Samuel James Ballard Samuel James Ballard ( bapt . 28 March 1765 – 11 October 1829 ) was a Vice - Admiral in the Royal Navy . Biography . Ballard was baptised on 28 March 1765 at St . Thomas , Portsmouth , the son of Samuel Ballard , a burgess and chandler of Portsmouth , and Lydia née Flint , daughter of James Flint of Epsom in Surrey . Naval career . Ballard entered the navy in December 1776 , under the patronage of Captain the Honourable John Leveson - Gower , son of John Leveson - Gower , 1st Earl Gower , who was at that time the captain of the , which formed part of the fleet under the command of Admiral Keppel during the summer of 1778 . In October 1779 he was transferred to the , Captain Mark Robinson , and was present in her when Sir George Rodney defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape St . Vincent on 16 January 1780 . In the following July the " Shrewsbury " rejoined Rodney ' s fleet in the West Indies , was present off Martinique on 29 April 1781 , and led the van in the action off the Chesapeake on 5 September 1781 . During the battle the brunt of the fight fell on the " Shrewsbury " , which had fourteen killed and fifty - two wounded , including Captain Robinson , who lost a leg . The ship afterwards returned to the West Indies with Sir Samuel Hood , and was with him in the operations at St . Kitts in January 1782 , after which she had to be sent to Jamaica for repairs . On 10 February 1783 , whilst still at Jamaica , Ballard was made a 5th lieutenant by Admiral Rowley , and was actively employed in different ships during the ten years of peace . When war again broke out he was a first lieutenant of the , which carried Rear - Admiral Alan Gardner ' s flag through the last days of May and 1 June 1794 . The battle of the Glorious First of June won for Ballard his commander ' s rank on 5 July 1794 , and on 1 August 1795 he was further advanced to the rank of post - captain . Early in 1795 he was appointed to the frigate , and during the next two years was continuously employed in convoying the trade for the Baltic or for Newfoundland and Quebec . In March 1798 he accompanied Commodore William Cornwallis to the coast of Africa and to Barbados , from which station he returned in June of the following year . In October he carried out General Fox to Minorca , and remained attached to the Mediterranean fleet for the next two years . The " Pearl " was paid off on 14 March 1802 , after a commission of upwards of six years , during which time she had taken , destroyed , or recaptured about eighty vessels , privateers and merchantmen and served at the Siege of Porto Ferrajo . Ballard then spent seven years with the unattractive command of a district of Sea Fencibles until October 1809 when he was appointed to the , of 74 guns , and sailed shortly afterwards for the West Indies . It was here that he flew a commodore ' s broad pennant , and on 18 December 1809 commanded the squadron which captured the two heavily armed French frigates " Loire " and " Seine " , and destroyed the protecting batteries at Anse - la - Barque of Guadeloupe . At the reduction of Guadeloupe in January and February 1810 he escorted one division of the army , and commanded the naval brigade , which , however , was not engaged . Commodore Ballard returned to England with the " Sceptre " in the following September , and was for the next two years attached to the fleet in the Channel and Bay of Biscay , but without being engaged in any active operations . His service at sea closed with the paying off of the " Sceptre " in January 1813 , although in course of seniority he attained the rank of Rear - Admiral on 4 June 1814 , and of Vice - Admiral on 27 May 1825 . Family . Ballard married twice , firstly to his cousin Maria Flint , daughter of James Flint and Sarah née Tritton , and secondly on 2 December 1822 at Flaxley in Gloucestershire to Catharina Crawley - Boevey , daughter of Sir Thomas Crawley - Boevey , 2nd Baronet and Ann née Savage . He had , by his first wife , three children . Maria Charlotte born in 1802 in Godalming who subsequently married Reverend Robert Serjeantson who became Vicar of Snaith , Yorkshire . Anna Elizabeth , born 1805 in Godalming , who married Captain Thomas Coventry Brander of the 15th Light Dragoons . Samuel Wrangham Ballard , born in 1810 in Margate , Kent , and married Catherine Salwey , daughter of Richard Salwey of the Moor Park and the Haye Park in Shropshire on 6 September 1832 and died without male issue in 1852 . Ballard inherited Coates Hall , Snaith , in Yorkshire in 1820 from his aunt Charlotte Flint , widow of Lt . Col . William Flint of the East India Company , but he appears not to have lived there preferring instead to remain in his house at 29 Park Street , Bath , where he died on 11 October 1829 .