John Eliot (Royal Navy officer)
Encyclopedia
John Eliot was a Royal Navy
captain
. He was appointed Governor
of West Florida
in 1767, and committed suicide shortly after his arrival in Pensacola
in 1769.
, St Germans, Cornwall on 2 June 1742, to Richard and Harriet Craggs Eliot. His father was an important local politician, and his grandfather had served in the Royal Navy
. His father died in 1749, and his mother afterward married John Hamilton, a navy captain.
aboard . In 1753 command of Penzance was given to Eliot's brother in law, Hugh Bonfoy
, and Eliot again served as a midshipman on his cruise to Newfoundland. He first saw action with the Channel fleet in 1756, during the Seven Years' War
as a midshipman aboard under John Byron
. In 1757 he transferred to HMS Marlborough
(flagship of Admiral Thomas Cotes), which cruised to Jamaica
but saw no action due to her poor sailing characteristics. Seeking action, Eliot transferred to as third lieutenant. Her first lieutenant was George Johnstone
, who would also figure in the history of West Florida
.
Augusta captain, Arthur Forrest
, was an aggressive tactician, and Eliot repeatedly saw action under Forrest's command. During the first six months of 1758 Forrest raided French shipping in the Caribbean, taking numerous prizes. In June 1758 Eliot transferred to . He cruised with her until January 1759, when he was temporarily given her command after her captain succumbed to a tropical fever. This command was brief (lasting just under one month) before a new captain was assigned to the ship. In April 1759 Eliot returned to England aboard .
During this early service Eliot's family continued to forge connections at the highest levels of the Admiralty. His brother Edward
, serving in Parliament, worked to advance his career, and his sister Elizabeth married Charles Cocks
, who was connected by marriage to Admiral George Anson
. By the time Eliot returned to England Anson had arranged for the young lieutenant's first command, the 12-gun sloop Hawke. On 4 September 1759 Eliot was commissioned a commander
, and by the end of the month he was aboard Hawke at Plymouth
, preparing her for sea.
Surviving records of Hawke cruise are sketchy. On 9 December she was engaged in a brief battle with a much larger French privateer. Eliot was compelled strike her colours, suffering three killed in the exchange. Taken captive to France, Eliot was quickly exchanged through the intercession of his family. An inquiry was held in April 1760 investigating the loss of the ship, in which Eliot and his officers were acquitted of any wrongdoing. The ship's surgeon testified that Eliot "behaved with great calmness and resolution" during the incident.
On 25 April 1760 Eliot, not yet eighteen, was commissioned a captain, and given command of , and assigned to convoy duty to the Baltic Sea
. On the return leg of his second voyage, Eliot used tactics learned from Captain Forrest to capture a French privateer, recovering two of its British prizes in the process. With his next command, , Eliot saw duty in home waters and on the blockade of the French coast, landing a rich prize ship loaded with coffee. In April 1762 Eliot received secret orders to cruise in search of French privateers between the Canary Islands
and the Azores
, an area where British warships were not normally active. This duty was without significant incident, and he returned to Plymouth in January 1763.
With the advent of peace, Eliot, still aboard Thames, was assigned duty with the Mediterranean squadron. He was involved in a minor diplomatic incident while calling on the Spanish port of Cadiz
, when one of his junior officers incorrectly responded to salutes fired by Spanish naval vessels entering the harbour. While transporting Henry Grenville
, the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
, back to England in late 1765, Thames was found to be leaking badly, and Eliot was forced to put in at Toulon
for repairs. While there he encountered James Boswell
, who wrote favourably of the young captain. His return to England afterward was complicated by a quarantine imposed on the ship because of the ambassador's baggage; Eliot's family connections were instrumental in rapidly getting the ship released.
. George Johnstone, his shipmate from Augusta, had been appointed the colony's first governor, and had been recalled in early 1767. More senior naval officers were considered to replace Johnstone, but were deemed unlikely to accept the post. Eliot's brother Edward had been appointed to the Board of Trade, whose head was his uncle, Robert Nugent
. The influence of his brother and uncle with Parliament was also significant, and their work resulted in the appointment of Eliot, a 24 year old officer who had never commanded a ship of the line
, as governor in March 1767.
In part because of political turmoil, Eliot did not immediately depart for Pensacola
. Finally sailing on 6 January 1769, Eliot landed at Pensacola on 2 April. During the crossing Eliot was reported to be afflicted with significant pains in his head, and some of his writings from the time show signs of deteriorating handwriting. The pains had apparently dissipated by the time of his arrival at Pensacola, but they soon returned. On the evening of 1 May Eliot dined with Lieutenant Governor Montfort Browne
. The next morning his body was found hanging in the study of the governor's house. Some reports incorrectly stated that he had died of an apoplectic fit, or suggested that his suicide was the result of a melancholic fit. Biographer Robert Rea believes he probably suffered from a brain tumor
, whose effects drove him to suicide.
Eliot was buried outside the Pensacola fort with military honours. The only major action begun during his brief time in office was to institute legal proceedings against Lieutenant Governor Browne on charges that he had misappropriate colonial funds. Because of these charges, Browne was eventually supplanted by Elias Durnford
as lieutenant governor.
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
. He was appointed Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of West Florida
West Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
in 1767, and committed suicide shortly after his arrival in Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
in 1769.
Life
John Eliot was born 2 June 1742 in Port EliotPort Eliot
Port Eliot in St Germans, Cornwall, is the seat of the Eliot family, whose current head is Peregrine Eliot, 10th Earl of St Germans. Port Eliot comprises a house with its own church which is the parish church of St Germans. An earlier church building was the cathedral for the whole of Cornwall...
, St Germans, Cornwall on 2 June 1742, to Richard and Harriet Craggs Eliot. His father was an important local politician, and his grandfather had served in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. His father died in 1749, and his mother afterward married John Hamilton, a navy captain.
Naval career
Eliot joined the Royal Navy in 1752 as a midshipmanMidshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
aboard . In 1753 command of Penzance was given to Eliot's brother in law, Hugh Bonfoy
Hugh Bonfoy
Hugh Bonfoy was a naval officer and colonial governor of Newfoundland.Bonfoy entered the Royal Navy in 1739, and made governor of Newfoundland in 1753. The common perception on the island was the uncertainty about the loyalty of Irish Roman Catholics in Newfoundland...
, and Eliot again served as a midshipman on his cruise to Newfoundland. He first saw action with the Channel fleet in 1756, during the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
as a midshipman aboard under John Byron
John Byron
Vice Admiral The Hon. John Byron, RN was a Royal Navy officer. He was known as Foul-weather Jack because of his frequent bad luck with weather.-Early career:...
. In 1757 he transferred to HMS Marlborough
HMS St Michael (1669)
HMS St Michael was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by John Tippetts of Portsmouth Dockyard and launched in 1669....
(flagship of Admiral Thomas Cotes), which cruised to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
but saw no action due to her poor sailing characteristics. Seeking action, Eliot transferred to as third lieutenant. Her first lieutenant was George Johnstone
George Johnstone
George Johnstone was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, rising to the rank of post-captain and serving for a time as commodore of a squadron...
, who would also figure in the history of West Florida
West Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
.
Augusta captain, Arthur Forrest
Arthur Forrest (Royal Navy officer)
Arthur Forrest was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War, rising to the rank of captain and the post of commodore.-Early life:...
, was an aggressive tactician, and Eliot repeatedly saw action under Forrest's command. During the first six months of 1758 Forrest raided French shipping in the Caribbean, taking numerous prizes. In June 1758 Eliot transferred to . He cruised with her until January 1759, when he was temporarily given her command after her captain succumbed to a tropical fever. This command was brief (lasting just under one month) before a new captain was assigned to the ship. In April 1759 Eliot returned to England aboard .
During this early service Eliot's family continued to forge connections at the highest levels of the Admiralty. His brother Edward
Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot
Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot was born to Richard Eliot and Harriot Craggs , the illegitimate daughter of the Privy Counsellor and Secretary of State, James Craggs and Hester Santlow, the noted...
, serving in Parliament, worked to advance his career, and his sister Elizabeth married Charles Cocks
Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers
Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers , known as Sir Charles Cocks, 1st Baronet, from 1772 to 1784, was a British politician....
, who was connected by marriage to Admiral George Anson
George Anson, 1st Baron Anson
Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson PC, FRS, RN was a British admiral and a wealthy aristocrat, noted for his circumnavigation of the globe and his role overseeing the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War...
. By the time Eliot returned to England Anson had arranged for the young lieutenant's first command, the 12-gun sloop Hawke. On 4 September 1759 Eliot was commissioned a commander
Commander (Royal Navy)
Commander is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It is immediately junior to captain and immediately senior to the rank of lieutenant commander...
, and by the end of the month he was aboard Hawke at Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, preparing her for sea.
Surviving records of Hawke cruise are sketchy. On 9 December she was engaged in a brief battle with a much larger French privateer. Eliot was compelled strike her colours, suffering three killed in the exchange. Taken captive to France, Eliot was quickly exchanged through the intercession of his family. An inquiry was held in April 1760 investigating the loss of the ship, in which Eliot and his officers were acquitted of any wrongdoing. The ship's surgeon testified that Eliot "behaved with great calmness and resolution" during the incident.
On 25 April 1760 Eliot, not yet eighteen, was commissioned a captain, and given command of , and assigned to convoy duty to the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. On the return leg of his second voyage, Eliot used tactics learned from Captain Forrest to capture a French privateer, recovering two of its British prizes in the process. With his next command, , Eliot saw duty in home waters and on the blockade of the French coast, landing a rich prize ship loaded with coffee. In April 1762 Eliot received secret orders to cruise in search of French privateers between the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
and the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
, an area where British warships were not normally active. This duty was without significant incident, and he returned to Plymouth in January 1763.
With the advent of peace, Eliot, still aboard Thames, was assigned duty with the Mediterranean squadron. He was involved in a minor diplomatic incident while calling on the Spanish port of Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
, when one of his junior officers incorrectly responded to salutes fired by Spanish naval vessels entering the harbour. While transporting Henry Grenville
Henry Grenville
Henry Grenville was a British diplomat and politician.Grenville was the son of Richart Grenville born into a family of politicians, one of his elder brothers was Earl Temple, another a government minister, another was Lord of Trade and Cofferer of the Household, while another brother George...
, the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, back to England in late 1765, Thames was found to be leaking badly, and Eliot was forced to put in at Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
for repairs. While there he encountered James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
, who wrote favourably of the young captain. His return to England afterward was complicated by a quarantine imposed on the ship because of the ambassador's baggage; Eliot's family connections were instrumental in rapidly getting the ship released.
Governor of West Florida
Eliot was next posted to , performing guard patrol around Plymouth. He was on this duty in early 1767 when political circumstances resulted in his appointment as governor of West FloridaWest Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
. George Johnstone, his shipmate from Augusta, had been appointed the colony's first governor, and had been recalled in early 1767. More senior naval officers were considered to replace Johnstone, but were deemed unlikely to accept the post. Eliot's brother Edward had been appointed to the Board of Trade, whose head was his uncle, Robert Nugent
Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent
Robert Craggs-Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent PC was an Irish politician and poet.-Background:The son of Michael Nugent and Mary, daughter of Robert Barnewall, 9th Baron Trimlestown, he was born at Carlanstown, County Westmeath...
. The influence of his brother and uncle with Parliament was also significant, and their work resulted in the appointment of Eliot, a 24 year old officer who had never commanded a ship of the line
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
, as governor in March 1767.
In part because of political turmoil, Eliot did not immediately depart for Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
. Finally sailing on 6 January 1769, Eliot landed at Pensacola on 2 April. During the crossing Eliot was reported to be afflicted with significant pains in his head, and some of his writings from the time show signs of deteriorating handwriting. The pains had apparently dissipated by the time of his arrival at Pensacola, but they soon returned. On the evening of 1 May Eliot dined with Lieutenant Governor Montfort Browne
Montfort Browne
Montfort Browne was a British Army officer and Tory, and a major landowner and developer of British West Florida in the 1760s and 1770s. He commanded the Prince of Wales' American Regiment, a Loyalist regiment, in the American Revolutionary War...
. The next morning his body was found hanging in the study of the governor's house. Some reports incorrectly stated that he had died of an apoplectic fit, or suggested that his suicide was the result of a melancholic fit. Biographer Robert Rea believes he probably suffered from a brain tumor
Brain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
, whose effects drove him to suicide.
Eliot was buried outside the Pensacola fort with military honours. The only major action begun during his brief time in office was to institute legal proceedings against Lieutenant Governor Browne on charges that he had misappropriate colonial funds. Because of these charges, Browne was eventually supplanted by Elias Durnford
Elias Durnford
Elias Durnford was a British army officer and civil engineer who is best known for surveying the town of Pensacola and laying out a city plan based on two public places ....
as lieutenant governor.