Robert Benjamin Young
Encyclopedia
Commander Robert Benjamin Young, RN (15 September 1773 - 26 November 1846) was an officer in the Royal Navy
. His service in small ships led to his presence observing the battle of Trafalgar
in 1805 from the deck of the tiny 10 gun cutter HMS Entreprenante
. Following this battle, Young performed well, acting as messenger and rescue boat during the storm, although the honour of carrying the dispatches back to England was given to John Richards Lapenotiere
, commander of HMS Pickle
; Young maintained this honour had been promised to him by Admiral Nelson prior to the battle.
on the Isle of Man
, Young joined his father's ship, the frigate
HMS Severn
in 1781, and made lieutenant ten years later in the build up to the French Revolutionary Wars
. He was however unable to gain any influence, and remained without a posting until 1795, when he was sent to the Caribbean
on HMS Thorn, and was commended for the capture of the French corvette Courier-National and for an armed landing on the island of St Vincent
in which he was embroiled in the thick of the fighting but was unhurt. Sailing in HMS Bonne Citoyenne
, he was an observer of the battle of Cape St. Vincent
in 1797, and was badly wounded by a collapsing spar during a gun action a few weeks later. Returning for duty in 1798, Young participated in the defence of Gibraltar
and was present in the aftermath of the Battle of the Nile
, aiding in repairs and consolidation of the British fleet.
, and witnessed her shipwreck in the Isles of Scilly
before joining the ship of the line
HMS Goliath
and almost being wrecked on her too, when she was dismasted and almost capsized in the West Indies. Young was commended for his excellent conduct in this operation, and was even able to take some enemy prizes despite the battered nature of his ship. His reward for this was to be given command of the Entreprenante following the Peace of Amiens and to take her as a despatch vessel to Nelson's fleet off Cadiz
. Young claimed for the rest of life that when the combined fleet emerged on the 21 October, Nelson ordered him to remain close to HMS Victory
, so that despatches home could be instantly sent off. No written record has survived of such an order, and Young could find no corroborating witnesses but Entreprenante did remain close to the Victory except when Victory was embroiled in the thick of the fight, where a single enemy broadside would have blasted Entreprenante matchwood .
Following the action and the subsequent death of Nelson, there was far too much to be done in terms of rescuing survivors, repairing ships and heading back to Cadiz to worry about dispatches. Young performed these duties heroically, even taking his little craft close to the blazing French battleship Achille
and taking off 161 survivors before escaping just as the ship's magazines exploded. Young also found the Bahama, whose Spanish crew had overthrown the British prize crew put aboard and were attempting to take the ship back to Cadiz. Thanks to Young's fast message to Admiral Collingwood, the Bahama was swiftly retaken and brought to Gibraltar.
The remainder of Young's life was spent in bitter contemplation of what might have been had he performed the famous Trafalgar Way
journey, and he died an impoverished and broken man in 1846, never again having served at sea. He was buried in Exeter
near his home, but in 1942 a massive air raid during the Blitz
demolished the church and graveyard he was buried in. Postwar the site was turned into a car park, which it remains. The same raid also destroyed the grave of another Trafalgar captain, that of John Stockham
.
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 service in small ships led to his presence observing the battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
in 1805 from the deck of the tiny 10 gun cutter HMS Entreprenante
HMS Entreprenante (1799)
HMS Entreprenante , was a 10-gun cutter that the Royal Navy captured from the French in 1798. The British commissioned her in 1799 and she served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, participating in the Battle of Trafalgar...
. Following this battle, Young performed well, acting as messenger and rescue boat during the storm, although the honour of carrying the dispatches back to England was given to John Richards Lapenotiere
John Richards Lapenotière
Captain John Richards Lapenotière was a British Royal Navy officer who, as a lieutenant commanding the tiny topsail schooner HMS Pickle, observed the Battle of Trafalgar on the 21 October 1805, participated in the rescue operations which followed it and then carried the dispatches of the victory...
, commander of HMS Pickle
HMS Pickle (1800)
HMS Pickle was a topsail schooner of the Royal Navy. She was originally a civilian vessel named Sting. of six guns, that Lord Hugh Seymour purchased to use as an armed tender on the Jamaica Station...
; Young maintained this honour had been promised to him by Admiral Nelson prior to the battle.
Early life
Born in 1773 at DouglasDouglas, Isle of Man
right|thumb|250px|Douglas Promenade, which runs nearly the entire length of beachfront in Douglasright|thumb|250px|Sea terminal in DouglasDouglas is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,218 people . It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and a sweeping...
on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, Young joined his father's ship, the frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
HMS Severn
HMS Severn
Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Severn after the River Severn: was a 50-gun fourth-rate launched in 1695, rebuilt in 1739, captured by the French in 1746, and recaptured by the Royal Navy in 1747 but not taken back into service. was a 50-gun fourth-rate launched in 1747 and sold in...
in 1781, and made lieutenant ten years later in the build up to the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
. He was however unable to gain any influence, and remained without a posting until 1795, when he was sent to the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
on HMS Thorn, and was commended for the capture of the French corvette Courier-National and for an armed landing on the island of St Vincent
Saint Vincent (island)
Saint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean. It is the largest island of the chain called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, between Saint Lucia and Grenada. It is composed of partially submerged volcanic mountains...
in which he was embroiled in the thick of the fighting but was unhurt. Sailing in HMS Bonne Citoyenne
HMS Bonne Citoyenne (1796)
Bonne Citoyenne was a 20-gun corvette of the French Navy, which the Royal Navy captured and recommissioned as the sloop-of-war HMS Bonne Citoyenne. Her most famous action was her capture of the French frigate Furieuse on 6 July 1809 for which her crew would earn the Naval General Service Medal. Her...
, he was an observer of the battle of Cape St. Vincent
Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797)
In the Battle of Cape St Vincent a British fleet under Admiral Sir John Jervis defeated a larger Spanish fleet under Admiral Don José de Córdoba near Cape St. Vincent, Portugal.-Origins:...
in 1797, and was badly wounded by a collapsing spar during a gun action a few weeks later. Returning for duty in 1798, Young participated in the defence of Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
and was present in the aftermath of the Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...
, aiding in repairs and consolidation of the British fleet.
Battle of Trafalgar
He returned home on HMS ColossusHMS Colossus (1787)
HMS Colossus was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Gravesend on 4 April 1787 and lost on 10 December 1798.-Early history:...
, and witnessed her shipwreck in the Isles of Scilly
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...
before joining the 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...
HMS Goliath
HMS Goliath (1781)
HMS Goliath was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line in the Royal Navy. She was launched on 19 October 1781 at Deptford Dockyard. She was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, Battle of the Nile, and Battle of Copenhagen. She was broken up in 1815....
and almost being wrecked on her too, when she was dismasted and almost capsized in the West Indies. Young was commended for his excellent conduct in this operation, and was even able to take some enemy prizes despite the battered nature of his ship. His reward for this was to be given command of the Entreprenante following the Peace of Amiens and to take her as a despatch vessel to Nelson's fleet off 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....
. Young claimed for the rest of life that when the combined fleet emerged on the 21 October, Nelson ordered him to remain close to HMS Victory
HMS Victory
HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is most famous as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805....
, so that despatches home could be instantly sent off. No written record has survived of such an order, and Young could find no corroborating witnesses but Entreprenante did remain close to the Victory except when Victory was embroiled in the thick of the fight, where a single enemy broadside would have blasted Entreprenante matchwood .
Following the action and the subsequent death of Nelson, there was far too much to be done in terms of rescuing survivors, repairing ships and heading back to Cadiz to worry about dispatches. Young performed these duties heroically, even taking his little craft close to the blazing French battleship Achille
French ship Achille (1803)
The Achille was a 74-gun French ship of the line built at Rochefort in 1803 after plans by Jacques-Noël Sané.Under the command of Captain Louis Gabriel Deniéport, she sailed at the vanguard of the French Fleet on 20 October 1805, just before the Battle of Trafalgar, and she was the first...
and taking off 161 survivors before escaping just as the ship's magazines exploded. Young also found the Bahama, whose Spanish crew had overthrown the British prize crew put aboard and were attempting to take the ship back to Cadiz. Thanks to Young's fast message to Admiral Collingwood, the Bahama was swiftly retaken and brought to Gibraltar.
Aftermath of Trafalgar
Young reportedly was "mortified" to discover on his arrival at Gibraltar, Collingwood had sent his own despatch vessel, the Pickle under Lapenotiere to England with the reports of the victory, none of which even mentioned Young's part in the battle's aftermath. The bearer of such good news could expect wealth and promotion (which Lapenotiere did in fact receive), whilst Young was overlooked and ignored. Missing the general promotion from which so many other captains benefitted, Young remained a lieutenant in the Mediterranean until 1810 when he finally made commander, 19 years after passing as a lieutenant. This was a mixed blessing, as Young's lack of influence again resulted in his being overlooked and passed over for seagoing commissions, a problem not aided by recurring bouts of ill health following a severe sickness in 1807.The remainder of Young's life was spent in bitter contemplation of what might have been had he performed the famous Trafalgar Way
Trafalgar Way
The Trafalgar Way is the name given to the historic route used to carry dispatches with the news of the Battle of Trafalgar overland from Falmouth to the Admiralty in London. The first messenger in November 1805 was Lieutenant Lapenotiere, of HMS Pickle, who reached Falmouth on 4 November after a...
journey, and he died an impoverished and broken man in 1846, never again having served at sea. He was buried in Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
near his home, but in 1942 a massive air raid during the Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
demolished the church and graveyard he was buried in. Postwar the site was turned into a car park, which it remains. The same raid also destroyed the grave of another Trafalgar captain, that of John Stockham
John Stockham
Captain John Stockham was an officer in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, whose career is now obscured to the point that very little of his life is known up until 1805, when he was suddenly and unexpectedly called upon to command the ship of the line at the Battle of Trafalgar.-Early...
.
Further reading
- The Trafalgar Captains, Colin White and the 1805 Club, Chatham Publishing, London, 2005, ISBN 1-86176-247-X