Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Sir Gamaliel Nightingale, 9th Baronet (15 February 1731 – January 1791) was an English landowner and

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 ...

officer.

Early life and family

Sir Gamaliel was born at Kneesworth Hall, his family seat. He was the son of Sir Edward Nightingale, the 7th baronet, and Eleanora Ethelston. His older brother Edward succeeded to the Nightingale baronetcy on the death of their father in 1750. Sir Gamaliel succeeded his brother in 1782.

Naval career

Nightingale's first command was HMS ''Badger'' in 1757. From 1758, he commanded HMS ''Vengeance''. In 1759, the ''Vengeance'' and its 200 men and 28 guns saw action off

Quiberon Bay Quiberon Bay (french: Baie de Quiberon) is an area of sheltered water on the south coast of Brittany. The bay is in the Morbihan département. Geography The bay is roughly triangular in shape, open to the south with the Gulf of Morbihan to t ...

. On 13 March 1761, while still commanding the ''Vengeance'', he captured the 44-gun French privateer ''Entreprenant'' by

Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

. He later took command of HMS ''Flora''. He was a member of the

Honourable East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

Nightingale Island

Sir Gamaliel is also known for exploring a small volcanic island near

Tristan da Cunha Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town in South Africa, from Saint Helena ...

, which in 1760 he named

Nightingale Island Nightingale Island is an active volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, in area, part of the Tristan da Cunha group of islands. They are administered by the United Kingdom as part of the British overseas territory, overseas territory of Sai ...

. Lying in the

South Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

between

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

and 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 ...

, it is part of one of the remotest archipelagos in the world. The island is densely populated by wildlife, particularly birds, and is recognized by

Birdlife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

. Two of the world's rarest birds are found only on the island: the Nightingale Bunting (4,000 pairs) and Wilkins's Bunting (approximately 85 pairs).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nightingale, Gamaliel 1731 births 1791 deaths Nightingale family Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Royal Navy officers