Sir Jahleel Brenton , 1st Baronet Sir Jahleel Brenton , 1st baronet , KCB ( 22 August 1770 – 3 April 1844 ) was a British admiral born in Newport , Rhode Island , British North America . Early life . Jahleel Brenton was the son of Rear - Admiral Jahleel Brenton ( 1729 – 1802 ) , and a great - great grandson of Rhode Island colonial governor William Brenton . His father belonged to a loyalist family which suffered the loss of most of its property in the American Revolution . He was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy when the war began , and emigrated with his family to the United Kingdom in 1780 . Apart from Jahleel , the eldest , two Brenton sons entered the Royal Navy : Captain Edward Pelham Brenton ( 1774 – 1839 ) , and James Wallace Brenton , who was killed young in 1799 while attacking a Spanish privateer near Barcelona in the boats of , of which he was lieutenant . Naval service . Jahleel first went to sea in 1781 , serving as midshipman in which was commanded by his father , and then in . At the end of the American War of Independence in 1783 , Jahleel was sent to the maritime school at Chelsea . In 1787 Jahleel joined which was however paid off soon after his arrival and he moved to where he took part in surveys of the coastline of Nova Scotia . In 1789 , his time as a midshipman nearly expired , he joined and in March 1790 passed his examination for the rank of Lieutenant . Foreign service . Seeing no chance of promotion or employment during the state of peace existing at the time , he went with other English naval officers to serve in the Swedish navy against the Russia ns in the Gulf of Finland , accepting a Lieutenant ' s commission in the Swedish Navy . He served in the ship " Konig Adolf Frederic " , the flagship of Admiral Modee . He saw service in the Battle of Svensksund Return to England . He returned to England in 1790 as there was a possibility of war between Britain and Spain . Receiving his commission as Lieutenant , he joined the " Assurance " , a troopship for a short time before moving to the brig as Second Lieutenant , eventually being made First Lieutenant . " Speedy " was paid off in 1791 and Brenton moved again , to his first command , the , a small 42 - ton sloop with a crew of eight , stationed at Newfoundland . He reported that naval officers referred to her and her sister , , as " . . . a machine for making officers . " In her , in 1793 , he accepted the surrender of Miquelon at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars . In early 1794 Brenton returned to England , and became Second Lieutenant of , a 28 - gun ship , which spent much of its time patrolling the coast of Flanders . Towards the end of 1795 Brenton was forced to leave the ship due to illness caused by the bad weather conditions in which the " Sybil " had been cruising . Mediterranean service . After recovering , he was appointed Second Lieutenant of , a store ship in 1796 . This was considered somewhat humiliating by Brenton , after having been the Lieutenant of a frigate . However , after " Alliance " arrived in the Mediterranean , Brenton was appointed to . After " Gibraltar " was damaged by running aground and was forced to return to England for repairs , he was commissioned as First Lieutenant of . " Aigle " being at that time at the other end of the Mediterranean , Brenton served as a temporary lieutenant aboard during which service he saw action in the Battle of Cape St Vincent . The " Aigle " meanwhile having been sunk , Brenton was made first Lieutenant of the " Barfleur " , moving in 1797 to , and spent the winter of 1797 - 98 surveying the River Tagus between Lisbon and Salvatierra . In 1798 he was appointed Commander of HMS " Speedy " , and won much distinction in actions with Spanish gunboats in the Straits of Gibraltar in 1799 . In 1800 he attained the rank of Post - captain , and had the good fortune to serve as Flag captain to Sir James ( afterwards Lord ) Saumarez . During the peace of Amiens he married Miss Stewart , a lady belonging to a loyalist family of Nova Scotia whom he had first met during his earlier service on the North American Station . Following the renewal of hostilities with France , he commanded a succession of frigates . On 2 July 1803 while commanding HMS " Minerve " the ship ran aground near Cherbourg , France . " Minerve " came under fire from shore batteries and all attempts to refloat her having failed , Brenton was obliged to surrender . He was imprisoned at until 1806 , during which time his wife joined him . Having eventually been exchanged ( freed in return for the release of a French prisoner ) he was appointed to in 1807 . Brenton ' s most brilliant action was fought with a squadron of French ships at Naples on 1 May 1810 . He was severely wounded during the battle , and Joachim Murat , the then king of Naples , later praised his conduct . Later life . Brenton was made a Baronet in 1812 and KCB in 1815 . After his recovery from his wounds he was found to be unfit for service at sea , and so was made Commissioner of the dockyard at Port Mahon , and then at the Cape of Good Hope , and was afterwards lieutenant governor of Greenwich Hospital till 1840 . He attained flag rank in 1830 . At the Cape he surveyed and declared Knysna Lagoon as a harbour in 1815 . The nearby seaside resort of Brenton - on - Sea is home to the endangered Brenton Blue butterfly Two islets of the St . Croix archipelago off the Port Elizabethan coast in Algoa Bay , Jahleel Island and Brenton Island , are named for him . In his later years he took an active part in philanthropic work in association with his brother , Captain Edward Pelham Brenton , who had seen much service , but is best remembered by his writings on naval and military history , " Naval History of Great Britain from the Year 1783 to 1822 " ( 1823 ) , and " The Life and Correspondence of John , Earl of St Vincent " ( 1838 ) .