Charles Hughes | |
|---|---|
| Died | 11 August 1819 |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Great Britain |
| Service/ |  Royal Navy |
| Rank | Captain |
| Commands held | HMS Exeter HMS Worcester HMS Seahorse HMS Bristol East Indies Station |
| Battles/wars | American Revolutionary War |
Captain Charles Hughes (died 11 August 1819) was a Royal Navy officer who became Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station.
In 1782 Hughes commanded HMS Exeter [1] before transferring to command HMS Worcester in November 1782. [2] On 20 June 1783 the Worcester took part in the Battle of Cuddalore, an action with the French fleet off Cuddalore which took place after peace had been signed in Europe but before the news had reached India and which became the final battle of the American Revolutionary War. [3]
He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station in 1785 and remained in post until 1787. [4]
He lived at Friday Hill House in Essex. [5]
Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood was an admiral in the Royal Navy. As a junior officer he saw action during the War of the Austrian Succession. While in temporary command of Antelope, he drove a French ship ashore in Audierne Bay, and captured two privateers in 1757 during the Seven Years' War. He held senior command as Commander-in-Chief, North American Station and then as Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands Station, leading the British fleet to victory at Battle of the Mona Passage in April 1782 during the American Revolutionary War. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, then First Naval Lord and, after briefly returning to the Portsmouth command, became Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet during the French Revolutionary Wars. His younger brother was Admiral Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport (1726–1814), and his first cousin once-removed was Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet (1762–1814).
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Admiral Benjamin William Page was a Royal Navy officer of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who served extensively on the East Indies Station. He joined the Royal Navy in 1778 on board the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, his patron. He sailed with Hughes to the East Indies and participated in the series of naval battles against the French that culminated in the Battle of Cuddalore in 1783. Page returned to England in 1785 and was promoted to lieutenant. His first appointment as such was in the frigate HMS Astraea commanded by Captain Peter Rainier. Rainier also became a patron of Page, who transferred with him to the ship of the line HMS Monarch in 1790 and then recommended him for further employment elsewhere. After another period of service in the East Indies, Page was again taken up by Rainier as a lieutenant, this time on the ship of the line HMS Suffolk, in 1793. Page served as Rainier's temporary flag captain in Suffolk and fought at the invasion of Ceylon in 1795 before being given command of the sloop HMS Hobart. In Hobart Page used his extensive knowledge of the East Indies to navigate Rainier's fleet to the Moluccas and Amboyna Island, which they captured.