Captain Woodley Francis Losack (5 October 1769 – 30 May 1838) was an officer of the British

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 during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

and the

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 ...

. He participated in the

Battle of Tamatave The Battle of Tamatave (sometimes called the Battle of Madagascar or the Action of 20 May 1811) was fought off Tamatave in Madagascar between British and French frigate squadrons during the Napoleonic Wars. The action was the final engagement o ...

(1811) as captain of .

Family background

He was the youngest of the eight children of Richard (James) Hawkshaw Losack and Christiana Losack (née Maclure). Woodley Losack was born on 5th October, 1769 in

Basseterre Basseterre (; Saint Kitts Creole: ''Basterre'') is the capital and largest city of Saint Kitts and Nevis with an estimated population of 14,000 in 2018. Geographically, the Basseterre port is located at , on the south western coast of Saint Kitt ...

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. His father Richard was appointed the Lieutenant Governor of the

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. His brother

George Losack Admiral George Losack (died 19 September 1829) was an officer of the British Royal Navy who saw service in the American Revolutionary War the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Losack commanded the brig HMS ''Termagant'' in the Caribbean ...

preceded him into the Royal Navy 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, ...

Early naval career

As a

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 ...

, Losack served on , the flagship of Admiral

William Cornwallis Admiral of the Red Sir William Cornwallis, (10 February 17445 July 1819) was a Royal Navy officer. He was the brother of Charles Cornwallis, the 1st Marquess Cornwallis, British commander at the siege of Yorktown. Cornwallis took part in a n ...

, and participated in the enterprise to cut out ''la Chevrette'', a French

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

, of 20 nine-pounders and 350 men, from under the batteries in

Camaret Bay Camaret Bay () is a small bay on the north coast of Brittany, France. In 1694 it was the site of the battle of Camaret, a naval action between French and English forces, which culminated in a disastrous amphibious landing by the English as part o ...

, near

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, on the night of 21 July 1801. Lieutenant Losack and Lieutenant Keith Maxwell were promoted to the rank of

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

for their services in this enterprise. In 1801,he was appointed

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 ...

and held the temporary command of the 36-gun

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 N ...

in the spring of 1801. On 1 May 1801, ''Jason'' captured ''la Dorade'', a brig privateer of 14 guns and 51 men. Later that year, he was appointed Captain of HMS ''Helena'' (1804), an 18-gun

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 ...

. On 5 June, 1805, the ''Helena'' captured the ''Santa Leocadia'', a Spanish privateer of 14 guns and 114 men.

Post-captain

Losack was made

post-captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), 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) ...

on 22 January 1806. In 1807 he was appointed as Captain of the

second rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

. Following the concern in Britain that neutral

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was entering an alliance with

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, the ''Prince George'' sailed in the squadron in the expedition to occupy the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...

, with the squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral

Alexander Cochrane Admiral of the Blue Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane (born Alexander Forrester Cochrane; 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832) was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of admiral. He had previously captain ...

, who sailed in . The squadron, which included , , and , captured the ''Telemaco'', ''Carvalho'' and ''Master'' on 17 April 1807.

The Battle of Tamatave

From 7 September 1810 to July 1814 he was Captain of the

. On 20 May 1811 he took part in the

between a squadron, under the command of Captain

Charles Marsh Schomberg Captain Sir Charles Marsh Schomberg (1779 – 2 January 1835) was an officer of the British Royal Navy, who served during French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and later served as Lieutenant-Governor of Dominica. Biography Family backgro ...

, which comprised three English frigates (HMS ''Galatea'', and ), and the brig-sloop , and three French vessels of superior force ('' Renommée'', '' Clorinde'' and '' Néréide''). The action marked the end of the final French attempt to operate in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

during the Napoleonic Wars. The surviving participants in the battle qualified for the Naval General Service Medal, which was awarded in 1847 with clasp "Off Tamatave 20 May 1811". There were recriminations among the British squadron, Schomberg praising ''Astraea'' and ''Phoebe'' but omitting ''Racehorse'' and ''Galatea'' from the recommendations in his post-battle report. Captain Losack was particularly offended as Schomberg had implied that ''Galatea'''s distress signal that was flown during the battle was an overreaction in the face of the enemy, despite her casualties being greater than the rest of the squadron combined. He subsequently requested a court martial to clear any suggestion of cowardice from his name but the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

refused, commenting that they were fully satisfied with his conduct. Historian

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

claims that opinion within the Navy was also with Losack and that Schomberg had been excessively harsh in his criticism.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Losack, Woodley 1769 births 1838 deaths Royal Navy officers Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars