surrendered to the French. He was taken prisoner for a short period and, after having been exchanged, he was made a post captain on 9 October 1778 and appointed to the 32-gun fifth-rate HMS Raleigh and saw action at the capture of Charleston in May 1780 during the American Revolutionary War. He was appointed commander of fifth-rate HMS Endymion, cruising in British waters, later in the year. In 1783, at the end of the War, he was placed on half-pay.

In February 1793 following the start of the French Revolutionary Wars, Gambier was appointed to command the 74-gun third-rate HMS Defence under Lord Howe. By faith an evangelical, he was regarded as an intensely religious man, nicknamed Dismal Jimmy, by the men under his command. As captain of the Defence Gambier saw action at the battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794, gaining the distinction of commanding the first ship to break through the enemy line and subsequently receiving the Naval Gold Medal.

Senior command.

Gambier was appointed to the Board of Admiralty led by Earl Spencer in March 1795. Promoted to rear-admiral on 1 June 1795, he became First Naval Lord in November 1795. Promoted to vice-admiral on 14 February 1799, Gambier left the Admiralty after the fall of the first Pitt ministry in February 1801 and became third-in-command of the Channel Fleet under Admiral William Cornwallis, with his flag in the 98-gun second-rate HMS Neptune. He went on to be governor and commander-in-chief of Newfoundland Station in March 1802. In that capacity he gave property rights over arable land to local people allowing them to graze sheep and cattle there and also ensured that vacant properties along the shore could be leased to local people. It was around that time that he also bought Iver Grove in Buckinghamshire.

Gambier then returned to the Admiralty as a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and First Naval Lord on the Admiralty Board led by Viscount Melville when the second Pitt ministry was formed in May 1804. Promoted to full admiral on 9 November 1805, Gambier left the Admiralty in February 1806. He returned briefly for a third tour as First Naval Lord on the Admiralty Board led by Lord Mulgrave when the Second Portland Ministry was formed in April 1807.

In May 1807 Gambier volunteered to command the naval forces, with his flag in the second-rate HMS Prince of Wales, sent as part of the campaign against Copenhagen during the Napoleonic Wars. Together with General Lord Cathcart, he oversaw the bombardment of Copenhagen from 2 September until the Danes capitulated after three days (an incident that brought Gambier some notoriety in that the assault included a bombardment of the civilian quarter). Prizes included eighteen ships of the line, twenty-one frigates and brigs and twenty-five gunboats together with a large quantity of naval stores for which he received official thanks from Parliament, and on 3 November 1807 a peerage, becoming Baron Gambier, of Iver in the County of Buckingham.

Battle of the Basque Roads.

In 1808 Gambier was appointed to command the Channel Fleet. In April 1809 he chased a squadron of French ships that had escaped from Brest into the Basque Roads. He called a council of war in which Lord Cochrane was given command of the inshore squadron, and who subsequently led the attack. Gambier refused to commit the Channel Fleet after Cochrane's attack, using explosion vessels that encouraged the French squadron to warp further into the shallows of the estuary. This action resulted in the majority of the French fleet running aground at Rochefort.

Gambier was content with the blockading role played by the offshore squadron. Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey, who had commanded "Fighting Temeraire" at the Battle of Trafalgar, believed they had missed an opportunity to inflict further damage upon the French fleet. He told Gambier "I never saw a man so unfit for the command of a fleet as Your Lordship." Cochrane threatened to use his parliamentary vote against Gambier in retaliation for not committing the fleet to action. Gambier called for a court martial to examine his conduct. The court martial, on 26 July 1809 on Gladiator in Portsmouth, exonerated Gambier. Consequently, neither Harvey nor Cochrane were appointed by the Admiralty to command for the remainder of the war. The episode had political and personal overtones. Gambier was connected by family and politics to the Tory prime minister William Pitt. In Parliament, Cochrane represented the riding of Westminster, which tended to vote Radical. In the aftermath of Basque Roads, Cochrane and Gambier quarreled and Gambier resentfully excluded Cochrane from the battle dispatches. There is little wonder that Cochrane took the unusual move of standing in opposition to parliament's pro forma vote of thanks to Gambier.

Later career.

In 1814 Gambier was part of the team negotiating the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States. He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 7 June 1815. Promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 22 July 1830.

He died at his home, Iver Grove in Buckinghamshire, on 19 April 1833 and was buried at St. Peter's churchyard in Iver.

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Captain Sir Harry Neale.



He was the son of William Burrard, the governor of Yarmouth Castle on the Isle of Wight, and nephew of Sir Harry Burrard, 1st Baronet, of Walhampton, whom he succeeded in 1791. In 1795 he adopted the additional name of Neale on his marriage to Grace, daughter of Robert Neale of Shaw House, Wiltshire. He died without issue in 1840 and was succeeded by his brother George.

Naval career.

Educated at Christchurch Grammar School, Burrard joined the Royal Navy in 1778. He was present at the Siege of Charleston in 1780.
Burrard distinguished himself during the Mutiny at the Nore in 1797. He was one of the Lords of the Admiralty between 1804 and 1807, and was promoted to rear-admiral on 31 July 1810. He was engaged at the Action of 13 March 1806 in HMS London. He was invested as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 2 January 1815, and advanced to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 14 September 1822. He became Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet in 1823,^] which led to his appointment as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George the following year.
In the summer of 1809 he was called as a witness at the Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier which assessed whether Admiral Lord Gambier had failed to support Captain Lord Cochrane at the Battle of Basque Roads in April 1809. Gambier was controversially cleared of all charges.

Political career.

He was Member of Parliament for Lymington between 1790 and 1802, 1806 to 1807, 1812 to 1823 and 1832 to 1835. He was a Groom of the Bedchamber to King George III from 1801 to 1812, continuing afterwards at Windsor from 1812 to 1820 during the Regency.
He died at age 74 and was buried in Lymington Church, Lymington, Hampshire, England.

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Captain William Bedford.


He was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Biography.

He was made a lieutenant in the navy on 12 September 1781. Of his earlier appointments there is no published record; but he served during the Russian armament of 1791 as a lieutenant of HMS Edgar. He was afterwards in HMS Formidable, and in May 1794 was first-lieutenant of HMS Queen, carrying the flag of Rear-Admiral Alan Gardner during the Atlantic campaign of May 1794 and the Glorious First of June. In the partial action of 29 May the captain of the Queen, John Hutt, was severely wounded. Bedford had thus the honour of commanding the Queen on 1 June, and for his service on that memorable day was, on the captain's death some weeks afterwards, posted into the vacancy, on 15 August 1794.

He continued in the Queen with Sir Alan Gardner, and was present with the fleet under Admiral Lord Bridport at the Battle of Groix on 23 June 1795.Afterwards he moved with Sir Alan to HMS Royal Sovereign, and continued with him until he struck his flag in August 1800.

Bedford was then appointed to the 68-gun HMS Leyden, in the North Sea, and was present at the raids on Boulogne on 15 August 1801, on which occasion he offered to serve as a volunteer under the junior officer in command of the boats. The offer, however, was declined by Lord Nelson.

In 1803 he was captain of the 74-gun HMS Thunderer, and in 1805, in HMS Hibernia, flagship of his old chief, now Lord Gardner, commanding the blockade of Brest. Afterwards, in 1809, he was flag-captain in HMS Caledonia with Lord Gambier, at the Battle of the Basque Roads, from which, though he escaped blameless, it was impossible to derive any credit.
He attained flag-rank on 12 August 1812, and served in the North Sea under Sir William Young as captain of the fleet. He had no further service, though on 19 July 1821 he was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral.
In 1808 Bedford had married Susan, one of the nine daughters of Captain Robert Fanshawe, commissioner of the navy at Portsmouth, and was thus a brother-in-law of Sir Thomas Byam Martin, comptroller of the navy, and of Admiral Sir Robert Stopford.
. He died in October 1827.

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Rear-Admiral Robert Stopford.




Stopford was the third son of James Stopford, 2nd Earl of Courtown, and his wife Mary (née Powys). He joined the Royal Navy in 1780 and became a Lieutenant in 1785. Commander Stopford was captain of Ferret between December 1789 and October 1790. In 1790 he was promoted to captain at the age of 22 and was briefly captain of HMS Lowestoffe.
Stopford fought at the Battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794, commanding the frigate HMS Aquilon (32). During the battle Aquilon had the task of standing off and repeating the signals from the flagship. Aquilon also towed the Marlborough out of the line of fire when she was dismasted, for which Lord Howe thanked him personally. One of Stopford's officers on Aquilon was Francis Beaufort, the inventor of the Beaufort Wind-Scale.

On 10 March 1796, Stopford was captain of the fifth rate frigate HMS Phaeton, of 38 guns, when she engaged and captured the 20-gun French corvette Bonne Citoyenne of Cape Finisterre. Stopford took her back to England as his prize. The Royal Navy then bought her in as HMS Bonne Citoyenn, a sixth rate sloop of war. During his service in the Channel, Phaeton captured in all some 13 privateers and three vessels of war, as well as recovering numerous vessels that the French had taken.
In 1799, Stopford was appointed captain of the 74-gun third rate HMS Excellent in the Channel Fleet. He sailed Excellent to the West Indies where he hoisted a commodore's pennant and served for eight months as the Commander-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands Station in 1802.

In 1803, Stopford became captain of the ship of the line HMS Spencer (74), in Horatio Nelson's fleet.
He became a Colonel of Marines in November 1805 and received a gold medal for his conduct at the Battle of San Domingo in 1806, while still in command of Spencer. Stopford was wounded during the battle; he recovered, but the wound would plague him for the rest of his life.

He took part in the British invasions of the Río de la Plata and Battle of Copenhagen of 1806-07, and attacked Rochefort in 1808. Stopford played an important part in the Battle of the Basque Roads.^] He was appointed to command HMS Caesar (80), with a squadron of two ships of the line and five frigates. On 23 February 1809 he fell in the four French frigates under the batteries of Sable d'Olonne, an action which left them disabled. Stopford continued his blockade until Lord Gambier chased a fleet of ten French sail of the line into the Basque Roads and assumed command. In the summer of 1809 he was called as a witness at the Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier which assessed whether Admiral Lord Gambier had failed to support Captain Lord Cochrane. Gambier was controversially cleared of all charges.

In 1810, he sailed to South Africa to become Commander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good Hope Station. He directed the operations that resulted in the capture of Java when on 8 August 1811, the Dutch settlement of Batavia capitulated to the British under Stopford and Lieutenant-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty. The British fleet consisted of some 100 vessels, including eight cruisers belonging to the East India Company. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in 1827.

Stopford became Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom in 1834. His last active post, in his early seventies, was as commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet during the Syrian War against the forces of Mehemet Ali. As Vice Admiral on board HMS Princess Charlotte (100) and subsequently HMS Phoenix, he was in command of the combined British, Turkish, and Austrian fleet during the bombardment of Acre on 3 November 1840.

For his services in the Syrian War, Stopford was given the Freedom of the City of the City of London and presented with a commemorative "freedom box". The ornate silver and oak box is part of the collection of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. The following year he became Governor of the Greenwich Hospital at Greenwich, with the rank of Admiral.

He is buried in Greenwich Hospital Cemetery. The cemetery was largely made into a pocket park in the late 19th century but his name is listed on the west face of the Officers in the centre of the park.

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Captain Charles Richardson.





He entered the naval service as a Midshipman on board the Vestal of 28 guns, commanded by Sir Richard I. Strachan, in Nov. 19, 1787. In that ship he made two long voyages from England; one to the Straits of Banca, the other to Bombay and from her he transferred with his patron into the Phoenix 36, attached to the squadron under Commodore Cornwallis on the East India station, where he saw much active service during the war with Tippoo Saib. He was also present in the action between the Phoenix and la Resolu.

On his return to England, in 1793, Mr. Richardson joined the Alexander 74, fitting at Chatham; from which ship he removed, after passing his examination for Master's Mate, in the spring of 1794, to the Royal George, a first rate, bearing the flag of Sir Alexander Hood, under whom he served in the battles of May 29, and the Glorious 1st of June 1794. On the following 4th Aug., he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and appointed to the Circe 28, in which frigate he was first Lieutenant during the mutiny at the Nore, in 1797.

Circe formed part of the squadron left off the Texel under Sir Henry Trollope, to watch the Dutch fleet and she was one of Admiral Duncan’s repeaters in the battle off Camperdown. Observing the Vryheid dis-masted and silenced, and thinking it probable that Admiral de Winter would endeavor to get on board some other ship of his fleet, Lieutenant Richardson volunteered to go on board in a boat and take him out, which he accomplished without accident, rowing clear of the enemy’s fire, and presenting him in person to the British Admiral.

On his return to port, Lord Duncan, as a mark of his approbation, applied for Mr. Richardson to be appointed one of his Lieutenants, and he was accordingly transferred to the Venerable, on his promotion. He subsequently served with the same gallant veteran in the Kent 74.

Lieutenant Richardson returned from the Texel in command of a Dutch 68-gun ship; but afterwards rejoined the Kent and served under Lord Duncan till Duncan's resignation, at the commencement of 1800.

He subsequently accompanied Sir W. Johnstone Hope to the coast of Egypt, assisted at the landing of the British troops in Aboukir bay, and was present in the battle of Mar. 8, 1801. His next appointment was, as first Lieutenant, to the Penelope frigate, commanded by the Hon. Henry Blackwood, with whom he continued on the Mediterranean station till the spring of 1802.

After refitting at Portsmouth, the Penelope was ordered to transport Sir Alexander Ball and his retinue to Malta. On his arrival at the island Lieutenant Richardson was promoted to the command of the Alligator a 28-gun frigate, armed en flute. On his return to England, in April, 1803, he was sent to join Commodore Hood on the West India station; and he appears to have been entrusted by that officer with the direction of a flotilla employed in the reduction of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, in Sept. 1803. His conduct during the operations against Surinam between April 25 and May 5, 1804, was highly spoken of both in the naval and military dispatches relative to the conquest of that colony, and led to his further advancement; the Commodore appointing him to command the Centaur 74, vice Captain Maxwell, and the Admiralty confirming that appointment by a commission dated Sept. 27 in the same year.

Captain Richardson returned home with Sir Samuel Hood in the spring of 1805, and on the 2nd of Jan. 1806 was appointed to the Caesar 80, bearing the flag of his old friend and patron Sir R. I. Strachan, then about to sail in pursuit of a squadron which had recently escaped from Brest. Towards the end of 1807, we find him employed off Rochefort, and in Feb. 1808 accompanying Strachan to the Mediterranean in search of another French squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Allemand, who had the luck to avoid the British and reach Toulon without an encounter.

On the 23rd Feb. 1809, the Caesar, under the flag of Rear-Admiral Stopford, but still commanded by Captain Richardson, assisted at the destruction of three French frigates in the Sable d’Olonne, and on that occasion sustained considerable damage in her bowsprit and rigging, from the fire of several batteries under which they had taken refuge. She was also present at the attack made upon the enemy’s fleet in the Basque roads on the 11th of April, 1809 and appears to have been one of the ships which passed the French batteries and brought up at that anchorage, with a view of renewing the attack in the evening of the following day. Her losses, according to Lord Gambler’s official return, comprised of 3 persons killed, and 1 man missing., purported to have been drowned. In the July following this, Captain Richardson was attached to the Walcheren expedition.

Early in 1810, Captain Richardson was ordered to Lisbon, where he took command of the Semiramis 36, frigate, in July of the same year.

Captain Richardson’s next appointment was, July 29, 1819, to the Leander of 58 guns, under the flag of Sir Henry Blackwood, commander-in-chief on the East India station. On the death of Captain John R. Lumley, in July, 1821, he took command of the Topaze 38 frigate; and proceeded in her from Pulo Penang to China, where 14 of his crew were dangerously wounded by the natives, while employed filling water at Lintin.

Captain Richardson then returned to India, and re-joined the Leander a short time before Sir Henry Blackwood was relieved by Commodore Grant, but his health being in a very dangerous state he was obliged to invalid at the Cape of Good Hope, Oct. 14 in the same year.

In 1837 he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral, and in 1841 Appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.
Finally in 1847 he received the Naval General Service Medal with a clasp for the Defeat of the French Fleet, capture of six sail of the line and one sunk whilst serving on Royal George.

Vice Admiral Richardson died on October the 11th 1850.

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Captain Henry Lidgbird Ball.




The son of George Ball, gentleman, and his wife Lucy, he was baptised on 7 December 1756 at Woodchurch, Cheshire

In 1788, having previously commanded HMS Supply, Lieutenant Ball commanded the vessel entrusted with shipping the first group of settlers from Botany Bay to Norfolk Island.

Between 1788 and 1790, Ball explored the area around Port Jackson and took part in the capture of the Aborigine, Arabanoo, on 31 December 1788, in addition to revisiting Lord Howe's Island, as it was then known, and Norfolk Island.
After falling ill in January 1791, Ball returned to England to convalesce. Leaving Australia in November 1791, he landed at Plymouth in April 1792 with the first kangaroo to be shipped to England on board his ship.

Ball returned to duty in December 1792 and was made a captain in 1795, in which position he served with distinction between 1795 and 1812, commanding HMS Daedalus at the Action of 9 February 1799 and capturing the French frigate Prudente.

He was in command of HMS Gibralter at the battle of the Basque Roads in 1809.
In the summer of that year he was called as a witness at the Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier which assessed whether Admiral Lord Gambier had failed to support Captain Lord Cochrane at the Battle of Basque Roads in April. Gambier was controversially cleared of all charges.

In 1812 he went onto half pay in semi-retirement. On 4 June 1814 Ball was promoted to Rear Admiral of the Blue.


Personal life.

During his time in Australia, Ball had a relationship with Sarah Partridge (also known as Mary Stokes),
a convict who had been transported by the First Fleet in the Lady Penrhyn.
They had a daughter, Anne Maria (born 1789).

On 17 June 1802 Ball married Charlotte Foster in London; she died a year later. On 19 July 1810, at Kingston upon Thames, he married Anne Georgianna Henrietta Johnston,
who was 31 years younger than he was: she survived him and died in 1864.

Death.

He died on 22 October 1818 at Mitcham (then in Surrey and now in London), England. He was buried in the churchyard at St Peter's Church, Petersham, in the family vault of his wife Anne Georgianna Henrietta Johnston.

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Captain James Newman-Newman.




Newman-Newman was born in 1767, and joined the Royal Navy at a young age, serving as a lieutenant aboard the flagship of Sir Alexander Hood, HMS Royal George during the battle of the Glorious First of June, when a French fleet was defeated deep in the Atlantic by the British Channel Fleet under Lord Howe. Due to good service in this action, Newman-Newman was promoted to captain and took command of a succession of frigates in the Mediterranean and home waters, beginning with HMS Ceres in 1795.

On 21 March 1796, the sloop HMS Lark, under William Ogilvy, joined the Ceres and Newman-Newman in providing support to an unsuccessful attack by British troops from Port-au-Prince on the town and fort of Léogane on the island of Hispaniola.

In 1798, Newman-Newman was in command of the frigate HMS Mermaid during the campaign against a French fleet which threatened to invade Ireland. The French force was destroyed at the Battle of Tory Island, in which Mermaid was not engaged, but the surviving French ships scattered into the Atlantic and Mermaid was one of the ships tasked with tracking them. On 15 October, Mermaid, in company with the brig HMS Kangaroo discovered the French frigate Loire and gave chase, catching and engaging the French ship Loire was too strong for her opponents, however, and despite suffering heavy damage, managed to escape. The following day Loire was captured by the large razee HMS Anson, having suffered heavy casualties. Mermaid had taken 17 casualties herself and Newman-Newman was praised for his conduct.

Two years later, Newman-Newman was again involved in the capture of a French frigate, this time as captain of HMS Loire, the same ship he had captured two years previously. The French Pallas had been sighted off St Malo by two small Royal Navy ships and despite the disparity in size, the small craft engaged the much larger frigate Pallas was able to hold off her diminutive opponents, but in the afternoon of 5 February 1800 a squadron led by Newman-Newman in Loire arrived. In the engagement which followed, the five British ships fought a lengthy battle with Pallas and French shore batteries under which the frigate was sheltering until eventually Pallas surrendered. Loire had suffered 22 casualties.

In 1802, Newman-Newman was briefly in reserve during the Peace of Amiens, but he soon returned to service as commander of a ship of the line following the resumption of the Napoleonic Wars the following year. In the summer of 1809 after his ship HMs Hero had taken part in the battle of the Basque Roads he was called as a witness at the Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier which assessed whether Admiral Gambier had failed to support Captain Lord Cochrane at the Battle in April. Gambier was controversially cleared of all charges.

Newman-Newman's service was in Home Waters and the Baltic Sea, and in 1811 he was tasked with escorting a large convoy from Gothenburg to London in his ship HMS Hero. Returning in late 1811 the convoy, which had joined with parts of the British Baltic Fleet, was struck by a huge storm which wrecked over 30 merchant ships and on 24 December claimed the flagship HMS St George and HMS Defence. Hundreds of sailors were drowned including Admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds. The next day, Christmas Day 1811, HMS Hero was also driven ashore, onto the Haak Sands off the Texel. Weather conditions were so severe that no boats could be launched and no rescue attempted and as a result only 12 men from a crew of several hundred reached safety. Newman-Newman was not among them.

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Captain Pulteney Malcolm.




He was a British naval officer, born at Douglan, near Langholm, Scotland, on 20th of February 1768, the third son of George Malcolm of Burnfoot, Langholm, in Dumfriesshire, a sheep farmer, and his wife Margaret, the sister of Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley. His brothers were Sir James Malcolm, Sir John Malcolm, and Sir Charles Malcolm.

1778–1793, Midshipman to Lieutenant.

He entered the navy in 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, on the books of the Sibyl, commanded by his uncle, Captain Pasley. With Pasley he afterwards served in the Jupiter, in the squadron under Commodore George Johnstone, and was present at the action in Porto Praya and at the capture of the Dutch Indiamen in Saldanha Bay. In 1782 the Jupiter carried out Admiral Pigot to the West Indies. Malcolm was thus brought under the admiral's notice, was taken by him into the flagship, and some months later, on 3 March 1783, was promoted to be lieutenant of the Jupiter.

He continued serving during the peace, and in 1793, at the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars, was first lieutenant of the Penelope frigate on the Jamaica stationn, under the command of Captain Bartholomew Rowley. The Penelope's service was peculiarly active. In company with the Iphigenia she captured the French frigate Inconstante, on the coast of San Domingo, on 25 November 1793; she captured or cut out many privateers or merchant vessels; and Malcolm, as first lieutenant, commanded her boats in several sharp conflicts.

1794–1804, Post-Captain.

Early in 1794 Commodore Ford took him into his flagship the Europa, and on 3 April promoted him to the command of the Jack Tar, which he took to England. On 22 October he was posted, and a few days later appointed to the Fox frigate. In February 1795 he convoyed a fleet of merchant ships to the Mediterranean; thence he went to Quebec, and afterwards was employed for some time in the North Sea. Later on he was sent out to the East Indies, and towards the end of 1797 into the China Seas, under the command of Captain Edward Cooke, in whose company he entered Manila Bay under false colours, on 14 January 1798 in the bloodless Raid on Manila, and carried off three Spanish gunboats. After some further cruising among the islands the Fox returned to India, where, on 18 June,

Malcolm was appointed by Rear-Admiral Rainier to be his flag captain in the Suffolk, and afterwards in the Victorious. He continued to serve in this capacity during the war. On her homeward passage, in 1803, the Victorious proved exceedingly leaky, and, meeting with heavy weather in the North Atlantic, was with difficulty kept afloat till she reached the Tagus, where she was run ashore and broken up. Malcolm, with the officers and crew, returned to England in two vessels which he chartered at Lisbon.

1804–1805, Battle of Trafalgar.

In February 1804 Malcolm went out to the Mediterranean in the Royal Sovereign, in which, on her arrival, Sir Richard Bickerton hoisted his flag, and Malcolm was appointed to the Kent, then with Nelson blockading Toulon. He was, however, almost immediately sent to Naples, where, or in the neighbourhood, he remained during the year. His transfer to the Renown in July did not change his station. It was not till the beginning of 1805 that he was permitted to rejoin the flag, and to exchange into the Donegal, in time to take part in the celebrated pursuit of the French fleet to the West Indies. On the return of the fleet to the Channel, the Donegal, with others, was sent to reinforce Collingwood off Cadiz, and was still there when Nelson resumed the command on 28 September.
On 17 October Donegal was sent to Gibraltar for water and a hurried refit. On the 20th Malcolm learnt that the combined fleet was coming out of Cadiz. His ship was then in the Mole, nearly dismantled; but by the greatest exertions he got her out that night, and on the 22nd she sailed from Gibraltar with her foreyard towing alongside. It was blowing a gale from the westward, but she succeeded in getting through the Straits, and on the morning of the 24th rejoined the fleet, too late for the battle of Trafalgar, fought on the 21st, but in time to render most valuable assistance to the disabled ships and more disabled prizes. She captured the Rayo, which had made a sally from Cadiz on the 23rd; and in the night of the 24th, when some of the prisoners on board the French ship Berwick cut the cable and let her go on shore, on which she almost immediately broke up, the Donegal's boats succeeded in saving a considerable number of her men. She afterwards took charge of the Spanish prize Bahama, and brought her to Gibraltar. Writing to Sir Thomas Pasley on 16 December Collingwood said: "Everybody was sorry Malcolm was not there at Trafalgar, because everybody knows his spirit, and his skill would have acquired him honour. He got out of the Gut when nobody else could, and was of infinite service to us after the action."

1806–1816, Captain to Rear-admiral.

The Donegal continued off to cruise off Cadiz till the close of the year, when she sailed for the West Indies with Sir John Duckworth, and took an important part in the battle of San Domingo, 6 February 1806. Malcolm was afterwards sent home in charge of the prizes, and in a very heavy gale rescued the crew of the Brave as she was on the point of foundering. He received the gold medal for St. Domingo, and was presented by the Patriotic Fund with a vase valued at a hundred guineas. In 1808 he was engaged in convoying troops to the Peninsula, and in 1809, still in the Donegal, was attached to the Channel Fleet, then commanded by Lord Gambier, and took part in the battle of the Basque Roads. In the summer of 1809 he was called as a witness at the Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier which assessed whether Gambier had failed to support Captain Lord Cochrane at the battle. Gambier was controversially cleared of all charges.
In November 1810 Malcolm led 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.
The Donegal was paid off in 1811, and Malcolm was appointed to the Royal Oak, which he commanded off Cherbourg till March 1812, when he accepted the post of captain of the fleet to Lord Keith, his uncle by marriage. He was promoted to be rear-admiral on 4 December 1813, but remained with Keith till June 1814, when, with his flag in the Royal Oak, he convoyed a detachment of the army from Bordeaux to North America, and served during the war with the United States as third in command under Sir Alexander Cochrane and Rear-admiral (afterwards Sir) George Cockburn. On 2 January 1815 he was nominated a K.C.B., and during "The Hundred Days' War" commanded a squadron in the North Sea, in co-operation with the army under the Duke of Wellington.

1816–1838, Commander-in-chief.

In 1816–17 he was Commander-in-chief on the Saint Helena station, specially appointed to enforce a rigid blockade of the island and to keep a close guard on Napoleon Bonaparte. He was advanced to vice-admiral on 19 July 1821, and Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet from 1828 to 1831. In 1832 he commanded on the coast of Holland, with the fleets of France and Spain under his orders; and in 1833–4 was again commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean. He was nominated a G.C.M.G. on 21 January 1829, and a G.C.B. on 26 April 1833.
In the final years of his life, he became Chairman of the Oriental Club which had been founded by his brother General Sir John Malcolm.
He attained the rank of Admiral of the Blue in 1837. He died at East Lodge, Enfield, London, on 20 July 1838.

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Captain George Burlton.



Burlton was commissioned as a Lieutenant on 15 September 1777 and in 1783 was in command of HMS Camel, 24. He was made Commander on 5 July 1794.

In March 1795 he was acting captain of the 32-gun frigate Lively when she captured the French corvette Tourtourelle, and he was promoted to post captain on 16 March that year into the 74-gun HMS Vengeance. Towards the end of 1796 he travelled to Cape Town. There in November he received command of the Dutch frigate Castor, which the British had captured at the capitulation of Saldanha Bay and renamed HMS Saldanha. Burlton sailed her to Britain where she was paid off.

Subsequent commands included Success, 32; Adamant, 50; and Resolution, 74, the last of which he commanded at the Battle of the Basque Roads in April 1809. In the summer of 1809 he was called as a witness at the Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier which assessed whether Admiral Lord Gambier had failed to support Captain Lord Cochrane at the battle. Gambier was controversially cleared of all charges.

In 1812 Burlton was captain of the 110-gun HMS Ville de Paris and in March 1813 he was given command of HMS Boyne, 98. On 4 December 1813 he was made a Colonel of Marines.

On 13 February 1814 Boyne engaged the French ship-of-the-line Romulus, for which Burlton was commended by Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew. On 4 June 1814 Burlton was raised to flag rank as a Rear-Admiral of the White and on 2 January 1815 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

On 24 December 1814 Sir Samuel Hood died. He had been Commander-in-Chief on the East Indies Station and when the vacancy became known in England Sir George Burlton was appointed to succeed him. He hoisted his flag in HMS Cornwallis, Captain John Bayley, on 10 January 1815. On the voyage out the American sloops-of-war USS Peacock and USS Hornet mistook the 74-gun Cornwallis for a merchant ship. Cornwallis pursued Hornet between 28 and 30 April without success, though Hornet was obliged to jettison all her guns and arms in order to escape.

Burlton took over the East Indies command from acting-Commodore George Sayer in June 1815, but died at Madras on 21 September. Sayer resumed command until the arrival of Sir Richard King in 1816.

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Captain John de la Poer Beresford.



Beresford was an illegitimate son of George Beresford, 1st Marquess of Waterford, and the brother of William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford. Born in 1766, he joined the Royal Navy in 1782.
In the summer of 1809 he was called as a witness at the Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier which assessed whether Admiral Lord Gambier had failed to support Captain Lord Cochrane at the Battle of Basque Roads in April 1809. Gambier was controversially cleared of all charges.

During the War of 1812, he served as captain of HMS Poictiers, during which time he ineffectually bombarded the town of Lewes in Delaware. More importantly, Poictiers participated in an action where, four hours after USS Wasp, commanded by Jacob Jones, captured HMS Frolic, Capt Beresford captured Wasp and recaptured Frolic, and brought both to Bermuda. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief, The Nore in 1830.

He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Coleraine (1809–1812 and 1814–1823), Berwick-upon-Tweed 1823–1826, Northallerton (1826–1832), and Chatham 1835–1837.

Beresford was knighted in 1812, and made a baronet in 1814, of Bagnall in the County of Waterford .

He died Died on the 2nd of October 1844 aged 78.

[Bligh]

Captain John Bligh.





John Bligh CB (August 1770 – 19 January 1831) was an officer in the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Bligh was born into a naval family and served on a variety of ships from a young age, moving up through the ranks to lieutenant prior to the outbreak of the wars with France. He was in the East Indies when war broke out, but returning to Britain he saw action in the Mediterranean during the early attacks on Corsica, the Siege of Toulon and the Battle of Cape St Vincent. Promoted to his own commands in 1797, he was the victim of a mutiny on his ship, when his crew joined the larger mutinies at Spithead, and was sent ashore. He returned after it had ended and went on to serve at Newfoundland, before beginning a long period of distinguished service in the Caribbean.

He was active in the Blockade of Saint-Domingue after the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, and arranged the surrender and evacuation of several French-held positions. He then took charge of an expedition to Curaçao, but withdrew his forces in the face of heavy opposition. His final actions there involved several successes against enemy privateers and merchant shipping.

Returning to Britain in 1806, Bligh went out with the fleet to the Baltic and was present at the Battle of Copenhagen. He then sailed to the Portuguese coast, where he was active landing troops and supporting the army's operations there. He was involved in the Battle of the Basque Roads in 1809, directing efforts to destroy several grounded French ships. While cruising off Belle Île in 1810 he had the good fortune to intercept a French vessel carrying the wealth of the merchants of Île de France back to France.

Suddenly wealthy from the prize money and in weakening health after his long service in the tropics, Bligh retired ashore. He settled on the south coast, receiving an appointment as a Companion of the Bath, and a promotion to rear-admiral before his death in 1831.

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Captain William Robert Broughton.



William Robert Broughton was born on 22 March 1762. His father, Charles Broughton, was a Hamburg merchant and his mother, Anne Elizabeth, was the daughter of Baron William de Hertoghe.

Early career.

Broughton's name was added to the muster of the yacht Catherine on 1 May 1774, as captain's servant but Broughton first went to sea on 18 November when he joined the 10-gun brig-sloop, Falcon which sailed for North America, under the command of Captain John Linzee.

On 14 February 1777, Broughton, by then a midshipman, transferred to Harlem under Lieutenant John Knight. He was appointed to the 64-gun Eagle on 1 July 1778, then in December he joined the seventy-four, Superb as a Master's mate and began service in the East Indies. On 12 January 1782, Broughton was promoted to Lieutenant aboard the 68-gun Burford commanded by Captain Peter Rainier. When Burford paid off on 19 July 1784, Broughton went ashore and did not serve again for almost four years.
Broughton resumed his career on 23 June 1788, aboard the 18-gun sloop, Orestes, under Manley Dixon, serving in The Channel and later, the Mediterranean. On 13 May 1790, he moved to HMS Victory and renewed his acquaintance with John Knight, her captain. Broughton's first command came on 18 December when he was given command of the brig, Chatham and asked to accompany George Vancouver in his exploration of the north-west Pacific.

Vancouver Expedition.

En route to the Pacific Northwest the expedition spent some time exploring the South Pacific and whilst sailing separately from Vancouver, in November 1791, Broughton and his crew became the first Europeans to sight both The Snares and the Chatham Islands on the 23rd and 29th respectively. The former group contains an island that still bears Broughton's name.

Sometime after their arrival in North America, in 1792, Broughton was given the task of charting a group of islands in the Queen Charlotte Sound. In his honour, Vancouver named them the Broughton Archipelago.^] In October, Broughton was ordered to explore the lower stretches of the Columbia River, between present-day Oregon and Washington. With several boats from his ship, Broughton and his party navigated upstream as far as the Columbia River Gorge and on 30 October, he reached his farthest point, landing in eastern Multnomah County east of Portland and northwest of Mount Hood, which he named for Viscount Samuel Hood, Admiral of the British Fleet. Late in 1792, Vancouver, stymied by conflicting instructions over Nootka Sound, sent Broughton back to England via Mexico and the Atlantic, bearing dispatches and requesting instructions.

Exploring Japan and Sakhalin.

On 3 October 1793, Broughton was promoted to commander and given command of HMS Providence, a ship formerly commanded by Captain William Bligh. The fitting out caused a long delay and the ship didn't sail until February 1795 and when Broughton finally returned to north-west America, he was unable to locate Vancouver. Correctly determining that Vancouver had returned to England having completed his survey, Broughton crossed the Pacific and began a four-year survey of the Asian coast between the latitudes of 35 and 52 degrees north, which would include, the Kurile Islands, Japan, Okinawa, and Formosa.

From September 1796 Broughton charted the east coast of Honshu and Hokkaidō before wintering at Macau where he purchased a small schooner to assist the Providence. Next year he returned to Japan where the Providence was wrecked on what was to become known as Providence Reef, now Yae Bishi, at Miyako Island. The schooner saved the crew of the wrecked ship and they continued north along the east coast of Honshu. Passing Hokkaido, the expedition sailed north into the Gulf of Tartary along the west coast of Sakhalin. Finding extensive shallows at the north end of the gulf it was falsely concluded that Sakhalin was part of the mainland (a common mistake). Broughton turned south along the coast of Korea and then headed home by way of Trincomalee, Ceylon, where the crew was paid off and he was court-martialled for the loss of his ship. Having been acquitted, he reached England in February 1799 and shortly after began to write his book, "A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean."

Later career.

Having been kept from the greater part of the French Revolutionary War by his book, Broughton resumed his active naval career on 23 June 1801, when he was given command of the 50-gun Batavier in The Channel. He served aboard her until the Peace of Amiens was ratified, in April 1802. In May, Broughton was given command of the 36-gun Penelope, serving in the North Sea, an appointment that lasted until two days before his next command, the seventy-four, Illustrious, on 30 May 1807. In her, Broughton continued service, seeing action at the Battle of the Basque Roads. After the battle, Lord Cochrane proclaimed that Admiral Gambier had not done enough to destroy the French fleet and Gambier demanded a court martial at which he was acquitted, despite Broughton speaking out against him.

In November 1810, Broughton, still in command of Illustrious, took part in the Mauritius Campaign, joining a fleet off the island of Rodriquez, under Vice-admiral Albermarle Bertie. On 29 November, this fleet landed around 10,000 troops at Grande-Baie, north-east of Port-Louis, on the Isle de France which capitulated five days later on 3 December. In 1811, Broughton took part in the Java Expedition. He was initially given command of the expedition by Admiral O'Bryen Drury the then Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies but he was relieved of his post after Drury's death by Admiral Robert Stopford, who had arrived from the Cape. This angered Broughton, who felt that Stopford had exceeded his authority, and who applied for a court-martial, which was ultimately rejected. The mission however was a success, the British having complete control of the island by 18 September 1811.

Broughton resigned his commission on 23 October 1812 but was recalled on 31 May 1815 to serve in the channel as commander of the 100-gun Royal Sovereign. In August 1815 he transferred to Spencer, a seventy-four, serving as a guardship at Plymouth. On 4 June 1815, Broughton was made a Companion of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath and promoted to Colonel of the Marines on 12 March 1819.

Death.
Broughton died in Florence, Italy in 1821, and was buried in the Old English Cemetery, Livorno.

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Captain Stair Douglas.



Early Life.

Born on the 27th of October 1764, the Son of Charles James Sholto Douglas and Basilia Dawes (daughter of James Dawes of Rockspring, Jamaica), he was a grandson of the late Sir John Douglas, of Kilhead, Bart. I am unable to give any further account of his services other than that he served as a Midshipman during the American war, with his uncle, the late Captain Stair Douglas. Captain Stair Douglas who commanded the Prince William of 64 guns, in the action between Sir Samuel Hood and the Count de Grasse, off Martinique, April 29, 1781.

Promotion.

He received his first commission as a Lieutenant from Lord Rodney; was promoted to the rank of Commander in the Scorpion sloop of war, on the Jamaica station, in 1795, and became a Post-Captain, Sept. 13, 1797. He was given the command of the Nymphe frigate, in 1800.

In July 1802 he married Anne, daughter of John Payne, of Stubington House, co. Hants, Esq.

His next command was the Bellona, of 74 guns, forming part of Lord Gambier’s fleet on the memorable 11th of April, 1809 at the Battle of the Basque Roads.

His promotion to the rank of Rear-Admiral took place July 19, 1821.

His main Residence.was at Ashling, near Chichester.

He died on the 22nd of November 1826.

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Captain Alexander Robert Kerr.




He was a Royal Navy officer of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century who is best known for his service captain of the ship of the line HMS Revenge at the Battle of Basque Roads in 1809 and his subsequent involvement in the court-martial of Admiral Lord Gambier which followed. He had earlier in his career fought and been badly wounded at the Action of 31 July 1793 off the coast of New Jersey.

Early Life.

Kerr was born in 1770, the son of Robert Kerr, a Royal Navy lieutenant. In 1781 was joined the navy himself as midshipman on board the frigate HMS Endymion, commanded by Captain James Gambier and from there served in a number of other vessels, including a period on HMS Boreas under Captain Horatio Nelson. In 1790 he was promoted to lieutenant and joined first HMS Narcissus and then the frigate HMS Boston under Captain George Courtenay.

French Revolutionary War.

Boston was assigned to the American Station at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars and on 31 July 1793 challenged the French frigate Embuscade, then anchored in New York City to combat. Captain Jean-Baptiste-François Bompart obliged, and the frigates battled for several hours off the coast of Navesink, New Jersey. In the engagement Boston took severe damage and Courtenay was killed. Kerr himself was badly wounded, struck in the shoulder by grape-shot and blinded in one eye by flying splinters. The surviving British officers managed with extract Boston from the action before the damage became fatal, and later withdrew to St John's, Newfoundland.

Promotion to Captain.

After his recovery, Kerr served in HMS Repulse and HMS Clyde, fighting in the latter at the Action of 20 August 1799, for which he was commended by Captain Charles Cunningham. In 1802 at the start of the Napoleonic Wars he was promoted to commander and served in HMS Diligence and HMS Combatant at the blockade of Boulogne. In 1806 he was promoted to captain and from 1808 took a series of temporary commissions as commander of the ships of the line HMS Tigre, HMS Valiant and HMS Revenge in the Channel Fleet, then commanded by his old captain, now Lord Gambier.

In April 1809, Revenge was heavily engaged at the Battle of Basque Roads, in which a French fleet was driven ashore at the mouth of the Charente River and partially destroyed. The engagement was particularly notable for a bitter dispute which subsequently arose between Gambier and the commander of the inshore squadron, Captain Lord Cochrane, after the latter publicly accused the former of incompetence in his conduct during the battle. Kerr was called as a witness for the defence during Gambier's ensuing court-martial, at which the admiral was acquitted.

Kerr then took command of HMS Ganymede, HMS Unicorn and then HMS Esperance, engaged in anti-privateer patrols and convoying of East India cargo. In 1811 he assumed command of his last ship, HMS Acasta, operating against American privateers in the War of 1812 until the peace in 1815, when he retired from active service.

He was initiated as a Companion of the Order of the Bath in appreciation for his service, and died at Stonehouse, Plymouth in 1831, survived by his wife Charlotte and seven children.

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The French fleet.

Officers killed in action are marked with a † symbol. Note that as obusiers were not traditionally taken into consideration when calculating a ship's rate, these ships may have been carrying more guns than indicated below.

• Ships in this colour were destroyed before the Battle of the Basque Roads
• Ships in this colour were destroyed during the Battle of the Basque Roads

Allemand's fleet.
Ship	Rate	Guns	Commander	Casualties			Notes
Killed	Wounded	Total
Océan	First rate	120	Contre-amiral Zacharie Allemand Captain Pierre-Nicolas Rolland	c. 50	-	c. 50	Brest Fleet. c. 50 sailors killed fending off fireships on 11 April. Grounded and badly damaged. Reached safety on 15 April.
Foudroyant	Third rate	80	Contre-amiral Antoine Louis de Gourdon Captain Antoine Henri	0	0	0	Brest Fleet. Grounded 12 April. Badly damaged but reached safety on 16 April.
Ville de Varsovie	Third rate	80	Captain Cuvillier	c. 100			Brest Fleet. Driven ashore and badly damaged on 11 April. Captured and later destroyed by British prize crew.
Tourville	Third rate	74	Captain Charles Nicolas Lacaille	0	0	0	Brest Fleet. Grounded and badly damaged. Reached safety on 16 April. Lacaille later court-martialed and dismissed.
Jean-Bart	Third rate	74	Captain Charles Lebozec	-	-	-	Brest Fleet. Drove ashore accidentally on 26 February at Île Madame and became a total wreck.
Tonnerre	Third rate	74	Captain Nicolas Clément de la Roncière	0	0	0	Brest Fleet. Driven ashore and wrecked on 11 April. Burned by own crew.
Aquilon	Third rate	74	Captain Jacques-Remy Maingon †	1	0	1	Brest Fleet. Driven ashore and badly damaged on 11 April. Captured and later destroyed by British prize crew. Captain killed by stray shot after surrender.
Régulus	Third rate	74	Captain Jean Jacques Etienne Lucas	0	0	0	Brest Fleet. Grounded and badly damaged. Reached safety on 29 April.
Cassard	Third rate	74	Captain Gilbert-Amable Faure	5	15	20	Rochefort squadron. Grounded 12 April. Reached safety on 13 April.
Jemmappes	Third rate	74	Captain Joseph Favreau	0	0	0	Rochefort squadron. Grounded 11 April. Reached safety on 12 April.
Patriote	Third rate	74	Captain Jean-Michel Mahé	0	0	0	Rochefort squadron. Grounded 11 April. Reached safety on 12 April.
Calcutta	Fourth rate	50	Captain Jean-Baptiste Lafon	0	12	12	Rochefort squadron. Armed en flute. Driven ashore and badly damaged on 11 April. Captured and destroyed by British prize crew. Lafon later court-martialed and shot for cowardice.
Indienne	Frigate	40	Captain Guillaume Marcellin Proteau	0	0	0	Brest Fleet. Driven ashore and badly damaged on 11 April. Destroyed by own crew on 16 April.
Elbe	Frigate	40	Captain Jacques François Bellenger	0	0	0	Brest Fleet. Grounded 11 April. Reached safety on 12 April.
Pallas	Frigate	40	Captain Armand François Le Bigot	0	0	0	Rochefort squadron. Grounded 11 April. Reached safety on 12 April.
Hortense	Frigate	40	Captain Emmanuel Halgan	0	0	0	Rochefort squadron. Grounded 11 April. Reached safety on 12 April.
Nisus	Brig			-	-	-	Brest Fleet.
Total casualties: 150-200 casualties
Sources: James, pp. 94–129; Clowes, pp. 252–257; "No. 16248". The London Gazette. 21 April 1809. p. 538.

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Contre-amiral Zacharie Allemand.




Allemand was born to a captain of the East Indian Company. Orphaned at an early age, he started his sailing career at 12 as an apprentice on Superbe, an East Indiaman. In 1778, at the outbreak of the American War of Independence, he volunteered for Navy service of Sévère, in Suffren's squadron. By the end of the war, Allemand had risen to lieutenant de frégate and served on Annibal. He later went on to serve on the fluyts Baleine and Outarde in the Indian Ocean.

In late 1786, Allemand returned to France to benefit from a reform of the Navy by which he could obtain a permanent commission of sous-lieutenant de vaisseau for his service. In this capacity, he served on a number of frigates in the Caribbean and off America.

French Revolution and First Empire.

Allemand was promoted to full lieutenant in 1792, and had risen to captain by the outbreak of the War of the First Coalition in 1793. He was given command of a light squadron, with his flag on the frigate Carmagnole. Engaging in commerce raiding, he also captured the frigate Thames, helpless after her fight against Uranie the previous day, making the first capture of a Royal Navy ship of the war and thus being heralded as a hero by the National Convention.

In 1794, Allemand was given command of the 74-gun Duquesne and carried out raids against British commerce outposts in Sierra Leone and Guinea, capturing 21 merchantmen.

After returning to the Mediterranean, Allemand was incorporated in Admiral Martin's squadron. Martin and Allemand disliked each other, and their relations soured to the point where Allemand was nearly relieved of duty for insubordination after the battle of Cape Noli.

Promoted to chef de division (rear admiral), Allemand took command of a division in Richery's squadron. He was sent with two ships of the line and one frigate to raid British outposts in Labrador, and on his way back captured a convoy worth 80 million francs, making 1,800 prisoners including the Governor General of Canada, his family, and a number of officers, returning to Brest in November 1796. Upon his arrival, Allemand was relieved of duty for "brutality towards his crews" and "rudeness towards his passengers".

Reinstated, Allemand took command of the 74-gun Tyrannicide and took part in the Cruise of Bruix. On 11 July 1799, Bruix was replaced by Latouche Tréville, who again relieved Allemand from duty for "rudeness" in 1800. The next year, Allemand commanded the Aigle.

After serving in office duties in 1802, Allemand received command of the Magnanime, in Admiral Missiessy's squadron, on which he departed on 11 January 1805 for the Saint-Domingue expedition. Upon the return of the squadron to Rochefort, Missiessy was disgraced and fell ill, giving effective command to Allemand.

On 22 June, Allemand was officially made chief of the squadron, and tasked with a diversion manoeuver that would bring him to rejoin Villeneuve's squadron in Ferrol: Allemand's expedition of 1805 was a vast commerce raid that led to the capture of over a hundred merchantmen and of the 64-gun HMS Calcutta. Allemand eluded the three squadrons sent to chase him, earning his division the nickname of "invisible squadron".

This success earned Allemand the consideration of Napoleon, in spite of severe notations from Decrès criticising his character. He was promoted to Rear Admiral on 1 January 1806.

In 1809, Allemand was vice-admiral and commanded the squadrons of Brest and Rochefort. His insufficient defensive dispositions allowed the British to launch a fireship attack on his squadron at anchor, starting the Battle of the Basque Roads. Allemand reacted to the attack merely by giving his captains their liberty of manoeuver and concentrating on the safety of his own ship, the 120-gun Océan, which sailed to the haven of the Charente River after throwing part of her artillery overboard. The resulting loss of four ships and two frigates was blamed on captains, four of whom were court-martialed with one relieved of duty and one executed by firing squad, but Allemand's role was never questioned, much to the outrage of the officers. Allemand was quickly transferred to the command of the Mediterranean fleet to prevent possibility of his hearing by the court of Rochefort.
On 15 August 1810, he was made a Count of the Empire.

In Toulon, Allemand commanded a squadron that remained at anchor until the end of the Empire. He engaged in a number of rows, fights and even brawls with his officers, and having very bad relations with the maritime prefect Emeriau.
In 1812, Allemand succeeded in bringing several warships from Lorient where they were trapped to Brest in order to form a larger French fleet.

In 1813, Allemand was made aid to Missiessy in Flessingue, but violently refused the office, arguing that he could now serve only as chief commander. This last outburst led to his disgrace and he was forcibly retired.

Restoration.

Allemand attempted to return to Navy service during the Bourbon Restoration, but to no avail. In May 1814, he was made a member of the Académie des Sciences, which he presided from August. In June, he was made a Knight of the Order of Saint Louis.
During the Hundred Days, in March 1815, Allemand offered his services to Napoleon, but Decrès refused to reinstate him. Allemand was the only general officer to be thus rebuked.

In the following years, Allemand devoted his efforts to Freemasonry, creating an ephemeral dissident Order named "Suprême Conseil du Prado", of which he proclaimed himself "Souverain Grand Commandeur"

Allemand died in Toulon on 2 March 1826.

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Captain Pierre-Nicolas Rolland.




Born on the 29 April 1761 at Dieppe Roland was a French admiral noted for his participation at the battles of Cape Finisterre in 1805 and the Basque Roads in 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars.

life.

Rolland joined the French Navy at a young age, participating in the American War of Independence, on board Sibylle in 1778 in the squadron of Louis Guillouet d'Orvilliers, the Amphion in 1779, in the squadron of d'Estaing, the Amphitrite between 1779 and 1781, and the Emeraude in 1782, in which he was wounded at the Battle of the Saintes.

An auxiliary officer in 1782, as a lieutenant, Rolland was promoted captain en 1796 and was in command of 74-gun ship of the line Atlas with Villeneuve's fleet in 1805, fighting at the Battle of Cape Finisterre in which he was badly wounded. In 1809 he was flag captain to Zacharie Allemand on Océan during the Battle of Basque Roads, in which his ship was badly damaged and nearly destroyed.

Rolland was promoted Contre-amiral in 1814, after being distinguished by his command of Romulus at the Action of 13 February 1814 off Toulon, under the orders of Julien Marie Cosmao-Kerjulien.

He was honoured as a commander of the Legion d'Honneur and made a Baron de l'Empire.

He died on the 9th of November 1825.

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Contre-amiral Antoine Louis de Gourdon.



He saw his first campaign in the frigate Aimable, taking part in the capture of Demerara. Unlike many officers he did not join the French Royalist cause, and was dismissed in 1793. Later restored to the Navy, he served with the Saint-Domingue expedition, commanding the naval division at Port-de-Paix.

He later took part, in April 1809, at the Battle of Basque Roads, on board Foudroyant. In 1811 he took command of the French squadron based in the Scheldt, defending the river from British attack during the Siege of Antwerp in 1814.

After the fall of Emperor Napoleon, he joined the Bourbon Restoration. From 1815, he successfully commanded the fleet at Rochefort, and that at Brest between 1816 and 1826. In 1822, he was promoted to vice-amiral and became a member of the conseil d'Amirauté. In 1829, he became directeur général of the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine, the French naval cartography department.

He was made a Chevalier (February 1804), Officier (June 1804), Commandeur (July 1814) and Grand Officier (August 1820) of the national order of the Légion d’honneur as well as a Chevalier (July 1814), Commandeur (May 1816) and Grand Croix (August 1824) of the Ordre de Saint-Louis.

He died on 28 June 1833 and was buried in the 39th division of the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in Paris.

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Captain Charles-Nicolas Lacaille.





Born: 3 April 1754.
Entered naval service either commercial or military position:1776
Captain de vaisseau 2nd class: 29 January 1794.
1795 L'Heureux (74), as Commanding Officer.

1795/03/14. Action off Genoa.
Captain de vaisseau 1st class: 19 June 1796
Captain de de vaisseau 2nd class: 23 September 1800
Member of the Legion d’Honneur: 5 February 1804
Officer of the Legion d’Honneur:14 June 1804.

1809/04/11. Action of Aix Roads.

Wounds received while in the service of France: None.

Died: 14 August 1817.

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Captain Charles-Helene Le Bozec.

Born: 25 January 1758
Entered naval service either commercial or military position: 1777
Captain de vaisseau 3rd class: 15 August 1795
Captain de vaisseau 2nd class: 21 March 1796
Captain de de vaisseau 1st class: 1 January 1809
Officer of the Legion d’Honneur: 14 June 1804
Wounds recieved while in the service of France: None
Died: 12 February 1837

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Captain Nicolas Clément de la Roncière.



Born: 19 July 1753.
Entered naval service either commercial or military position: 1772.
Captain de fregate: 21 March 1796.
Captain de vaisseau 2nd class: 22 September 1796.
Member of the Legion d’Honneur: 5 February 1804.
Officer of the Legion d’Honneur: 14 June 1804.
1809/04/11. Action of Aix Roads.
Wounds received while in the service of France: 1795.
Died: 10 March 1815.

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Captain Jacques-Remy Maingon.





Born: 18 March 1765.
Entered naval service either commercial or military position: 1782.
Captain de fregate: 9 November 1798.
Captain de vaisseau 2nd class: 24 September 1804.
Officer of the Legion d’Honneur: 14 June 1804.
Wounds received while in the service of France: None.
Died: 13 April 1809 (Killed in action) at the Battle of the Aix Roads.

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Captain Jean Jacques Etienne Lucas.



Born in Marennes, he joined the French Navy at the age of 14. From 1779 to 1782 he sailed on the Hermione. During this period, he fought at the battle off Cape Breton (21 July 1781), part of the American Revolutionary War.

The Battle of Trafalgar.

He is primarily remembered for his role in the Battle of Trafalgar. By 1805, Lucas was a capitaine de vaisseau, the French title for captain. He commanded the French ship of the line Redoutable.

On 21 October 1805, at Trafalgar, Redoutable was located just off the port side of the Bucentaure, flagship of Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve. As a result of this positioning, Lucas and his crew found themselves between the two columns of British ships commanded by Nelson and in the heat of battle from very early on in the conflict. They engaged HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship, and through use of heavy artillery they came astern of Victory and sought to board her.The battle aboard Victory was bloody, costing both sides many lives and ultimately resulting in stalemate. Admiral Nelson himself was mortally wounded by a musket shot fired from atop one of the masts of the Redoutable, but before the boarding was successful, HMS Temeraire intervened and opened fire on the starboard side of Redoutable, resulting in the deaths of over two hundred French sailors.

At 2:30 p.m., Redoutable surrendered to Temeraire after having lost 522 men out of their total 643. Of this number, 300 were killed and 222 were wounded. Lucas himself was injured, and the ship had suffered damage which had led to the hold taking on several feet of water. The masts had been broken and there was substantial damage to the rest of the ship, including the artillery.
HMS Swiftsure sent a party to take Lucas and two other officers off the ship into captivity the following morning. Redoutable, however, was still taking on water, and despite the efforts of rescue boats sent over the course of the day, only 119 crewmen were saved before the ship sank with the dead and wounded still on board.
Lucas was received in England with great courtesy.

After his release from capture, he was personally awarded the rank of Commandeur of the Legion of Honour by Napoleon for his role during the battle.

Battle of the Basque Roads.

In 1809, he was in command of Régulus, a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line part of admiral Zacharie Allemand's squadron. The French squadron was at first blockaded, and then attacked on 11 April 1809 by a British fleet, near Île-d'Aix, in what would become known as the Battle of the Basque Roads.

After breaching the boom that defended the anchored French fleet, the British sent in fireships, Régulus being the first to be hit. The French ship cut its anchor cables and managed to escape from one of the fireships, after a half-hour struggle. Régulus ran aground and it was in danger of capsizing. Trying to save his ship, Lucas had to throw overboard most of his cannons, keeping only 16 of them, together with ammunition and supplies for one month. He managed to refloat his ship, but it ran aground a second time, on the shoals of Les Palles. On 13 April, several smaller British ships tried to destroy the grounded French vessel, as they had done to several others, but after a six-hour fight Lucas repelled them. On 20 April, the British tried again, only to be repulsed a second time. During the next fight, on 24 April, not being able to bear his guns on the enemy because of Régulus ' list, Lucas cut new portholes in the hull for six of his cannons and managed to drive away the British vessels after an 8½ hours fight.

After being grounded for two weeks, repelling four attacks, being bombarded and firing almost 1,400 cannon shots, Régulus was in a bad shape, but on the night of 25 April the British retreated after having destroyed four ships of the line, one frigate and severely damaged the other French ships.Four days later, on 29 April, Lucas managed to patch and refloat his ship, which entered Rochefort to the cheers of the population.

Later life and death.

During the Hundred Days, Lucas sided with Napoleon. After the second Restoration of the Bourbons, Lucas retired from the Navy, in 1816, and died on 6 November 1819, in Brest.

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Captain Gilbert-Amable Faure.



Born the son of Jean-Baptiste Faure, of Fournoux, and Marguerite Rochon, Faure-Conac volunteered for naval service in 1778, serving for three campaigns on Argus, the corvette Sylphide and the frigate Pourvoyeuse, and became sub-lieutenant under Admiral Suffren in the squadron sent to operate against British India during the American Revolutionary War.

He later became naval commander at Pontarion, and after the French Revolution the administrator for Creuse. On 7 September 1792 he was elected by plurality as the alternate deputy to represent Creuse at the National Convention. After the death of Jean-François Guyès, he took his seat on 25 frimaire an II (15 December 1793), where he was occupied exclusively with naval issues, voting to postpone the indictment against Minister of the Navy Jean de Lacoste. By the decree of 30 thermidor an II (17 August 1794), Faure-Conac was sent on a mission with Bernard Thomas Tréhouart to the ports of Brest and Lorient, for which the committee of inspectors allocated 6000 livres on (18 August 1794).

During this mission, they learned from the authorities of Bergen in Norway that French sailors had helped to extinguish a major fire in the city. On 20 frimaire an III (10 December 1794), with his colleague, Faure-Conac sent to the Committee of Public Safety, the 171 decrees made during their trip, which were then redistributed to other committees. Recalled by the degree of 2 ventôse an III (20 February 1795), he was replaced by Julien-François Palasne de Champeaux and Jean-Nicolas Topsent
At the Convention, he opposed the plan by Marie-Benoît-Louis Gouly regarding the reorganisation of naval artillery.
Elected by the same department for the Conseil des Cinq-Cents on 21 vendémiaire an IV (13 October 1795) by 151 votes from 218 voters, Faure-Conac was promoted to captain on 22 September 1796, as commander of the frigate Bravoure. On 8 ventôse an V (26 February 1797) he resigned his political position to serve in the Navy. Between 1799 and 1809, he commanded Indivisible, Bravoure, Constitution, and finally Cassard at the battle of the Basque Roads.

On 4 January 1811, he was named commandant of the École de marine de Brest,on board the school-ship Tourville until 1814.

He was made an honorary contre-amiral on 1 January 1816 and retired to Chénérailles.

He was made an officier of the Légion d'honneur and a chevalier de Saint-Louis.

He died on the 31st December 1812.

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Captain Joseph Fauveau.

Born: 3 December 1755
Entered naval service either commercial or military position: 1775
Captain de fregate: 16 June 1799
Captain de vaisseau 2nd class: 12 July 1808
Captain de Jemmappes 3rd class: Basque Roads 1809
Member of the Legion d’Honneur: 14 June 1804
Wounds received while in the service of France: None
Died: 26 January 1822

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Captain Jean-Michel Mahé.





Mahé started his career in the merchant Navy in 1789, and became an Midshipman in the Navy on 16 April 1794. He served on the fluyt Duras before embarking on Montagne, flagship of Villaret-Joyeuse on which he took part in the Glorious First of June.
From October 1794, he served on the frigate Fraternité, on which he took part in the Battle of Groix on 23 June 1795 under Lieutenant Florinville. He then served on the brig-aviso Impatient, the lugger Titus and the felucca Fort.
On 7 July 1797, he was promoted to Ensign and given command of the schooner Gentille, escorting convoys off Bretagne. He served twice on the corvette Réolaise, captained the gunboat Caroline in the summer of 1800, and returned on Impatient from October 1800 to January 1801.

In February, he embarked on the frigate Chiffone and took part in the capture of the Portuguese frigate Hirondelle on 16 May 1801. On 16 June, Chiffone captured the East Indiaman Bellona on her way from Bengal to London. Mahé was given command of the captured ship, and a prize crew took Bellona to Mauritius where she arrived a month later. Mahé then returned to France on the merchantman Aventure.

On his return, Mahé was given command of the aviso Vigie, and promoted to Lieutenant on 5 March 1803. On 9 November 1804, he was promoted to Commander and became first officer on Bucentaure in December 1804. On 23 February, he was given command of the frigate Hermione, on which he took part in the capture of HMS Cyane, the Battle of Cape Finisterre, in the Battle of Trafalgar and in Lamellerie's expedition. In late 1807, he took part in a division under Rear-Admiral Baudin, ferrying troops to Martinique, before decommissioning Hermione on 26 May 1808.

Mahé then served on Patriote as adjudant-commandant of the squadron before being promoted to Captain on 12 July 1808. He successively commanded Ville de Varsovie and Patriote in Rochefort. He took part in the Battle of the Basque Roads, where Patriote ran aground and Mahé ordered her artillery thrown overboard to refloat her; on the 12th, Patriote came under fire from the British squadron and Mahé sent his sick and his wounded ashore to prepare his crew for the evacuation of his ship, but she refloated in the night of the 13th and washed to safety under Fort Lupin.

Mahé then commanded Annibal in Toulon. On 18 November 1812, he took command of the 74-gun Borée, which he captained during the Action of 5 November 1813 and until she was decommissioned on 13 June 1814. He eventually retired on 1 January 1816.

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Captain Jean-Baptiste Lafon.





Born: 3 April 1760
Entered naval service either commercial or military position:1786
Captain de vaisseau 2nd class: 16 March 1795
Wounds received while in the service of France: None
At the Battle of the Basque Roads his ship the Calcutta was driven ashore and badly damaged on 11 April. Captured and destroyed by British prize crew. Lafon was later court-martialed and shot for cowardice on the deck of the Ocean at 4.pm.
Died: 9 September 1809 (Executed for deriliction of duty)

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Captain Guillaume Marcellin Proteau.




Proteau was born on the island of Groix in Morbihan in 1772 and joined the [{French Navy]] after the French Revolution in 1793. In December 1796 he served with the fleet which participated in the Expédition d'Irlande, a failed attempt to invade the Kingdom of Ireland with an army led by Lazare Hoche as Lieutenant on a ship named l’Aigle, and was made a prisoner at Bantry.

Proteau was named capitaine de frégate on 24 September 1799, and on 7 January 1801, he was given command of the frigate Indienne. He was promoted to capitaine de vaisseau on 24 September 1803 and remained in command of Indienne. He was made chevalier of the Légion d’honneur on 4 February 1804, and was advanced to officier of the order on 14 June 1804.

In February 1809, Indienne was with the fleet which sailed from Brest and became trapped in the Basque Roads. On 12 April 1809, the fleet was attacked by British fireships at the Battle of Basque Roads, and Indienne was driven ashore and later destroyed. Proteau faced a court-martial, and was condemned to three months house arrest for abandoning his ship too hastily.

On 19 June 1811, he was given command of the 17th squadron, but on 22 March 1812 he was sent to Russia, joining the garrison of Pillau. On 16 May 1813, he was made an adjudant commandant in the Grande Armée, and was promoted to général de brigade on 6 November 1813, commanding the grand quartier général of the Grande Armée.

After the Bourbon Restoration, he was made a chevalier de Saint-Louis on 21 August 1814, and in October 1814, he was sent by Louis XVIII, to Kœnigsberg in Prussia, to negotiate the return of French prisoners of war. He was promoted to commandeur de la Légion d’honneur on 27 December 1814.

During the Hundred Days, he was given command of the Hautes-Alpes department on 26 March 1815, and then took command at Cherbourg on 20 May 1815. Between 9 January 1816 and 1832, he commanded several departments.

Proteau was created a vicomte in 1823, by King Louis XVIII, and retired in 1834. He died on 21 September 1837, at Lorient. A barracks at Cherbourg is named after Proteau , accomodating the École des applications militaires de l'énergie atomique.

• This article is based on a translation of an article from the French Wikipedia.

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Captain Jacques Francois Bellenger.






Born: 7 January 1760
Entered naval service either commercial or military position: 1773
Captain de fregate: 24 September 1803

Captain of the fregate Elbe at the Battle of the Basque Roads
The ship grounded on the 11th April. Reached safety on 12th.
Captain de vaisseau 2nd class: 19 May 1811
Member of the Legion d’Honneur: 14 June 1804
Wounds recieved while in the service of France: 1780
Died: 5 May 1831

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Captain Armand François Le Bigot.







Born: 20 September 1770
Entered naval service either commercial or military position: 1787
Captain de fregate: 21 March 1796
Captain de vaisseau 2nd class: 24 September 1803
Captain de fregate Pallas at the battle of the Basque Roads. Grounded 11 April. Reached safety on 12 April.

Member of the Legion d’Honneur: 16 October 1803
Officer of the Legion d’Honneur: 14 June 1804

Wounds received while in the service of France: 1799, 1806
Died: 9 August 1820

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Captain Emmanuel Halgan.



Born to the family of a bailiff, Halgan joined the French Royal Navy aged 16. He then served as a lieutenant and first officer on merchantmen.

After rejoining the Navy, he served aboard the brig Curieux, captured by a British frigate in 1793. Halgan was taken prisoner. Upon his return to France, he served on the Terrible and on a number of other ships.
In 1798, Halgan received command of the brig Aréthuse. The next year, Aréthuse was dismasted and captured by a 74-gun, off Portugal.

In 1800, Halgan was tasked with commissioning the Clorinde, and then served as first officer on Clorinde as she was sent to Santo Domingo.

Upon his return to France, Halgan received command of the brig Épervier, with ensign Jérôme Bonaparte under his orders.
In Martinique, Halgan took command of the 20-gun Berceau. He sailed to France, and in 1803, sailed to the Indian Ocean to warn of the outbreak of the War of the Third Coalition. At Mauritius, he joined up with Linois' squadron, engaging in commerce raiding. He captured the 1500-ton Countess of Sutherland and, on 3 December, destroyed outposts at Pullo-Bay, along with Motard's Sémillante.
Sailing towards the Sea of China, Halgan persuaded Linois to sail through the Gaspar Strait, of which he had studied recent maps. The French squadron then met a 26-ship convoy of the Honourable East India Company, leading to the Battle of Pulo Aura.

Promoted to capitaine de frégate, Halgan was sent to France and received command of the frigate Cybèle, but was then ordered to embark on the Vétéran instead, under Prince Jérôme Bonaparte.

In 1809, Halgan captained the Heureuse during the Battle of the Basque Roads. Heureuse was amongst the survivors of the battle.
In December 1813, with three companies of sailors and a fraction of the crews of his ships, Halgan defended the fortress of Hellevoetsluis, in Holland, against the attacks of several thousands insurgents. The French-held fortresses were later ordered abandoned due to the advances of the Allies, and the Meuse flotilla was scuttled in Willemstad. Halgan retreated to Anvers. When Anvers was shelled, he defended the harbour and helped preserve the ships and the naval installations.

After the Bourbon Restauration, Helgan was given command of the Superbe, sailing to the Caribbean.

Halgan the supervised the naval divisions of the Levant and of America. In 1819, he was nominated director for personnel at the Ministry of the Navy. He later returned to Levant to command a squadron, before returning to his office at the Ministry in 1824 and serving at the Council of State.

From 1819 to 1830, he sited at the Chamber of Deputies. In 1830, he presided the Commission of Naval Signals.
In 1837, he was made general inspector of the Harbours of the Ocean, and a Peer of France.
After retiring on 24 June 1841, by then a vice-admiral, Halgan was promoted to Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour.