Richard Lestock Richard Lestock ( 22 February 1679 – 17 December 1746 ) was an officer in the Royal Navy , eventually rising to the rank of Admiral . He fought in a number of battles , and was a controversial figure , most remembered for his part in the defeat at the Battle of Toulon , and the subsequent court - martial . Family and early years . Lestock is believed to have been born on 22 February 1679 , though he may have been born some years previously . He was the second son of Richard Lestock ( d . 1713 ) and his wife , Rebecca ( d . 1709 ) . His father had been magistrate for Middlesex , and commander of a number of merchant ships . On 26 December 1690 , the father was among those invited by the Admiralty to volunteer for naval service , which he did . On 6 January 1691 Lestock ' s father was appointed to command HMS " Cambridge " . Lestock followed his father into the navy . In April 1701 he was appointed third lieutenant to the " Cambridge " . A number of postings to different ships then followed , to HMS " Solebay " , HMS " Exeter " and then HMS " Barfleur " . The " Barfleur " was at this time the flagship of Sir Cloudesley Shovell . Lestock was present with Shovell at the Battle of Vélez - Málaga . Shovell then promoted him to his first command , and in August 1705 Lestock became master and commander of the fire ship HMS " Vulture " . Whilst in command of her , he was active ashore at the relief of Barcelona and the capture of Alicante . Captain of the " Fowey " and the " Panther " . Lestock took over the command of the 32 - gun HMS " Fowey " on 29 April 1706 , and was sent home in September with the news of the surrender of Alicante . On his return he was among those who helped to destroy a 64 - gun French warship off Almeria in December that year . He was then ordered to join with Sir George Byng to assist the ground forces in the failed attack on Toulon in 1707 . Lestock and the " Fowey " were then present at the capture of Minorca the following year . The " Fowey " was sailing from Alicante to Lisbon in April 1709 , when on 14 April she was overhauled by two enemy 40 - gun frigate s . A two hour battle ensued , after which the outgunned " Fowey " was forced to surrender . Lestock was exchanged shortly after and returned to England , where he faced a court - martial for the loss of his ship . He was fully acquitted on 31 August 1709 . His next appointment was to command HMS " Weymouth " in the West Indies , which he did from 1710 until 1712 . When she was paid off ( decommissioned ) , Lestock went to half pay for five years , before he finally received command of HMS " Panther " in the Baltic in 1717 . The fleet he joined was under George Byng , whom he had served with before . Lestock was given command of a seven - ship squadron , and ordered to cruise off Göteborg and in the Skagerrak , operating against Swedish privateer s . Lestock seems to have made a favourable impression , and Byng made him second captain aboard his flagship , the " Barfleur " , during the Battle of Cape Passaro in 1718 . Career stalled . Despite impressing so highly influential an admiral , Lestock remained on half pay for nearly ten years . He returned to active duty only in 1728 , commanding HMS " Princess Amelia " . He moved the next year to join HMS " Royal Oak " , and served aboard her in the Mediterranean in 1731 under Sir Charles Wager . He took up his next command , that of HMS " Kingston " on 21 February 1732 and received orders on 6 April to wear a red broad pennant and prepare to sail to the West Indies to take up the post of commander - in - chief at Jamaica . Contrary winds however stopped him sailing until 29 April . Three weeks later Sir Chaloner Ogle was appointed commander - in - chief at Jamaica instead , and a letter was written ordering Lestock to strike his flag and return to Britain . No reason was given . Lestock was dismayed by this snub , writing in a letter from Port Royal on 21 November : My affair being without precedent I cannot say much , but such a fate as I have met with is far worse than death , many particulars of which I doubt not will be heard from me when I shall be able to present myself to my lords of the admiralty . Further humiliation followed when he was twice passed over for flag - rank in 1733 and again in 1734 . During this period five captains of lesser seniority were promoted . Despite this apparent stalling of his career , Lestock continued in active service . He was appointed captain of HMS " Somerset " on 22 February 1734 , the " Somerset " then stationed as guard ship in the Medway . He served aboard her until April 1738 , then moving to HMS " Grafton " , stationed at the Nore . During his time here he was noted for being occasionally overly zealous in arresting vessels that had no right to wear an official pendant . He was made captain of HMS " Boyne " in August 1739 , and accompanied Sir Chaloner Ogle to the West Indies the following year . Return to prominence . Whilst in the West Indies , Vice - Admiral Edward Vernon appointed him commodore and third in command of the fleet . Lestock regularly attended Vernon ' s naval councils of war . During the Battle of Cartagena de Indias he was appointed to command the attack on Fort San Luis on 23 March 1741 . The battle ended in defeat and the " Boyne " was severely damaged . Lestock returned to England in the summer aboard the " Princess Carolina " . He then took over the command of HMS " Neptune " placed in charge of a large contingent of reinforcements sailing to the Mediterranean . Bad weather contrived to delay the sailing for several weeks , and he was unable to join Vice - Admiral Nicholas Haddock ' s fleet until the end of January 1742 . By this time , the ships had been badly damaged by the weather , and many of the crew were ill or had died . Nevertheless Lestock was promoted to rear - admiral on 13 March 1742 . Haddock was forced to return to England a couple of months later due to ill health , leaving Lestock as acting commander - in - chief . Lestock hoped to have the appointment confirmed from England , but was bitterly disappointed to learn that Vice - Admiral Thomas Mathews had been dispatched to take over command . Mathews had requested that Lestock be recalled , and Lestock subsequently asked to be given the West Indies command . Relations with Mathews . The two men had already worked together . Mathews had been commissioner at Chatham during the period Lestock had been in charge of the guard ships . Mathews arrived and took over command , and began to openly criticise Lestock ' s performance . He also countermanded his appointments . Mathews was much occupied with the diplomatic duties of his position and relied on Lestock to manage the fleet , but became increasingly resentful of Lestock ' s inability to do his job owing to his poor health . Despite sending complaints back home , Lestock was promoted to vice - admiral of the white on 29 November 1743 and remained as Mathews ' second . The Battle of Toulon . It was whilst the two were on the Mediterranean station that the Battle of Toulon was fought on 11 February 1744 . The British fleet attempted to engage a Spanish convoy , with Lestock taking command of the Rear division . The battle ended in failure for the British . Lestock was accused of adhering to a restrictive interpretation of the fighting instructions and for a failure to take the initiative , so contributing to the failure . The British had been following the Spanish the previous day , but on the evening of 10 February Lestock halted the rear before it had reached its proper position in line abreast . By morning they had drifted even further out of line , eventually lying some five miles distant of the rest of the fleet . Only then did Lestock attempt to reach the action , but arrived too late . Mathews had been making signals all morning , and had twice sent a lieutenant in a boat to urge Lestock to bring his ships into the battle . Lestock replied that he was doing all he could , but that some of his ships were slow . He did not however order his faster ones forwards , nor did he follow Mathews ' signal to engage , allowing four lagging Spanish ships to slip away from him . After the action Lestock argued that the signal for the line was still flying , which he saw as his primary duty to obey . He would only therefore follow the signal to engage when he could do so from his position in the line . When challenged why he had allowed such a gap to open between the rear and the rest of the fleet the previous night , Lestock claimed that the rules required him to follow the signal to ‘ bring to ’ the moment it was given , this taking precedence over the signal to move to line abreast . These interpretations were highly dubious , and failed to satisfy Mathews . He suspended Lestock and sent him home . He did not charge him though . The action is debated . On his return , Lestock began to cast blame on Mathews and other captains that had not served in his division . A pamphlet war ensued , but high and low opinion was against him . Lestock did have important political friends though , and they managed to obtain a parliamentary inquiry into the outcome . This took place in the House of Commons over a number of days between March – April 1745 , and sharply divided public opinion . Anti - Mathews speeches were made by Henry Fox and George Grenville , whilst Lestock himself impressed the MPs with his cool , calm demeanour . Mathews ' defence in comparison was seen as heated and disorganized , just as how Lestock claimed Mathews had fought the battle . Mathews was also viewed with suspicion by the naval authorities , who were wary of his ‘ out of doors ’ popularity . The Admiralty Board convened a court - martial made up of officers sympathetic to Lestock , who was acquitted of any wrongdoing , while Mathews was cashiered . Controversy over the judgement . The outcome failed to convince the wider population . A later naval historian wrote in 1758 that : ‘ the nation could not be persuaded that the vice - admiral ought to be exculpated for not fighting ’ and the admiral cashiered for fighting The evidence of the court - marital was not released and confusion over the true events persisted for some time . Robert Beatson decided that Lestock ‘ shewed a zeal and attention which gives a very advantageous idea of his capacity as a seaman and an officer ’ whilst John Campbell declared in his " Lives of the British Admirals " that Lestock ‘ ought to have been shot ’ . Public opinion remained divided , but a song written in the earlier nineteenth century about the heroism of Richard Avery Hornsby , entitled " Brave Captain Hornsby " references Lestock , depicting him as betraying his friends : " There is an old proverb I ' ve lately thought on , < br > " When you think of a friend you ' re sure to find none ' ; < br > " For when that I thought to see Lestock come by , < br > " He was five miles a distance , and would not come nigh ; Return to service and last days . On 3 June 1746 , just two days after his acquittal he was promoted admiral of the blue and given command of a large squadron . The original plan called for the launching of an assault on Quebec , but an attack on the French port of Lorient was decided instead . Despite planning difficulties , the force was landed and nearly succeeded in taking the city . The result was ultimately a failure and was viewed as such by a disappointed public , but Lestock appears to have acquitted himself well . After the success of the operation , he hoped to receive an appointment to command a spring expedition to North America , but his health suddenly declined , and he died of a stomach ailment on 13 December 1746 . Family and personal life . Lestock probably married Sarah ( d . 1744 ) , of Chigwell Row in Essex during his time on half pay in the early 1720s . They may have had a son , as a boy named Richard Lestock was baptised at Chigwell on 14 July 1723 , but if so he presumably died young as no more is heard about him . The couple also had a daughter , Elizabeth , who survived her father . In addition , Lestock promoted a man named James Peers to the command of the " Kingston " at Jamaica on 26 August 1732 . Peers was apparently spoken of as Lestock ' s son - in - law ; however he may have been his stepson according to the language of the time , and hence the son from a previous marriage to the widow Sarah Peers . His wife predeceased him on 12 September 1744 . Their daughter married James Peacock , a purser in the navy . Lestock seems to have been on bad terms with his family , leaving all of his property to an apothecary , William Monke of London . He also left a bequest to his friend Henry Fox , who had been one of those defending him in the Commons .