Sir Albemarle Bertie , 1st Baronet Admiral Sir Albemarle Bertie , 1st Baronet , KCB , was a long - serving and at time controversial officer of the British Royal Navy who saw extensive service in his career but also courted controversy with several of his actions . Bertie won recognition for unsuccessfully defending his ship against superior odds in the American Revolutionary War . He was later criticised however for failing to close with the enemy at the Glorious First of June and later for pulling rank on a subordinate officer just days before the capture of the French island of Mauritius and taking credit for the victory . Despite these controversies , Bertie was rewarded for his service with a baronetcy and the Order of the Bath , retiring in 1813 to his country estate at Donnington , Berkshire . American Revolutionary War . Albemarle Bertie was born in 1755 and much of his childhood is undocumented . It is not even clear when he entered the Navy , although he was gazetted lieutenant in December 1777 aged 22 , quite a bit older than most of his contemporaries . Within a year of promotion , Bertie had witnessed combat on a repeating frigate at the First Battle of Ushant , a brief and inconclusive action which resulted in a court martial for Admiral Hugh Palliser , a court martial at which Commander Bertie ( as he by then was ) , was called on to give evidence in 1779 . The intervening two years had been highly eventful , Bertie spending most of it as a prisoner of war in France after his frigate HMS " Fox " had been taken by the larger French " Junon " . Following his exchange and appearance as a witness , Bertie spent two years without a ship , due to the shortage of available positions for young officers during the American Revolutionary War . In 1782 , after a change of government , Bertie was reinstated and made captain of the small frigate HMS " Crocodile " . He remained in service throughout the 1780s , marrying Emma Heywood of Maristow in Devon . Emma predeceased him and the couple had two daughters , although nothing is known of his marriage , including the date . French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . In 1790 at the Spanish armament , Bertie gained command of the frigate HMS " Latona " before progressing to captain of a ship of the line , HMS " Edgar " in 1792 . The following year he took over HMS " Thunderer " in Lord Howe ' s Channel Fleet . With " Thunderer " and Howe , Bertie participated in the Atlantic campaign of May 1794 and the culminating Glorious First of June . Howe omitted Bertie from his dispatches of the battle and Bertie was not awarded a commemorative medal like many of the other captains . His failure to close with the French fleet was later cited against him . For the next ten years Bertie remained with the Channel Fleet on uneventful blockade duty , serving under Sir John Borlase Warren and commanding HMS " Thunderer " , HMS " Renown " , HMS " Windsor " and HMS " Malta " on this duty . In 1804 , Bertie was promoted to rear - admiral , climbing the ranks over the next three years until he was senior enough to become admiral in charge of the Cape of Good Hope station off South Africa . Bertie served off South Africa for the next two years , suddenly sailing in late 1810 to take over the operations to invade Mauritius and seize it from the French . Most of the fighting had already been concluded by Admiral William O ' Bryen Drury before Bertie ' s arrival and Drury was furious at Bertie ' s behaviour , writing several strong letters to the Admiralty in protest . Bertie returned to Britain in 1811 and endured a brief political storm over his actions at Mauritius , which had been criticised by his fellow senior officer on the island Lord Minto . Angered , Bertie requested court martial to defend his conduct but was firmly refused by the Admiralty , which did not wish for another scandal . A change of government the following year changed the political situation however and Bertie was returned to favour and presented with a baronetcy as reward for the capture of Mauritius , Drury having died in the meantime . Retirement . Retiring to his country estate at Donnington in Berkshire , Bertie continued to be promoted post - retirement , finishing as a full admiral . He was also made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on the restructuring of the orders of knighthood in 1815 . He died in 1824 after ten years retirement . As he had no male heirs , his baronetcy became extinct .