Admiral Sir Peircy Brett (1709 – 14 October 1781) 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. As a junior officer he served on George Anson's voyage around the world and commanded the landing party which sacked and burned the town of

Paita Paita is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Paita Province which is in the Piura Region. It is a leading seaport in the region. Paita is located 1,089 km northwest of the country's capital Lima, and 57 km northwest o ...

in November 1741. During the

Jacobite rising , war = , image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg , image_size = 150px , caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766 , active ...

Brett saw action on 9 July 1745, when as captain of the fourth-rate he exchanged fire with the French ships Elizabeth and the Du Teillay: the Du Teillay at the time was carrying Charles Edward Stuart to Scotland with supplies and funds to support his cause. Brett also commanded the

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 ...

at the

First Battle of Cape Finisterre The First Battle of Cape Finisterre (14 May 1747in the Julian calendar then in use in Britain this was 3 May 1747) was waged during the War of the Austrian Succession. It refers to the attack by 14 British ships of the line under Admiral Georg ...

in May 1747 during the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession () was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George's ...

. He commanded on the

North America and West Indies Station The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956. The North American Station was separate from the Jamaica Station until 1830 when the ...

during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

and later became

Senior Naval Lord Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

. He was also a Member of Parliament, representing the constituency of

Queenborough Queenborough is a town on the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale borough of Kent in South East England. Queenborough is south of Sheerness. It grew as a port near the Thames Estuary at the westward entrance to the Swale where it joins the R ...

from 1754 until 1774.

Naval career

Early career

Born the son of Peircy Brett, a master in the navy, Brett joined the

as a volunteer in around 1725. Promoted to

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 ...

on 6 December 1734, he was appointed to 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 July 1738 he transferred to the

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 ...

and later that year to , one of the ships which sailed under the then Commodore George Anson for the Pacific in September 1740. Anson-Mason-1748-24

In February 1741 Brett transferred to Anson's own ship, the fourth-rate , as second lieutenant, and in this capacity, he commanded the landing party which sacked and burned the town of

in November 1741. After the capture of the Spanish treasure ship "Nuestra Señora de Covadonga", Brett became first lieutenant. On 30 September 1743, Anson made him captain of the Centurion when Anson himself had to leave the ship for a time in Canton. Once the party returned to England, on the arrival of the Centurion 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 15 June 1744 the Admiralty refused to confirm Brett's promotion 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 ...

, although they did give Brett a new commission as

dated the day the ship anchored. However, on 29 December 1744 the original commission date (30 September 1743) was confirmed under a new Admiralty Board of which Anson was a member. During the

Brett saw action on 9 July 1745, when as captain of the fourth-rate he exchanged fire with the French ships Elizabeth and the Du Teillay. The Du Teillay at the time was carrying Charles Edward Stuart to Scotland with supplies and funds to support his cause. The Lion suffered severe damage and had to give up the pursuit and Charles eventually landed at

Eriskay Eriskay ( gd, Èirisgeigh), from the Old Norse for "Eric's Isle", is an island and community council area of the Outer Hebrides in northern Scotland with a population of 143, as of the 2011 census. It lies between South Uist and Barra and is ...

. He transferred to the command of the

in 1747 and commanded her at the

in May 1747 during the

. In 1748, Anson's official version of his voyage round the World was published. As well as detailing the expedition, it contained a large amount of useful information for future navigators and with forty-two detailed charts and engravings most based on drawings by Brett. In 1752 Brett commanded the Royal Yacht ''Royal Caroline'' for a voyage conveying King

George II George II or 2 may refer to: People * George II of Antioch (seventh century AD) * George II of Armenia (late ninth century) * George II of Abkhazia (916–960) * Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051) * George II of Georgia (1072–1089) ...

to Germany, for which he was awarded a knighthood. He was appointed captain responsible for all Royal yachts in 1754, and elected as MP for Queensborough in the same year. A new 80-gun ship of the line, , was commissioned in January 1756. Brett was named as her first captain, bringing with him his choice of petty officers and foretopmen from the Royal yacht fleet. Despite her commissioning ''Cambridge'' required several months of fitting out for sea service and was still unseaworthy when war with France was declared in May 1756. Brett was forced to wait until December for ''Cambridge'' to be declared fit to put to sea, and then it was not until February 1757 that she was equipped with her full complement of cannon. Brett's orders were to join Admiral

Edward Boscawen Admiral of the Blue Edward Boscawen, PC (19 August 171110 January 1761) was a British admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament for the borough of Truro, Cornwall, England. He is known principally for his various naval commands during ...

's Western Squadron protecting British interests on the

. Having finally put to sea he found that his ship was slow and top-heavy, with a tendency to heel over in strong winds. He was also forced to deal with widespread sickness among his crew. Disease spread so fast among the crew that ''Cambridge'' was forced to return to Plymouth after only one year at sea so that the sick could be discharged to local hospitals. On 5 November 1758 Brett was granted a new position as

flag captain In the Royal Navy, a flag captain was the captain of an admiral's flagship. During the 18th and 19th centuries, this ship might also have a "captain of the fleet", who would be ranked between the admiral and the "flag captain" as the ship's "First ...

for Admiral Anson aboard the 100-gun . He resigned this commission ten days later and returned to his previous role as captain of the Royal yachts.

Flag officer

Brett was promoted to rear admiral in 1762. When peace was declared in 1764 Brett returned to service aboard Anson's old vessel ''Centurion'', and was stationed in the Mediterranean. He was appointed to the Board of Admiralty as

in the

Chatham ministry The Chatham ministry was a British government led by William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham that ruled between 1766 and 1768. Because of Pitt's former prominence before his title, it is sometimes referred to as the Pitt ministry. Unusually for a poli ...

under Sir Edward Hawke in December 1766, holding office until 28 February 1770. He was promoted to vice admiral on 18 October 1770 and, having resigned his constituency of Queensborough in 1774, he was promoted to full admiral on 29 January 1778. He lived at the Clock House in

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

;Lysons, p. 305 he died on 14 October 1781 and was buried at St George's Church, Beckenham.

Family

Brett married Henrietta Colby; the couple had two sons, who died in infancy, and a daughter.

References

Sources

* *

J. K. 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 ...

, ''Brett, Sir Peircy (1709–1781)'', rev. Roger Morriss, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200

* * * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Brett, Peircy 1709 births 1781 deaths Lords of the Admiralty Royal Navy admirals British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies