John Benbow
John Benbow was a Royal Navy officer. He joined the Navy in 1678, seeing action against Barbary pirates before leaving to join the Merchant Navy in which Benbow served until the 1688 Glorious Revolution, whereupon he returned to the Royal Navy and was commissioned.
Benbow fought against the French Navy during the Nine Years' War, serving on and later commanding several English warships and taking part in the battles of Beachy Head and Barfleur and La Hogue in 1690 and 1692. He went on to achieve fame during his military accomplishments, which included fighting against Barbary pirates such as the Salé Rovers, besieging Saint-Malo and seeing action in the West Indies against the French during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Benbow's fame and success earned him a promotion to the rank of vice-admiral. He subsequently fought at the action of August 1702, in which a number of his captains refused to support him in attacking the French. Benbow instigated the court-martial and subsequent imprisonment or execution of a number of the captains involved, though he did not live to see these results, dying of wounds sustained in battle. These events contributed to his notoriety, and led to several references to him in popular culture.
Family and early years
Benbow was born the son of William and Martha Benbow. The astrologer John Partridge recorded the exact time and date of his birth as being at noon on 10 March 1653, and this is the date used by the National Museum of the Royal Navy, the Encyclopædia Britannica, and the local historical accounts of Joseph Nightingale published in 1818. A biography within an 1819 publication of The Gentleman's Magazine, however, records in a short biography entitled Life and Exploits of Admiral Benbow by D. Parkes that he was born in 1650, as does the 1861 Sea kings and naval heroes by John George Edgar. Edgar records that Benbow's father died when Benbow was very young, while Parkes' account describes his father as being in the service of the Army under Charles I and not dying until Benbow was in his teens. Encyclopædia Britannica writes that Benbow's father was in fact a tanner. Meanwhile, his uncle, Thomas, was executed by Charles I. Both Parkes and the National Museum of the Royal Navy concur that Benbow was born in Coton Hill in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, and Nightingale asserts that the death of both uncle and father, and the family's association with Charles I in the years following his execution, ensured that the "family were brought very low". The young Benbow was employed at this time as apprentice to either a waterman or a butcher. However his lack of income or possessions, Nightingale writes, turned him to a career at sea.Naval career
Early years
Benbow entered the Royal Navy on 30 April 1678, aged 25 years. He became master's mate aboard the 64-gun under the command of Captain Arthur Herbert, while she was fitting out at Portsmouth. He sailed with her to the Mediterranean, where Herbert was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral while serving under the commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, Admiral Sir John Narborough. During this period the English fleet was often in action against the Barbary pirates of North Africa that were actively preying upon European shipping. Rupert herself captured an Algerine warship in 1678, which was later commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Tiger Prize. Benbow distinguished himself well in a number of actions against the Algerine vessels, and won Herbert's approval. On Narborough's return to England, Herbert was appointed acting commander-in-chief, and made Benbow master aboard on 15 June 1679. Nonsuch would remain at Tangiers and off the African coast and had a number of successive captains who would go on to achieve flag rank, including George Rooke, Cloudesley Shovell and Francis Wheler. All were impressed by Benbow, and would afterwards help to advance his career.Nonsuch was next in action on 8 August 1681, this time against the Algerine warship Golden Horse. Golden Horse had been engaged by, under the command of Captain William Booth, and when Nonsuch arrived on the scene Golden Horse surrendered. A dispute then arose over the question of the prize money and how it should be shared out, and comments were made amongst Nonsuchs crew against those of Adventure. Benbow's repetition of these eventually came to Booth's knowledge, and the captain brought a court-martial against Benbow; however, this revealed that Benbow had only been repeating these words rather than being their originator. Benbow was ordered to forfeit three months' pay, amounting to £12 15s., to Adventures crew, and to "ask Captain Booth's pardon on board His Majesty's ship Bristol, declaring that he had no malicious intent in speaking those words; all the commanders being present, and a boat's crew of each ship's company".
Merchant trading
Nonsuch then returned to England and was paid off on 9 November 1681. Benbow left the Royal Navy and entered the merchant service, sailing a merchant vessel from London and Bristol to ports in Italy and Spain. By 1686 he was a "tough merchant seaman" and the owner and commander of a frigate named Benbow, trading with the Levant. In May 1687 he commanded a merchant vessel, Malaga Merchant, and was aboard her when she was attacked by the Salé Rovers. He mounted a successful defence and beat off the attack. It was claimed afterwards that he cut off and salted the heads of thirteen North African pirates who were slain aboard his ship, and then took them into Cádiz to claim a reward from the city's magistrates. A North African kufi, "coated with varnish and set in silver" and bearing the inscription "First adventure of Captain John Benbow, and gift to Richard Ridley, 1687" is referred to in 1844 by Charles Dickens in Bentley's Miscellany where he speaks of Shrewsbury's history, and the 1885 Dictionary of National Biography also relates the story.Return to the Navy
Benbow only returned to the Royal Navy after the Glorious Revolution in 1688. His first recorded commission was to the post of third lieutenant of on 1 June 1689, under the command of Captain David Mitchell. His first command came on 20 September of that year, when he was appointed captain of. He was transferred to on 26 October and then to on 12 November.Benbow's next post was as Master Attendant of Chatham Dockyard. He then moved to become Master Attendant at Deptford Dockyard in early March 1690, a post he intermittently held for the next six years. He was master of HMS Royal Sovereign in summer 1690, under his old commander Arthur Herbert, now Lord Torrington. He was assigned to act as master of the fleet, and took part in the English defeat in the Battle of Beachy Head. After the defeat, a Royal Commission was held into the circumstances that led to it. Benbow was highly regarded as a specialist in both navigation and pilotage, and his evidence given in July 1690 to the preliminary investigation strongly favoured his old patron, Torrington. He did not, however, testify during Torrington's court-martial in December that year.
Benbow continued aboard Sovereign throughout 1691, and by the summer of 1692, was again master of the fleet, this time under Admiral Edward Russell, then aboard Britannia. Benbow worked closely with his old colleague David Mitchell, then serving as Russell's first captain, and Josiah Burchett, Russell's clerk. Benbow may have advised Russell to take the Gull Passage inside the Goodwin Sands to the Downs, where they linked up with the Dutch forces. Benbow served as master of the fleet during the Battles of Barfleur and La Hogue. After the battles, Benbow returned to Deptford to resume his duties as master attendant, spending a brief period at Portsmouth Dockyard helping to oversee repairs to the fleet. He had already had his pay upgraded to that of a master attendant, he was now to be paid as a master, in addition to his master attendant's wage, presumably as an acknowledgement of his special services.
With the bomb flotillas
Benbow returned to active naval service in September 1693, joining Thomas Phillips, the second engineer of the ordnance, in jointly commanding a flotilla of bomb vessels to attack Saint-Malo. Benbow went aboard the 48-gun and began the bombardment on 26 November. It continued intermittently until 19 November when a large fireship was sent into the harbour. An attempt was made to bring her alongside the town walls, but she ran aground, was set on fire, and exploded. Despite the failure of the initial plan, considerable damage was done, and Benbow's forces were able to take the fort on Quince Rock and disable it, carrying artillery and prisoners away and bringing them to Guernsey. Benbow was still dissatisfied with the overall result and initiated a court-martial against Captain Henry Tourville, accusing him of cowardice for not bringing his ship in closer. There was no conviction though, as the mortars were proved to be defective.Benbow's experience led to him being promoted to a similar flotilla, this time to be deployed against Dunkirk under the command of Vice-Admiral Shovell. A number of converted merchant vessels, rigged like fireships but designed to explode rather than burn, were assigned to support the expedition. Benbow had a hand in preparing these vessels for the operation throughout 1694, and worked closely with the principal storekeeper of the ordnance, Willem Meesters. Benbow's attacking fleet was covered by Shovell's fleet on the Downs and the attack was planned for 12 and 13 September. However, the French were able to block the entrance to the port, preventing Benbow's squadron from entering, and a storm further disrupted operations. Benbow drew back from Dunkirk, and instead sailed around to Calais, where he carried out a further bombardment on 27 September. He returned to the Downs and then resumed his duties at Deptford Dockyard. He spent December organising a convoy for a fleet of merchant vessels due to sail to Cádiz.