George Sartorius Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rose Sartorius ( 9 August 1790 – 13 April 1885 ) was an officer of the British Royal Navy who served during the Napoleonic Wars , and later commanded the navy of Dom Pedro in the Portuguese Civil Wars . Biography . Family background . Sartorius was born in Bombay , India , the eldest son of John Conrad Sartorius , a Colonel of Engineers serving in the army of the East India Company , and of Annabella , daughter of George Rose . Napoleonic Wars . Sartorius entered the Navy in June 1801 , as a first - class volunteer , on board the yacht " Mary " , under the command of Captain Sir Harry Burrard - Neale . Between May 1802 and October 1804 he served aboard the frigates and , commanded by Captain James Wallis on the home station , and was rated as a midshipman . He then joined the , serving under Captains William Henry Jervis and Charles Tyler , seeing action under the latter at the battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805 . After the battle he served as part of the prize crew , under Lieutenant James Stuart , on board the captured Spanish 74 . In June 1806 he joined the , Captain Francis Mason . He took part in the capture of Montevideo in February 1807 , and participated in various operations in South America . He was promoted to lieutenant on 5 March 1808 , into the frigate , Captain John Ayscough . There he was employed in protecting to the Greenland fisheries , before being sent to the Mediterranean , where he assisted at the reduction of the Phlegraean Islands of Ischia and Procida , and operated in the defence of Sicily against the threatened invasion of Joachim Murat . On 4 April 1810 , Sartorius commanded the boats of the " Success " and brig , at the destruction of two vessels laden with oil , while under a heavy fire , on the beach near Castiglione , and on the 25th he assisted at the capture of an armed ship and three barques close to the castle of Terracina . After serving with the flotilla at the defence of Cádiz he was promoted to commander on 1 February 1812 , and was appointed to the gun - brig , and then the brig - sloop , both on the home station . Promoted to post - captain on 6 June 1814 , Sartorius commanded the 20 - gun from December 1814 until August 1815 , and was present at the surrender of Napoleon Bonaparte to Captain Frederick Maitland of at Rochefort on 15 July 1815 . In Portuguese service . In 1831 he was engaged to command the small fleet of the ex - Emperor of Brazil , Dom Pedro , Duke of Braganza , in the attempt to defeat his brother Dom Miguel , who had usurped the throne of Portugal , and to install Pedro ' s daughter as the rightful queen , Dona Maria II . Sartorius conveyed Pedro ' s expeditionary force from the Azores and safely effected their landing at Mindelo in July 1832 , from where they were able to occupy Porto . Despite this success , he also had to contend with many difficulties ; promised supplies rarely arrived , and his crews consequently became mutinous or deserted . Sartorius spent a great deal of his own money in keeping the fleet together , but when he threatened to sail off with it until he was paid , Dom Pedro sent two English officers to the flagship ; one to arrest Sartorius , the other to take command . Sartorius promptly confined them both aboard . In June 1833 , Sartorius handed command over to Captain Sir Charles Napier . In consequence of serving in the armed forces of a foreign power , an offence under the 1819 Foreign Enlistment Act , his name was struck off the British Navy List , and was not restored until 1836 . For his services to the Portuguese he was presented with the Grand Cross of the Order of Aviz , and created a Knight Commander of the Order of the Tower and Sword , and was made Visconde da Piedade in 1832 , and later became Visconde de Mindelo , and Conde de Penha Firme . Later naval career . On 21 August 1841 Sartorius received a knighthood from the Queen at Windsor Castle , and was also appointed to command of in the Mediterranean . In July 1843 off Cadiz he received on board Baldomero Espartero , the regent of Spain , who had been driven out by a coup d ' état . He later received the thanks of the President and Congress of the United States for his efforts in saving the frigate , which caught fire at Gibraltar in August 1843 . " Malabar " was paid off in 1844 , and Sartorius saw no further service at sea , though he continued to take an active interest in naval affairs , becoming one of the earliest advocates of ram ships . On 9 November 1846 he was appointed a naval aide - de - camp to the Queen , and was promoted to rear - admiral on 9 May 1849 . He served as commander - in - chief at Queenstown from 1855 to 1856 , receiving promotion to vice - admiral on 31 January 1856 , and then to admiral on 11 February 1861 . On 28 March 1865 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath . He was appointed the Vice - Admiral of the United Kingdom and Lieutenant of the Admiralty on 1 March 1869 , and on 2 July was promoted to admiral of the fleet . On 23 April 1880 he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath . Sartorius died on 13 April 1885 , and is buried at the Church of St . Mary the Virgin , South Baddesley , while the east window of the nearby Church of St . Thomas the Apostle , Lymington is dedicated to him . His son Reginald is also buried at South Baddesley . Personal life . In 1839 he married Sophia , a daughter of John Lamb , and had three sons and three daughters : All three boys became Army officers : Two of his sons were awarded the Victoria Cross , Reginald during the Third Anglo - Ashanti War , and Euston during the Second Anglo - Afghan War . References .