Sir Andrew Snape Douglas (8 October 1761 – 4 June 1797)
was a distinguished Scottish sea captain in the Royal Navy during the
American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars.
Andrew Snape Douglas held command of:
•HMS Roebuck
•HMS
Chatham
•HMS Alcide
•HMS Southampton
•HMS Goliath
•HMS
Phaeton
•HMS Queen Charlotte
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He took part in the battles:
•Siege of Charleston
•Glorious First of June
•Battle of Groix |
Andrew Snape Douglas was born in Edinburgh on 8 October 1761, the son of
Dr. William Douglas, a medical doctor of Springfield, and Lydia Hamond,
daughter of a London merchant and shipowner. William Douglas's death in
1770 led Andrew to sign on that year aboard his maternal uncle, Sir
Andrew Snape Hamond's ship, the 32-gun frigate HMS Arethusa. The two
sailed to North America, and after spending time along the coast,
Douglas moved to the West Indies. With the outbreak of the American War
of Independence in 1775 he returned to North America and rejoined his
uncle, now commanding the 44-gun HMS Roebuck. He received his commission
as a lieutenant on 23 April 1778, and was made master and commander on
16 February 1780. He was to have been appointed to the armed ship
Germain, but instead took command of a floating battery, and was present
at the Siege of Charleston. He was subsequently promoted to post-captain
on 15 May 1780 and appointed to the command of the captured American
frigate USS Providence. Instead he had in April 1780 become commander of
the Roebuck(1), then serving as the flagship of
Vice-Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot. He went on to capture the American ships
USS Confederacy on 14 April 1781 and Protector on 5 May. He was
succeeded in the command of the Roebuck by Captain John Orde in July
1781.
Douglas returned to England after the end of the war,
initially spending time at Chatham Dockyard studying naval architecture,
before going to sea again, mostly serving in the Mediterranean and the
English Channel. Douglas commanded the 74-gun third rate HMS Alcide from October 1787 during the period of
the Spanish Armament. He was in command of the 32-gun HMS Southampton,
which had been appointed the guard ship at Weymouth, when the town was
visited by King George III. Douglas conducted the King on his first
voyage aboard a warship, and on 13 September 1789 King George appointed
Douglas a knight bachelor. Also in 1789 Douglas and his uncle Snape
Hamond were members of the court for the court martial of the mutineers
of the Bounty. Douglas was then in command of the 74-gun HMS Goliath
from 1790.
The outbreak of the French
Revolutionary Wars in February 1793 led to Douglas being appointed to
command the 38-gun frigate HMS Phaeton(3). He went on to capture five enemy
vessels that year, and was involved in the capture of a French privateer
and her prize, the Spanish galleon St Jago. Lord Howe arranged for
Douglas to be commodore in charge of the fleet's frigates, occasionally
sending him on detached cruises. He moved aboard Howe's flagship, the
100-gun first rate HMS Queen Charlotte on 8 April 1794, apparently
through the auspices of both his uncle and the First Lord of the
Admiralty, John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham. Now serving as Howe's flag
captain Douglas fought at the Glorious First of June, sustaining a
severe wound to the head but refusing to leave the deck. He was
appointed a Colonel of Marines on 1 June 1795 and remained as captain of
the Queen Charlotte after Howe was succeeded by Lord Bridport. He
commanded his ship at the Battle of Groix in 1795, earning private
praise for his courage in leading his ship whilst heavily outnumbered,
but little public reward.
Douglas had married Anne Burgess on 14
November 1781 in British-occupied New York City. They had one son and
two daughters, Anne Hammond Douglas and Harriet Douglas. He had begun to
suffer increasing ill health, complaining of persistent headaches, which
eventually forced him to end his career at sea. He moved ashore but died
on 4 June 1797. A subsequent autopsy revealed brain tumours, a likely
result of his injury(4) at the Glorious First of June some years before.
An engraving of Douglas is in the collection of the British National
Portrait Gallery (see gallery above). There are several other images of Douglas; he appears
in several paintings by Mather Brown and in a portrait by modern
maritime artist Irwin Bevan. Douglas is primarily known today through
his letters to his uncle.
Memorial in Church, Fulham, London,
England
'Within this vault are deposited the Remains of Sir Andrew
Snape Douglas, Knight, Late captain of His Majesty's Ship Queen
Charlotte, And Colonel of Marines, who was born the 8th Day of August
1761 and died on the 14th day of June 1797. Of a life so short in
Duration but full of public usefulness and glory seventeen years were
spent in the station of a captain in the British Navy. Among various
most essential services which signalized his zeal and abilities in his
profession His valour and conduct on the first of June 1794 and the 23
June 1795: Two of the proudest days which the Naval History of Britain
has to record, were equally conspicuous and important. His ardour and
Bravery as an officer were tempered by those gentler virtues Mildness,
Affection, Benevolence and Piety which distinguished his character as a
man: His memory will long be cherished amidst the afflection and tender
regrets of his family and friends. It will live in the gratitude and
applause of his country'.
| Family |
Anne
Burgess |
| Children |
- 1.Anne Hammond
Douglas+ d. 1844
|
| |
2. Harriet Douglas, abt 1786-1860 |
| |
3. Andrew Snape Douglas |
Anne, the eldest daughter, married Sir George
Bowyer, 6th Bt.,
son of Admiral Sir
George Bowyer,
5th Bt. and Henrietta
Brett, on 19 November 1808. She died in
1844.
Andrew Snape, the younger, was a
diplomat.
Notes:
1. The
Roebuck was ordered home in July 1781, but Douglas remained in American
waters, having been given command of the 54-gun HMS Chatham. He was
employed in a senior position in Admiral Thomas Graves's fleet owing to
his extensive knowledge of the American coasts. He was subsequently
given command of a squadron of frigates and went on to enjoy
considerable success in a number of cruises. Among his captures was the
32-gun French frigate Magicienne on 2 July 1781, an action that thwarted
a planned French assault on British ships in the St John River.
2. In December 1792 Phaeton was
commissioned under Sir Andrew Snape Douglas. In March 1793 Phaeton
captured the 4-gun privateer lugger Aimable Liberté.
Then on 14 April
Phaeton sighted the French privateer Général Dumourier (or Général Du
Mourier), of twenty-two 6-pounder guns and 196 men, and her Spanish
prize, the St Jago, 140 leagues to the west of Cape Finisterre. Phaeton
was part of Admiral John Gell's squadron and the entire squadron set off
in pursuit, but it was Phaeton that made the actual capture.
The St
Jago had been sailing from Lima to Spain when the General Dumourier
captured her on 11 April. In trying to fend off the General Dumourier,
St Jago fought for five hours, losing 10 men killed and 37 wounded,
before she struck. She also suffered extensive damage to her upper
works. St Jago 's cargo, which had taken two years to collect, was the
richest ever trusted on board a single ship. Early estimates put the
value of the cargo as some ₤1.2 and £1.3 million. The most valuable
portion of the cargo was a large number of gold bars that had a thin
covering of pewter and that were listed on the manifest as "fine
pewter". The General Dumourier had taken on board 680 cases, each
containing 3000 dollars, plus several packages worth two to three
thousand pounds.
The ships that conveyed St Jago to Portsmouth were
St George, Egmont, Edgar, Ganges and Phaeton. The money came over London
Bridge in 21 wagons, escorted by a party of light dragoons, and lodged
in the Tower of London.
On 11 December the High Court of Admiralty
decided that the ship should be restored to Spain, less one eighth of
the value after expenses for salvage, provided the Spanish released
British ships held at Corunna. The agents for the captors appealed and
on 4 February 1795 the Lords of the Council (the Privy council) put the
value of the cargo at £935,000 and awarded it to the captors. At the
time, all the crew, captains, officers and admirals could expect to
share in the prize. Admiral Hood's share was £50,000.
On 28 May
Phaeton took the 20-gun Prompte off the Spanish Coast. The Royal Navy
took Prompte into service under her existing name.
Together with
Weasle, Phaeton took two privateers in the Channel in June - the 10-gun
Poisson Volante and the Général Washington. On 27 November she and
Latona took the 28-gun Blonde of Ushant. In February 1794 Phaeton was
paid off, but the next month Captain William Bentinck recommissioned
her.
In 1794, during the battle of the Glorious First of June,
Phaeton came to the aid of the dismasted Defence. While doing so, she
exchanged broadsides with the French ship-of-the-line Impetueux. Phaeton
suffered three men killed and five wounded. She was the only one of the
support vessels there to suffer casualties. In 1847 the Admiralty
awarded the survivors to that date of all the vessels at the battle,
including Phaeton, the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "1 June
1794". (Also known as Battle of Ushant)
3.
Contributed:
Sir Andrew Snape-Hamond's youngest sister had married Dr
William Douglas, M.D., of Edinburgh; their son Andrew Snape-Douglas,
born 1761, entered the Royal Navy and rendered most distinguished
services to his country; his gallantry deserves a longer notice than
these pages can afford; briefly put, his uncle, Sir Andrew's mention of
him is as follows:
his first lieutenant when the Admiral hoisted his
flag on Sir Andrew's ship, at the siege of Charlestown, young Douglas'
activity had procured him the rank of post-captain; on Lord Lincoln and
Sir Andrew Snape-Hamond being chosen to convey the despatches home in
1780, Captain Snape-Douglas was appointed to the command of his uncle's
ship the Roebuck, which ship being sheathed in copper and unequalled in
her sailing powers "was for a young man under nineteen an extraordinary
instance of good fortune. Although my near relation and the boy who had
never left my side from ten years old (when his father died) I may be
allowed to say he was exceeded by no man in the profession, and to use
the King's expression (sometime after his death when at His Majesty's
request I presented him with his bust), ` He was a great national loss,
but he lived just long enough to become a brilliant example to all the
rising young men in the Navy.' He was Lord Howe's Captain in the great
action on the first June 1794, when the Republican Fleet of France
fought for the Dominion of the Sea."
Captain Douglas' gallantry in
that action, the extraordinary exertion he used and ability he displayed
as a seaman in bringing the French Fleet into action when he commanded
the Queen Charlotte, brought him the highest recommendation from his
superiors. On Captain Sir Andrew Douglas going aboard the Admiral's
ship, The Royal George, after the action, he was received with a guard
at the gangway; and the Admiral before all his officers, told him he
considered the victory just won due, principally, to his exertions.
4. In the painting of the battle, he can be seen
holding his hand to his head, and being supported by his fellow
officers, to the right of the painting.
5. Extract from: Naval
History of Great Britain: Volume 7 By John Campbell
6. 13 Feb 1795 In Monteith Close, Edinburgh, death of Mr John
Douglas, Albany Herald, uncle of Sir Andrew Snape Douglas, Captain of
the Royal Navy
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