Granville Gower Loch Granville Gower Loch ( 1813 – 1853 ) was a captain in the Royal Navy . He was a son of James Loch ( his brother was Lord Henry Loch ) . He entered the navy in 1826 and had risen to the rank of commander by 1837 . He attained post rank and went on the Obina campaign as a volunteer in 1841 . He published an account of the campaign " The Closing Events of the Campaign in China " ( 1843 ) . He was employed in Nicaragua in 1848 , in the same year he was awarded the C . B . . He took prominent part in the Second Burmese War , 1852 – 1853 . He was shot and killed while attacking Donabew and was buried in Rangoon . Biography . Granville Gower Loch , born 28 February 1813 , was second son of James Loch of Drylaw in Mid - Lothian ; brother of George Loch and of Lord Henry Loch . He entered the navy in February 1826 , passed his examination in 1832 , and was promoted to be lieutenant on 23 October 1833 . After serving on the home station and the Mediterranean Loch was promoted to be commander 28 February 1837 . From 1838 to 1840 he commanded the sloop HMS " Fly " on the South American and Pacific station , and in 1841 the sloop HMS " Vesuvius " in the Mediterranean . He was advanced to post rank on 26 August 1841 , and on returning to England went out to China as a volunteer , and at the capture of Chinkiang Foo ( Zhenjiang Fu ) served as an " aide - de - camp " to General Sir Hugh Gough . He afterwards published his journal under the title " The Closing Events of the Campaign in China " , 12mo , 1843 . From 1846 to 1849 he commanded the frigate HMS " Alarm " in the West Indies ; and in February 1848 was sent to the coast of Nicaragua to demand and enforce redress for certain outrages , and to obtain the release of two British subjects who had been carried off from San Juan by the military commandant . The government at the time seemed to be in the hands of the army , and Loch forthwith proceeded up the river in the boats of the " Alarm " and sloop HMS " Vixen " , his total force being 260 men . The enemy had occupied a strong position at Serapaqui , defended not only by the nature of the ground and the material obstructions , but by a five - knot current which kept the boats under fire for an hour and a half before the men could land . The fort was then gallantly carried and dismantled , the guns destroyed and the ammunition thrown into the river . Thereupon the British demands were conceded and a satisfactory treaty was arranged . On the reception of the news in Britain Loch was made a Companion of the Bath ( C . B . ) 30 May 1848 . In 1852 he commissioned the frigate HMS " Winchester " to relieve HMS " Hastings " as flagship in China and the East Indies . It was the time of the Second Burmese War ; and shortly after arriving at Rangoon the admiral died ; the commodore was off the coast , and the command in the river devolved on Loch . The work resolved itself into keeping the river clear and driving the Burmese out of such positions as they occupied on its banks . In the beginning of 1853 a robber chief , Nya Myat Toon , had brought together a strong force , had stockaded a formidable position at Donabew , stopped the traffic , and repelled the attempt to drive him away . Loch in person led a joint naval and military expedition against him ; landed , and threaded the way by a narrow path through thick jungle . They found the stockade on the farther bank of a steep nullah , in attempting to cross which they suffered severely and were driven back , 4 February Loch was shot through the body and died two days later , 6 February 1853 . He was buried at Rangoon , beneath a stone erected by the officers and men of the Winchester . There is also a monument to his memory in St . Paul ' s Cathedral , He was unmarried .