Vice-Admiral John Ford (17 December 1738 – 14 September 1796) was a

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 ...

officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of the

Jamaica Station Jamaica station is a major train station of the Long Island Rail Road located in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. With weekday ridership exceeding 200,000 passengers, it is the largest transit hub on Long Island, the fourth-busiest rail station ...

Naval career

Promoted to

post-captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain ...

on 25 June 1773, Ford was appointed to the command of the

post ship Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the second half of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars to describe a ship of the sixth rate (see rating system of the Royal Navy) that was smaller than a frigate (in practice, carr ...

in April 1776 in which he saw action at the capture of American frigate in September 1778 and the action of 13 May 1779. He commissioned the sixth-rate in July 1779 and then transferred to the command of

fifth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal ...

in which he saw action at the

Battle of the Chesapeake The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American Revolutionary War that took place near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 17 ...

in September 1781 during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

and again at the

Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...

in April 1782 during the

Anglo-French War The Anglo-French Wars were a series of conflicts between England (and after 1707, Britain) and France, including: Middle Ages High Middle Ages * Anglo-French War (1109–1113) – first conflict between the Capetian Dynasty and the House of Norma ...

Haitian Revolution

Ford went on to become Commander-in-Chief of the

with his flag in the

fourth-rate In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided i ...

in 1793. During the Haitian Revolution, at the request of French Royalists he mounted a campaign against Saint-Domingue and

Jérémie Jérémie ( ht, Jeremi) is a commune and capital city of the Grand'Anse department in Haiti. It had a population of about 31,000 at the 2003 census. It is relatively isolated from the rest of the country. The Grande-Anse River flows near th ...

in the Caribbean. Ford sent the frigates , , and , plus the schooner , to the north side of the island where on 23 September 1793 the British captured four merchant vessels at L'Islet, and on the 29th seven at Flamande Bay. Also on the 23rd, the squadron directly under Ford captured

Môle-Saint-Nicolas Môle-Saint-Nicolas (; ht, Mòlsennikola or ) is a commune in the north-western coast of Haiti. It is the chief town of the Môle-Saint-Nicolas Arrondissement in the department of Nord-Ouest. History Christopher Columbus' first voyage to ...

, where they captured amongst other vessels a schooner belonging to the French Navy named ''Convention Nationale''; the British took her into service under her earlier name as .Ships of the Royal Navy, Colledge, p. 216 Promoted to

rear-admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

, Ford commanded a squadron commanded that accompanied Brigadier-General John Whyte that briefly captured Port-au-Prince in 1794. At the time some forty five vessels lay in harbour and these were all made prizes.

References

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford John Royal Navy vice admirals 1796 deaths Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War