Vice-Admiral Thomas Pringle (died 8 December 1803) was a British officer of 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 Fr ...

. He served during the

American War of Independence 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 the French Revolutionary and

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 Fre ...

Family and early life

He was born into a wealthy Scottish family, the only son of Walter Pringle, a prosperous West Indies planter. He served in North America in 1775, as first lieutenant of . Stationed at

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

as American forces approached, Pringle was sent to Britain in November 1775 aboard the merchant vessel ''Polly'', with despatches warning of the imminent American attack.

Command

Pringle was briefly captain of the armed ship ''Lord Howe''. He left her and in October 1776, he commanded the Royal Navy fleet on

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in the

Battle of Valcour Island The Battle of Valcour Island, also known as the Battle of Valcour Bay, was a naval engagement that took place on October 11, 1776, on Lake Champlain. The main action took place in Valcour Bay, a narrow strait between the New York mainland and Va ...

, where he defeated a smaller American fleet under the command of

Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold ( Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defect ...

.Obituary in ''The Naval Register'', vol. 10

803 __NOTOC__ Year 803 ( DCCCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Emperors Nikephoros I and Charlemagne settle their imperial boundaries i ...

p. 517
Digitised copy
/ref> Stanley, p. 137 On his return to England in November 1776 he was 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 ...

. In January 1777, he was given command of , assigned to the West Indies station. He served well there, capturing a number of American naval vessels, transports, and privateers, including the Virginia State Navy brig ''Mosquito'' on 5 June 1777, and the privateer ''Johnston'' on 29 November 1777. His most notable prize was on 10 July 1778, captured in company with James Richard Dacres's .

Hadden Hadden is the place name of: * Hadden, Roxburghshire, Scotland Hadden is the surname of: *Al Hadden (1899–1969), American professional football player * Alf Hadden (1877–1936), Australian cricketer *Briton Hadden (1898–1929), co-founder o ...

, p. 18 Pringle operated for the next two years with Admiral Samuel Barrington's fleet, seeing action at the

Battle of St. Lucia The Battle of St. Lucia or the Battle of the Cul de Sac was a naval battle fought off the island of St. Lucia in the West Indies during the American Revolutionary War on 15 December 1778, between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy. Back ...

on 14/15 December 1778, and at the

Battle of Grenada The Battle of Grenada took place on 6 July 1779 during the American Revolutionary War in the West Indies between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy, just off the coast of Grenada. The British fleet of Admiral John Byron (the grandfath ...

on 6 July 1779. Pringle sailed home with Barrington and paid off ''Ariadne'' for a refit in early 1780. In July 1780 he was given command of , a 32-gun frigate, in which he served as part of the North American fleet for the next two years. He also operated in British waters, capturing the privateer ''Moustic'' in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...

on 20 January 1782.

The Nelson connection

In April 1782 he escorted a convoy from

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. Joining him for this task, and placed under his command, was Captain

Horatio Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought a ...

, in command of the frigate . Nelson was not looking forward to the tedious and difficult task of escorting a convoy through the Atlantic storms, nor did he rate Pringle highly, thinking that Pringle wanted to go to Canada only because of the money he could make shipping specie. In the event Nelson found the voyage to be not as bad as he had feared and also realised that he had misjudged Pringle, subsequently declaring that Pringle was 'my particular friend, and a man of great honour.' Nelson and Pringle's friendship was an enduring one. The day after Nelson's marriage to Frances Nisbet in 1787 Pringle wryly remarked that the navy had lost its 'greatest ornament', so expressing his concern that a wife got in the way of a successful naval career.

The Peace, and the French Revolutionary Wars

Pringle returned to Britain at the end of 1782, in time to capture another privateer in the Channel, this time the ''Légère'' on 11 December 1782. ''Daedalus'' was assigned to patrol the

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the n ...

fisheries in 1783, before Pringle paid her off in July 1784. He is recorded to have recommissioned the hulked 74-gun third rate in October 1787 as a receiving ship at

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century ...

, though had moved later that month to take command of the new 90-gun

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 ...

. In May 1790 he was put in command of , a 100-gun first-rate that served briefly as Admiral Samuel Barrington's flagship. In October 1793 he was given command of the 74-gun , joining Lord Howe's fleet. Pringle was therefore present at the

Glorious First of June The Glorious First of June (1 June 1794), also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant, (known in France as the or ) was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic ...

the following year, where his ship had two killed and nine wounded. He was awarded the Naval Gold Medal for his part in the action, and promoted to rear-admiral that year.

Flag rank

In 1795 Pringle, by now a rear-admiral, raised his flag aboard the 74-gun and served in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

. He later removed to , and sailed to South Africa to take command of the

Cape of Good Hope Station The Commander-in-Chief, Africa was the last title of a Royal Navy's formation commander located in South Africa from 1795 to 1939. Under varying titles, it was one of the longest-lived formations of the Royal Navy. It was also often known as the C ...

in May 1796. He was in

Saldanha Bay Saldanha Bay ( af, Saldanhabaai) is a natural harbour on the south-western coast of South Africa. The town that developed on the northern shore of the bay, also called Saldanha, was incorporated with five other towns into the Saldanha Bay Local ...

under Vice-Admiral

George Elphinstone George Elphinstone of Blythswood (died 1634) was a Scottish landowner, courtier, and Provost of Glasgow. Life George Elphinstone was the son of George Elphinstone of Blythswood (died 2 April 1585), a leading Glasgow merchant and shipowner, and ...

when a squadron of the Batavian Navy under Rear-Admiral Engelbertus Lucas was forced to surrender on 17 August 1796. His legacy as commander of the navy on the Cape station was commemorated in the naming of

Pringle Bay Pringle Bay ( af, Pringlebaai) is a small, affluent coastal village in the Overberg region of the Western Cape, in South Africa. It is situated at the foot of Hangklip, on the opposite side of False Bay from Cape Point. The town and surrounds are ...

. In 1797, he had to put down a mutiny aboard his flagship which was anchored in the harbour. The seamen aboard the ship had threatened their captain, George Hopewell Stephens, with a court-martial composed of members of the crew on charges of cruelty and mistreatment. The mutinous spirit was temporarily quashed with a general pardon, while Stephens requested a regular court-martial to clear his name. While this was held aboard , Pringle sent a ship to recall the ''Tremendous''s previous captain,

Charles Brisbane Sir Charles Brisbane KCB (1770 – December 1829) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence, and with distinction under Lords Hood and Nelson. He took part in 1796 in the capitulation of Saldanha Ba ...

. Stephens was honourably acquitted at the court-martial and returned to duty, but shortly afterwards the crew of the ''Tremendous'' broke out into open mutiny, this spreading to other ships in the harbour. Pringle, who was onshore at the time, ordered the batteries around the harbour to be manned, and aimed at the ''Tremendous'', the source of the mutiny. With over 100 guns pointed at his flagship he demanded the crews return to obedience and give up the ringleaders within two hours, or he would order the ''Tremendous'' destroyed. Realising that Pringle was sincere in his intent, the mutineers surrendered 10 minutes before Pringle's deadline passed. The ringleaders were handed over and order was restored to the fleet. On 14 February 1799, Pringle was promoted to Vice Admiral of the White, and on 1 January 1801, to Vice Admiral of the Red. He died in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on 8 December 1803.

, p. 19

Notes

References

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