Ralph Wrenn | |
---|---|
Died | 26 March 1692 |
Allegiance | Kingdom of England |
Service/ | Royal Navy |
Rank | Commodore |
Commands held | Hopewell Young Spragge Nonsuch Centurion Mary Rose Greenwich Norwich Jamaica Station |
Ralph Wrenn (died 26 March 1692) was an English naval Commodore.
On 18 April 1672 Wrenn was appointed commander of the Hopewell fireship, and in the following year of the Rose dogger. After the peace with the Dutch Republic he was lieutenant of the Reserve; in 1677 he had command of the fireship Young Spragge; in 1679 he was lieutenant of the Kingfisher in the Mediterranean with Morgan Kempthorne, and was so still in May 1681, when she fought a brilliant action with seven Algerine pirates. [1]
After Kempthorne's death Wrenn took the command and beat off the enemy. His gallantry was rewarded by a promotion to the command of the Nonsuch on 9 August 1681. In May 1682 he was moved into the Centurion, to which, still in the Mediterranean, he was reappointed in May 1685. In 1687–1688, he commanded the Mary Rose, and in September 1688 he was appointed to the Greenwich, one of the ships at the Nore with Lord Dartmouth during the critical October; from this appointment he was superseded after the revolution. [1]
In 1690, however, he was appointed to the Norwich of forty-eight guns, and in October 1691 was ordered out to the Jamaica Station. [2] He sailed from Plymouth on 26 December, and after a most favourable passage arrived at Barbados on 16 January 1691 – 1692, when his force consisted of the Mary and, besides the Norwich, five fourth-rates, ships of from forty to fifty guns. He had orders to send one of these with the trade to Jamaica; but, receiving intelligence that the French were in greater force than had been supposed, he detached two on this duty. Then, on a report that a squadron of nine French ships was cruising off Barbados, he strengthened his force with two hired merchant ships, and put to sea on 30 January. Not meeting with the enemy in a cruise of five days, he returned to Barbados, and, apprehending that the whole French fleet had gone to Jamaica, he sailed again on 17 February. On the 21st off Desirade he sighted the French fleet of more than three times his strength—eighteen ships of from forty to sixty guns, with some six or seven fireships and tenders. In face of such odds, Wrenn drew back, but was the next morning attacked by their full force. After a sharp action of four hours' duration, Wrenn found himself able to draw off and retire unpursued—‘the bravest action performed in the West Indies during the war’. [3] He returned to Barbados, where a sickness carried off a great many of the men, and, among others, Wrenn himself. [1]
The Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue took place during the Nine Years' War, between 19 May Old Style and 4 June Old Style 1692. The first was fought near Barfleur on 19 May Old Style, with later actions occurring between 20 May Old Style and 4 June Old Style at Cherbourg and Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue in Normandy, France.
The Battle of Beachy Head was a naval battle fought on 10 July 1690 during the Nine Years' War. The battle was the greatest French tactical naval victory over their English and Dutch opponents during the war. The Dutch lost six ships of the line and three fireships; their English allies also lost one ship of the line, whereas the French did not lose a vessel. Control of the English Channel temporarily fell into French hands but Vice-Admiral Tourville failed to pursue the Allied fleet with sufficient vigour, allowing it to escape to the River Thames.
Vice-Admiral John Benbow was an English officer in the Royal Navy. He joined the navy aged 25 years, seeing action against Algerian pirates before leaving and joining the merchant navy where he traded until the Glorious Revolution of 1688, whereupon he returned to the Royal Navy and was commissioned.
The Battle of Bantry Bay was a naval engagement fought on 11 May 1689, a week before the declaration of the Nine Years' War. The English fleet was commanded by Admiral Arthur Herbert, created Earl of Torrington after the Battle; the French fleet by François Louis de Rousselet, Marquis de Châteaurenault. Apart from the inshore operations at La Rochelle in 1627–28, the Battle of Bantry Bay was the first time English and French navies had met in fleet action since 1545.
Kingfisher was a 46-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Phineas Pett III at Woolwich Dockyard and launched in 1675. She was specially designed to counter the attacks of Algerine corsairs, or pirates, in the Mediterranean by masquerading as a merchantman, which she achieved by hiding her armament behind false bulkheads. She also was provided with various means of changing her appearance.
Vice Admiral Francis Hosier (1673–1727) was a British naval officer. He was a lieutenant on Rooke's flagship at the Battle of Barfleur in 1693. He captured the Heureux off Cape Clear in 1710 and distinguished himself in action with the Spanish off Cartagena in 1711. He is chiefly remembered, however, for his role in the failure of the Blockade of Porto Bello, for which poor Government orders were largely responsible, during which he died of disease alongside thousands of his sailors.
Sir William Whetstone was an officer of the Royal Navy in the later 17th and early eighteenth century. He eventually rose to the rank of rear admiral, having spent his career serving with several distinguished figures.
Sir John Kempthorne was an officer in the English Royal Navy during the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars, who eventually rose to the rank of Vice-Admiral.
Sir John Jennings was a Royal Navy officer and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1705 and 1734. He commanded HMS Kent at Cadiz and Vigo in 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief of the Jamaica Station, then Senior Naval Lord and finally Governor of Greenwich Hospital.
Sir Charles Knowles, 1st Baronet was a British naval officer who served in the Royal Navy, seeing service during the War of Jenkins' Ear, the wider War of the Austrian Succession, and the Seven Years' War. He also briefly served under the Imperial Russian Navy during the Russo-Turkish War. He rose to the rank of Admiral in a long and varied career, crowned with both success, and at times, controversy.
Sir Francis Wheler was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the Nine Years' War.
Vice-Admiral John Graydon was an English officer of the Royal Navy. He was active during the Nine Years War and the War of the Spanish Succession.
The action of 14 June 1742 was a minor naval battle of the War of the Austrian Succession in which a small British squadron under Captain Richard Norris burned 5 Spanish royal galleys at the French port of Saint Tropez. Norris had surprised the galleys near Sainte-Marguerite and had chased and driven them into the French port. The British captain, in spite of alleged French neutrality, followed the Spanish vessels into the port and destroyed them at slight cost.
Admiral Sir Bartholomew Samuel Rowley was a British naval officer who served during the American, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
The Battle of Nevis on 20 May 1667 was a confused naval clash in the Caribbean off the Island of Nevis during the closing stages of the Second Anglo-Dutch War between an English squadron and an Allied Franco-Dutch fleet intent on invading the island. The battle ended up being an English victory in that prevented a Franco-Dutch invasion of Nevis.
The Jamaica Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed at Port Royal in Jamaica from 1655 to 1830.
Vice-Admiral Thomas Cotes was a Royal Navy officer who became Commander-in-Chief of the Jamaica Station.
Charles de Courbon, comte de Blénac was a French colonial administration who served as governor general of the French Antilles during the 17th century. He was an experienced soldier and fought for the king during the Fronde before becoming a naval officer in the French Navy. Towards the end of the Franco-Dutch War he led the land forces that captured Tobago from the Dutch before taking command of the French Antilles. During the Nine Years' War he was active in the struggle with the English and Dutch in the Windward Islands. He captured Sint Eustatius and Saint Kitts, and defended Martinique against a large English expedition in 1693.
HMS Saudadoes was built by Anthony Deane after his transfer to Portsmouth Dockyard as the Master Shipwright. She was a smaller version of the Greyhound design. Initially she was a 8/6-gun sixth rate vessel. She was rebuilt in 1673 as a standard 16-gun vessel. She was commissioned in November 1669 then taken in hand at Deptford for her rebuild. She spent the majority of her career in Home Waters, participating in the Battle of Bantry Bay and the Battle of Barfleur. She went to the Mediterranean for a year in 1694. Her final service was in the Channel where she was captured by two French privateers and burnt in February 1696.
Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy was a Royal Navy officer of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Having joined the navy sometime before 1688, Hardy became a follower of George Churchill, to whom he served as first lieutenant during the Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue in 1692. Promoted to post-captain in 1693, Hardy served in the Channel Islands and off the coast of England until 1702 when he was given command of HMS Pembroke off the coast of Spain. Having fought at the Battle of Cádiz, he subsequently discovered the location of the Franco-Spanish fleet through the intervention of his chaplain, which resulted in the Battle of Vigo Bay. Hardy was knighted for his services.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Lee, Sidney, ed. (1900). "Wrenn, Ralph". Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 63. London: Smith, Elder & Co.