Sir Francis Samuel Drake, 1st Baronet (1729 – 19 October 1789) was an officer of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. He served during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

and 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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, rising to the rank of

Rear-admiral of the Red Rear-Admiral of the Red was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Vice-Admiral of the Blue (see order of precedence below). Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, rear adm ...

Family and the Seven Years' War

Francis was baptised on 14 September 1729, at

Buckland Monachorum Buckland Monachorum is a village and civil parish in the West Devon district of Devon, England, situated on the River Tavy, about 10 miles north of Plymouth. In 2006 the neighbourhood had an estimated 1,511 residents and 654 dwellings. The elect ...

, Devonshire. He was the fourth son of

Sir Francis Drake, 4th Baronet Sir Francis Henry Drake, 4th Baronet (1694–1740) of Buckland Abbey, Devon was a British landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1740. Early life Drake was the eldest surviving son of Sir Francis Drake, 3rd B ...

, and Anne Heathcote. He was the younger brother of

Sir Francis Henry Drake, 5th Baronet Sir Francis Henry Drake, 5th Baronet (29 August 1723 – 19 February 1794) was an English Master of the Household and Member of Parliament. He was born the eldest son of Sir Francis Drake, 4th Baronet, whom he succeeded in 1740. He was educat ...

, the last in the line of baronets descending from Sir Francis Drake, 1st Baronet, nephew of the

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

naval hero

Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English Exploration, explorer and privateer best known for making the Francis Drake's circumnavigation, second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580 (bein ...

. He served for a time as lieutenant aboard the 44-gun and the 60-gun . He was promoted to command the 10-gun sloop on 30 March 1756, during the

, and achieved the rank of

post-captain Post-captain or post captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term "post-captain" was descriptive only; it was never used as a title in the form "Post-Captain John Smith". The term served to dis ...

later that year with a posting to command the 20-gun on 15 November. On 11 March 1757 he was appointed, in succession to his second brother,

Francis William Drake Francis William Drake (1724 – 1788 or 1789) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, rising to the rank of vice-admiral of the red. Fam ...

, to the 50-gun . He commanded the ''Falkland'' for the next five years. He was present in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

during the operations under Commodore John Moore between 1757 and 1758, and then went to

St. Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

to escort the homeward-bound trade in the spring of 1759. He served on the south coast of

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

that autumn with the squadron under Captain Robert Duff, and was present at the defeat of the French at the

Battle of Quiberon Bay The Battle of Quiberon Bay (known as the ''Bataille des Cardinaux'' by the French) was a decisive naval engagement during the Seven Years' War. It was fought on 20 November 1759 between the Royal Navy and the French Navy in Quiberon Bay, off ...

on 20 November 1759. Drake then served in the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

with Commodore Swanton in the summer of 1760; with Lord Colville on the coast of North America, and with Sir James Douglas at the

Leeward Islands The Leeward Islands () are a group of islands situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. In Engl ...

in 1761 during the Invasion of Dominica, continuing there under Sir George Rodney in 1762 during the Invasion of Martinique, when he was moved into the 50-gun , which he commanded until the end of the war.

Peace and American War of Independence

Drake was appointed to command the 70-gun in 1766, and moved from there to the 74-gun HMS ''Torbay'' between 1772 and 1775. ''Torbay'' was the

guardship A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea. Royal Navy In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usua ...

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

during this time. With the outbreak of the American War of Independence, Drake was appointed to command the 74-gun in the spring of 1778. The ''Russell'' was one of the squadron which sailed for America under the command of Vice-Admiral

John Byron Vice-Admiral John Byron (8 November 1723 – 1 April 1786) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer. He earned the nickname "Foul-Weather Jack" in the press because of his frequent encounters with bad weather at sea. As a midshipman, he sa ...

. ''Russell'' was badly damaged in a gale which scattered the squadron, and Drake was forced to return to England for repairs. He therefore did not sail to America until the spring of 1779. During that year and the early part of 1780, Drake operated as part of the fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral

Mariot Arbuthnot Admiral of the Blue Mariot Arbuthnot (1711 – 31 January 1794) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the American War of Independence. Early life A native of Weymouth, Dorset in England, Arbuthnot was the son of Robert Arbuthnot and Sarah ...

. Drake was then sent to join Rodney in the West Indies, and accompanied him to the coast of North America, and back again to the West Indies, where he received a commission as rear-admiral, dated 26 September 1780. He then hoisted his flag in the 70-gun ; took part under Rodney in the operations against the Dutch Islands, including the

Capture of Sint Eustatius The Capture of Sint Eustatius took place in February 1781 during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War when British Army and naval forces under Lieutenant-General Sir John Vaughan and Admiral George Rodney seized the Dutch-owned Caribbean island of Si ...

, and was detached under

Sir Samuel Hood Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (12 December 1724 – 27 January 1816) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. As a junior officer he saw action during the War of the Austrian Succession. While in temporary command of , Hood drove a Fre ...

to blockade

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

, where, with his flag in , he was warmly engaged in the

Battle of Fort Royal The Battle of Fort Royal was a naval battle fought off Fort Royal, Martinique in the West Indies during the Anglo-French War on 29 April 1781, between fleets of the British Royal Navy and the French Navy. After an engagement lasting four hours, ...

against with De Grasse on 29 April 1781. In August, with his flag again on ''Princessa'', he accompanied Hood to North America, and commanded the van at the

Battle of the Chesapeake The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American Revolutionary War that took place near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 1 ...

on 5 September, with the fleet under Sir Thomas Graves. ''Princessa'' was heavily damaged in the battle, forcing Drake to shift his flag temporarily to the 74-gun . He afterwards returned with Hood to the West Indies, took part with him in the

Battle of Saint Kitts The Battle of Saint Kitts, also known as the Battle of Frigate Bay, was a naval battle fought on 25 and 26 January 1782 during the American Revolutionary War between a British fleet under Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood and a larger French fleet ...

in January 1782, and on 12 April, by the accident of position, commanded the

vanguard The vanguard (sometimes abbreviated to van and also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. ...

of the fleet under Sir George Rodney in the

Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...

. He was made a baronet on 28 May 1782 for his conduct on this occasion. He continued in the West Indies until the end of the war, after which he had no further service.

Later life

On 12 August 1789, was appointed a junior lord of the admiralty, but died shortly afterwards, on 19 October 1789. He was twice married, first, to Elizabeth Hayman, of Kent; and, secondly, in January 1788, to Pooley, daughter of

George Onslow George Onslow may refer to: *George Onslow (British Army officer) (1731–1792), British politician and army officer *George Onslow, 1st Earl of Onslow (1731–1814), British peer and politician *George Onslow (composer) (1784–1853), French compo ...

, Esq., M.P. for

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

, but left no issue, and the baronetcy became extinct. His elder brother, Francis William, a vice-admiral, with whom he is frequently confused, died about the same time, with descendants by his daughter but no male issue; and the eldest brother, Francis Henry, the hereditary baronet, dying also without issue this title too became extinct.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, Francis Samuel Royal Navy rear admirals Royal Navy personnel of the Seven Years' War Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Drake, 1st Baronet Younger sons of baronets 1729 births 1789 deaths

Francis Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2 ...

Lords of the Admiralty