Sir Richard Munden (1640–1680) was a Commodore in the Royal Navy. He was the elder son of Sir Richard Munden (1602–1672) of Chelsea; the younger son was Rear-Admiral Sir John Munden. Richard first appears as commander of the '' Swallow'' ketch in 1666, and afterwards of the '' Portsmouth'' in 1667. In 1672 he was captain of the '' Princess'' of 52 guns; and in 1673, in the ''

Assistance Assistance is an act of helping behavior. Assistance may also refer to: Types of help * Aid, in international relations, a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another * Assistance dog, a dog trained to aid or assist a person ...

'', was commodore of a small squadron sent as convoy to the East India fleet. On 8 February 1673 he surprised a Dutch

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, de ...

of three ships under the command of Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest in the bay of

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, who were revictualling there in the course of the

Dutch Raid on North America The Dutch Raid on North America took place from December 1672 to February 1674 during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, a related conflict of the Franco-Dutch War. A naval expedition led by Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and Jacob Binckes attacked Kingd ...

. Ironically, the Dutch had the objective of capturing the homeward-bound

EIC EIC may refer to: Companies and organizations *East India Company, a major British company that once controlled major parts of the Indian subcontinent *East India Club * East India Comedy, an Indian comedy group * Edison Illuminating Company * ...

fleet that Munden intended to protect. As Munden had the larger number of ships, the Dutch fled while slipping their anchors. Munden was unable to catch them, but retrieved the Dutch anchors, before departing for

St. Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

.Shomette and Haslach, pp. 57-75 Touching at

St Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

for water, he found the island in the possession of the Dutch. After a spirited attack by sea and land he recaptured it on 4 May, and three Dutch East Indiamen, richly laden, who anchored in the bay, were seized. With his squadron and prizes and the homeward-bound ships in convoy, Munden arrived in England in August, and on 6 December was knighted by the king, "in consideration of his eminent service". In April 1677, in command of the ''

St David Saint David ( cy, Dewi Sant; la, Davidus; ) was a Welsh bishop of Mynyw (now St Davids) during the 6th century. He is the patron saint of Wales. David was a native of Wales, and tradition has preserved a relatively large amount of detail abo ...

'', he convoyed the trade to the Mediterranean, was for some time at Zante, afterwards at Scanderoon, and for fourteen months at Smyrna. He arrived at Plymouth with the homeward trade on 12 May 1680. On 15 June he wrote to the admiralty explaining that he had not sent home the muster-books from the Mediterranean, the postage being extremely heavy, and by no means safe. Ten days later, 25 June 1680, he died. He was buried in the church at Bromley, Middlesex. Munden married Susan Gore, by whom he had five daughters and one son,

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

, born posthumously. Shortly after his death

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

were granted to the widow, her children, and her husband's brother, Sir John Munden.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Munden, Richard 1640 births 1680 deaths Royal Navy officers