Edward Pellew , 1st Viscount Exmouth Admiral Edward Pellew , 1st Viscount Exmouth , GCB ( 19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833 ) was a British naval officer . He fought during the American War of Independence , the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars . His younger brother , Israel Pellew , also pursued a naval career . Pellew was an officer of courage , leadership and skill , serving as a paragon of the versatility and determination of British naval officers during the Napoleonic Wars . Childhood . Pellew was born at Dover , the second son of Samuel Pellew ( 1712 – 1764 ) , commander of a Dover packet . The family was Cornish , descended from a family which came originally from Normandy , but had for many centuries been settled in the west of Cornwall . Edward ' s grandfather , Humphrey Pellew ( 1650 – 1721 ) , a merchant and ship owner , son of a naval officer , resided at Flushing manor - house in the parish of Mylor . Part of the town of Flushing was built by Samuel Trefusis MP for Penryn ; the other part was built by Humphrey Pellew who was buried there . He also had a property and a tobacco plantation in Maryland . Part of the town of Annapolis stands on what was , before the revolt of the colonies , the estate of the Pellews . On the death of Edward ' s father in 1764 the family removed to Penzance , and Pellew was educated for some years at Truro Grammar School He was a pugnacious youth , which did not endear him to his headmaster . He ran away to sea at the age of 14 , but soon deserted because of unfair treatment to another midshipman . Early career . In 1770 Pellew entered the Royal Navy on board HMS " Juno " , with Captain John Stott , and made a voyage to the Falkland Islands . In 1772 he followed Stott to the " Alarm " , and in her was in the Mediterranean for three years . In consequence of a high - spirited quarrel with his captain , he was put on shore at Marseilles , where , finding an old friend of his father ' s in command of a merchant ship , he was able to get a passage to Lisbon and so home . He afterwards was in the " Blonde " , which , under the command of Captain Philemon Pownoll , took General John Burgoyne to America in the spring of 1776 . In October Pellew , together with another midshipman , Brown , was detached , under Lieutenant Dacres , for service in the " Carleton " tender on Lake Champlain . During the Battle of Valcour Island on 11 October , Dacres and Brown were both severely wounded , and the command devolved on Pellew , who , by his personal gallantry , extricated the vessel from a position of great danger . As a reward for his service he was immediately appointed to command the " Carleton " . In December Lord Howe wrote , promising him a commission as lieutenant when he could reach New York , and in the following January Lord Sandwich wrote promising to promote him when he came to England . In the summer of 1777 Pellew , with a small party of seamen , was attached to the army under Burgoyne and was present in the fighting at Saratoga , where his youngest brother , John , was killed . He , together with the rest of the force , was taken prisoner . After the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga , he was repatriated . On returning to England he was promoted , on 9 January 1778 , to be lieutenant of the " Princess Amelia " guardship at Portsmouth . He wanted to be appointed to a seagoing ship but Lord Sandwich considered that he was bound by the terms of the surrender at Saratoga not to undertake any active service . Towards the end of the year he was appointed to the " Licorne " , which , in the spring of 1779 , went out to Newfoundland , returning in the winter , when Pellew was moved into the " Apollo " , with his old captain , Pownoll . On 15 June 1780 the " Apollo " engaged a large French privateer , the " Stanislaus " , off Ostend . Pownoll was killed by a musket - shot , but Pellew , continuing the action , dismasted the " Stanislaus " and drove her on shore , where she was protected by the neutrality of the coast . On the 18th Lord Sandwich wrote to him : " " I will not delay informing you that I mean to give you immediate promotion as a reward for your gallant and officer - like conduct . " " and on 1 July he was accordingly promoted to the command of the " Hazard " sloop , which was employed for the next six months on the east coast of Scotland . She was then paid off . In March 1782 Pellew was appointed to the " Pelican " , a small French prize , so small indeed that he used to say " " his servant could dress his hair from the deck while he sat in the cabin . " " On 28 April , while cruising on the coast of Brittany , he engaged and drove on shore three privateer s . In special reward for this service he was promoted to post rank on 25 May , and ten days later was appointed to the temporary command of the " Artois " , in which on 1 July , he captured a large frigate - built privateer . From 1786 to 1789 he commanded the " Winchelsea " frigate on the Newfoundland station , returning home each winter by Cadiz and Lisbon . Afterwards he commanded the " Salisbury " on the same station , as flag - captain to Vice - admiral Milbanke . In 1791 he was placed on half - pay and tried his hand at farming on Treverry Farm near Helston , a property owned by his brother , who was a senior customs officer of Flushing . This met with indifferent success , during which time he attempted to sell a bull , only to find it was in the ownership of a neighbouring farmer . He was offered a command in the Russian navy but declined it . He was still struggling with the difficulties of his farm when the revolutionary government of France declared war on Great Britain on 1 February 1793 . He immediately applied for a ship and was appointed to the " Nymphe " , a 36 - gun frigate which he fitted out in a remarkably short time . Having expected a good deal of difficulty in manning her , he had enlisted some eighty Cornish miners , who were sent round to the ship at Spithead . With these and about a dozen seamen — apart from the officers ( who were obliged to help in the work aloft ) — he put to sea and by dint of pressing from the merchant ships in the Channel , succeeded in filling up his complement but with very few seasoned navy men . On 18 June the " Nymphe " sailed from Falmouth on the news that two French frigates had been seen in the Channel . At the Action of 18 June 1793 " Nymphe " fell in with the " Cléopâtre " , also of 36 guns , commanded by Captain Mullon , one of the few officers of the " ancien régime " who still remained in the French navy . After a short but very sharp action , the " Cléopâtre " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s mizenmast and wheel were shot away , and the ship , being unmanageable , fell foul of the " Nymphe " , and was boarded and captured in a fierce rush . Mullon was mortally wounded , and died in trying to swallow his commission , which , in his dying agony , he had mistaken for the code of secret signals . The code thus fell intact into Pellew ' s hands , and was sent to the admiralty . The " Cléopâtre " , the first frigate taken in the war , was brought to Portsmouth , and on 29 June Pellew was presented to the king by the Earl of Chatham and was knighted . Service in the French Revolutionary War . By 1794 he was Commodore of the Western Frigate Squadron . In 1795 , he took command of HMS " Indefatigable " , the ship with which he is most closely associated . The squadron also comprised the frigates " Argo " , " Concord " , " Révolutionnaire " , HMS " Amazon " . He was also a good swimmer and noted for saving the lives of several seamen who had fallen overboard . The most striking life - saving event was on 26 January 1796 when the East Indiaman " Dutton " , which was carrying more than four hundred troops together with many women and children , ran aground under Plymouth Hoe . Due to the heavy seas , the crew and soldiers aboard were unable to get to shore . Pellew swam out to the wreck with a line and with help from a young Irishman , Jeremiah Coghlan , helped rig a lifeline that saved almost all aboard : for this feat he was , on 18 March 1796 , created a baronet . On 13 April 1796 , off the coasts of Ireland , his squadron captured the French frigate " Unité " , and the " Virginie " nine days later . His most famous action was the Action of 13 January 1797 when , cruising in company with HMS " Amazon " , the British sighted the French 74 - gun ship of the line " Droits de l ' Homme " . Normally a ship of the line would over - match two frigate s , but by skillful sailing in the stormy conditions , the frigates avoided bearing the brunt of the superior firepower of the French . In the early morning of 14 January , the three ships were embayed on a lee shore in Audierne Bay . Both the " Droits de l ' Homme " and " Amazon " ran aground , but " Indefatigable " managed to claw her way off the lee shore to safety . Pellew was also responsible for pressing the brilliant young black violinist and composer Joseph Antonio Emidy who had been playing in the Lisbon Opera orchestra . Admiralcy and peerage . Pellew was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1804 . He was appointed Commander - in - Chief of the East Indies Station . It took six months to sail out to Penang so he took up the appointment in 1805 . On his return from the east in 1809 , he was appointed to the position of Commander - in - Chief , Mediterranean Fleet from 1811 to 1814 and again from 1815 to 1816 . In 1814 , he was made Baron Exmouth of Canonteign . In 1816 he led an Anglo - Dutch fleet against the Barbary states and was victor of the Bombardment of Algiers and secured the release of the 1 , 200 Christian slaves in the city . For this action he was created 1st Viscount Exmouth on 10 December 1816 . Following his return to England he became Commander - in - Chief , Plymouth from 1817 to 1821 , when he effectively retired from active service . He continued to attend and speak in the House of Lords . In 1832 he was appointed Vice - Admiral of the United Kingdom and Admiral of the Red Squadron of His Majesty ' s Fleet , Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath , also of the Royal and distinguished Order of Charles the Third of Spain , Of the Military Order of William of the Netherlands , Of the Royal Sicilian Order of St . Ferdinand and Merit , Of the Military Order of St . Maurice and St . Lazare of Sardinia , and Knight of the Most Honourable and Most Ancient Order of the Annunciation of the Royal House of Savoy , High Steward of Great Yarmouth , and one of the Elder Brethren of the Hon . Corporation of the Trinity House . He bought Bitton House in Teignmouth in 1812 and it was his home until his death in 1833 . He is buried in Christow on the eastern edge of Dartmoor . The museum in Teignmouth has a comprehensive collection of artefacts that belonged to him . Marriage and family . On 28 May 1783 Pellew married Susannah Frowde . They had four sons and two daughters . These children were : Geographical namesakes . The Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands , situated in the Gulf of Carpentaria were named after Pellew by Matthew Flinders who visited them in 1802 . Other Australian geographical features include Cape Pellew ( adjacent to the islands ) and Exmouth Gulf . Pellew Island , Jamaica is also named after Edward Pellew . However , while Palau ( formerly the Pellew or Pelew Islands ) , east of the Philippines is often said to be named for Edward Pellew , it was called that by Captain Henry Wilson in 1783 which was well before Pellew came to prominence . It appears to be an anglicization of the indigenous name Belau . Point Pellew , Alaska . There is also a building in HMS " Raleigh " ( where Naval basic training is conducted ) named after him which is used as sleeping quarters for new recruits , and a Sea Cadet Unit in Truro called T . S . Pellew . A building at Wyvern Barracks in Exeter , Devon , which is used as a temporary billet and a training facility for the Army Cadet force as well as other units , was handed over to the army from the navy . however it retains the name Pellew House in memory of Sir Edward Pellew , 1st Viscount Exmouth . Fictional appearances . Pellew is featured as the Captain of " Indefatigable " in some of C . S . Forester ' s fictional Horatio Hornblower novels ; in the television adaptations , as portrayed by Robert Lindsay , he is given a more prominent role . As a midshipman , he appears in the novel " Jack Absolute " by C . C . Humphreys . Pellew is the name of a minor character in several of Patrick O ' Brian ' s Aubrey - Maturin novels , including " The Reverse of the Medal " , " The Surgeon ' s Mate " , but as himself is only mentioned in " The Yellow Admiral " and " The Hundred Days " . As a captain , he has a small role in the American Revolution in " Rabble in Arms " , a historical novel by Kenneth Roberts .