Admiral Sir Charles Ekins GCB (1768 – 2 July 1855) was an officer of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

who served in the

Fourth Anglo-Dutch War The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Vierde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog; 1780–1784) was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. The war, contemporary with the War of American Independence (1775-1783), broke out over ...

, the

French Revolutionary The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

and

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, and rose to the rank of

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Life

Ekins was the son of Dr.

Jeffery Ekins Jeffery Ekins D.D. (died 1791) was an English churchman, Dean of Carlisle Cathedral from 1782. Life He was a native of Barton-Seagrave, Northamptonshire, where his father, the Rev. Jeffery Ekins, M.A., was rector. He received his education at E ...

, dean of Carlisle, and nephew of Dr.

John Ekins John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

, dean of Salisbury (1768–1809), and was born presumably at

Quainton Quainton (formerly Quainton Malet)Plea rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP 40/647; 7th entry, with "North" in the margin; the defendant, Richard Longe is of Quenton Malet is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, E ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, where his father was then rector. He entered the

in March 1781, on board the 74-gun , under the command of the Hon.

Keith Stewart Vice-Admiral Keith Stewart (1739 – 3 March 1795) was a Scottish Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons on two occasions. Having began his naval career in around 1753, Stewart was promoted to commander in 1761 an ...

. In ''Berwick'' he was present at the Battle of Dogger Bank on 5 August 1781, and afterwards went with Captain Stewart to , which was one of the fleet under Lord Howe that relieved

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

in 1782. After continuous service on the Mediterranean and home stations for the next eight years, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 20 October 1790. During the next five years he was mainly employed in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. Early in 1795 he came home in the 98-gun , bearing the flag of Sir John Jervis, and was in her when she was burnt at

Spithead Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...

on 1 May. On 18 June he was promoted to the command of the

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

in the North Sea, from which he was appointed to , supposed to be at the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

, but found, on his arrival, to have been condemned and broken up. He returned to England in command of ''Havik'', one of the Dutch prizes taken at the

capitulation of Saldanha Bay The Capitulation of Saldanha Bay was the surrender in 1796 to the British Royal Navy of a Dutch expeditionary force sent to recapture the Dutch Cape Colony. In 1794, early in the French Revolutionary Wars, the army of the French Republic overr ...

. After his return to Britain, he was advanced to post rank 22 December 1796. In August 1797 he was appointed to the 28-gun HMS ''Amphitrite'', and in her was actively employed in the West Indies until March 1801, when, after a severe attack of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

, he was sent home with despatches. From 1804 to 1806 he commanded the 40-gun ; and from 1806 to 1811 the 74-gun , in which he took part in the expedition against Copenhagen in 1807, in the operations on the coast of Portugal in 1808, and in the Baltic cruise of 1809. In September 1815 he commissioned the 74-gun , and commanded her in the bombardment of Algiers, on 27 August 1816, when he was wounded. He later, together with the other captains engaged, was nominated a

Companion of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one ...

, and by the

King of the Netherlands King of The Netherlands (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Koning der Nederlanden'') is the title of the Dutch head of state. The king serves as the Head of state, head of state of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which includes the constituent nations of ...

a knight 3rd class of the

Order of William of the Netherlands The Military William Order, or often named Military Order of William (Dutch: , abbreviation: MWO), is the oldest and highest honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is named after St. William of Gellone (755–814), the first Prince of Ora ...

. ''Superb'' was paid off in October 1818, and Ekins had no further service afloat; though he became in course of seniority rear-admiral on 12 August 1819, vice-admiral on 22 July 1830, and admiral on 23 November 1841; and was made a Knight Commander of the Bath on 8 June 1831, and a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath on 7 April 1852. He died at 69

Cadogan Place Cadogan Place is a street in Belgravia, London. It is named after Earl Cadogan and runs parallel to the lower half of Sloane Street. It gives its name to the extensive Cadogan Place Gardens, private communal gardens maintained for Cadogan reside ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 2 July 1855. He married, in 1800, Priscilla, daughter of Thomas Parlby (1727–1802) of Stone Hall, Plymouth, Devon.

Works

Ekins was the author of ''Naval Battles of Great Britain from the Accession of the illustrious House of Hanover to the Battle of Navarin reviewed'' (1824; 2nd edit. 1828). He wrote also a pamphlet on the round stem controversy in the form of a letter to Sir Robert Seppings (1824), and developed a system of maritime signalling (London: Thomas Curson Hansard, 1838).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekins, Charles 1768 births 1855 deaths Royal Navy admirals Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Royal Navy personnel of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Knights Third Class of the Military Order of William Royal Navy personnel of the Bombardment of Algiers (1816)

Life

Works

See also

References