Sir John Munden (c. 1645 – 13 March 1719) was a rear-admiral in 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 was dismissed from the service for having failed to engage a French fleet, despite having been acquitted by a court-martial of any misconduct in the matter.

Early life and career

He was born around 1645, the younger son of Richard Munden (1602–1672), a

ferryman A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, and his wife Elizabeth (1608–1694). He was appointed second

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

aboard the on 30 November 1677, and served aboard her in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

until 1680, under the command of his older brother Sir Richard Munden. Afterwards, he transferred on the on 16 July 1681, the on 17 June 1685, and the on 31 July 1686. On 23 July 1688 he was made commander of the ''Half Moon''

fire ship A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...

Captain

He achieved

post rank Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...

on 14 December 1688, when

Lord Dartmouth Earl of Dartmouth is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1711 for William Legge, 1st Earl of Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd Baron Dartmouth. History The Legge family descended from Edward Legge, Vice-President of Munster. ...

gave him command of the . At the battle of Beachy Head he commanded the . He fought at the

battle of Barfleur The action at Barfleur was part of the battle of Barfleur-La Hougue during the War of the Grand Alliance. A French fleet under Anne Hilarion de Tourville was seeking to cover an invasion of England by a French army to restore James II to the ...

on 19 May 1692, commanding the in the

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

of the red squadron, under the immediate orders of Sir Ralph Delaval. He was appointed to command the in 1693, the in 1695, the in 1696, and the in 1697. In May 1699 he was given command of the , only to be moved to the two months later and sent to the

in command of a small

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

. Here, he negotiated a treaty with the

dey Dey (Arabic: داي), from the Turkish honorific title ''dayı'', literally meaning uncle, was the title given to the rulers of the Ottoman Algeria, Regency of Algiers (Algeria), Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli,Bertarelli (1929), p. 203. and Ottoman Tu ...

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

for the regulation of ships' passes, and obtained the release of English slaves. He returned to England in November 1700.

Admiral

His service in the Mediterranean brought him to the notice and favour of

King William III William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the ...

, and led to his promotion 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 ...

of the blue on 14 April 1701. On 30 June he was further promoted to rear admiral of the white, and given command of a

charged with escorting the king to Holland. On the following day he was knighted by the king on board the yacht ''

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'', "under the standard of England". Early in the reign of Queen Anne, in April 1702, it was learned that the French were planning to send a convoy from Corunna to the

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and

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, carrying the

Duke of Alburquerque Duke of Alburquerque ( es, Duque de Alburquerque) is a hereditary title in the Peerage of Spain, accompanied by the dignity of Grandee and granted in 1464 by Henry IV to Beltrán de la Cueva, his "royal favourite" and grand master of the Order ...

and a number of troops. Munden, by then rear admiral of the red, was chosen to intercept this force with a flotilla comprising eight

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

s, one

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 ...

and three smaller craft. Munden sailed from St. Helens on 10 May 1702, and arrived off the coast of Galicia five days later. Learning soon after of the expected approach of thirteen French

men-of-war The man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man) was a Royal Navy expression for a powerful warship or frigate from the 16th to the 19th century. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually reserved for a ship armed wi ...

from

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...

, he positioned his fleet to intercept and sighted them off

Cape Ortegal Ortegal is a ''comarca'' in the north of the Galician Province of A Coruña, Spain. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Cantabrian Sea to the north, the Province of Lugo to the east, the comarca of O Eume O Eume is a comarca in the province o ...

on 28 May. He gave chase, but they were able to enter Corunna before he could catch them. Munden called a council at war at which it was decided that the harbour was too well defended to be assaulted. Consequently, having cruised the area until running short of provisions, the British fleet headed home on 20 June, with nothing to show for the expedition but two captured merchantmen from

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

Dismissal from service

The failure of the expedition caused a public outcry, and, on 13 July, Munden was tried by a

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

aboard the 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 a charge of negligence. In his defence, he wrote:

It is an easy matter for any standers-by to say, after a design has miscarried, that, if you had been on this place instead of that, you had infallibly succeeded ... But if it be considered that the sea is a wide place, and that we did not miss the enemy above an hour and a half's time, I hope my enemies will be persuaded to have another opinion of me.

The court-martial, presided over by Sir Cloudesley Shovel, agreed and Munden was

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...

of all counts. He re-hoisted his flag on on 21 July. However, public opinion demanded a sacrifice, and Munden was chosen as a scapegoat. In what

John Knox Laughton Sir John Knox Laughton (23 April 1830 – 14 September 1915) was a British naval historian and arguably the first to delineate the importance of the subject of Naval history as an independent field of study. Beginning his working life as a mathe ...

describes as "a singular and harsh exercise of the prerogative," he was "discharged from his post and command in the royal navy" on 10 August 1702. This decision was justified in the ''Annals of Queen Anne'' thus:

For though Sir John behaved himself worthily on all other occasions, and even acted to the best of his knowledge on this, ''yet the least appearance of misconduct'' deserves censure in the beginning of a new reign; for a vigorous inflicting of punishments contributes no less to the establishment of a throne than an equal and generous dispensation of rewards.

He retired to Chelsea, where he was described as "a very plain man in his conversation and dress, of a fair complexion." He died there on 13 March 1719, unmarried and without issue. His estate was split between three nephews, including Brigadier Richard Munden, and five nieces.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munden, John 1719 deaths 17th-century English people 18th-century English people 17th-century Royal Navy personnel 18th-century Royal Navy personnel Royal Navy rear admirals British naval commanders in the War of the Spanish Succession Knights Bachelor 1640s births