Thomas Graves ( Royal Navy officer ) Sir Thomas Graves KCB ( c . 1747 – 29 March 1814 ) was an officer of the Royal Navy who rose to the rank of admiral after service in the Seven Years ' War , the American War of Independence , and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . Family and early life . Thomas Graves was born circa 1747 , the third son of Reverend John Graves of Castle Dawson , County Londonderry , by his wife Jane Hudson . He was a nephew of Admiral Samuel Graves and a first cousin once removed of Admiral Thomas , Lord Graves . Graves ' three brothers all served as captains in the navy , becoming admirals on the superannuated list . Thomas entered the navy at a very early age , and served during the Seven Years ' War with his uncle Samuel on board , " Duke " , and . After the peace he was appointed to with his cousin Thomas , whom he followed to the , and by whom , in 1765 , while on the coast of Africa , he was promoted to be lieutenant of . It is stated in Foster ' s ‘ Peerage ’ that he was born in 1752 , a date incompatible with the facts of his known service : by the Regulations of the Navy he was bound to be twenty years old at the date of his promotion , and though the order was often grossly infringed , it is highly improbable that he was only thirteen : it may fairly be assumed that he was at least eighteen in 1765 . Arctic seas and North America . In 1770 Graves was lieutenant of , and in 1773 was appointed to with Captain Constantine Phipps for the voyage of discovery in the Arctic Seas . In the following year he went out to North America with his uncle Samuel , and was appointed by him to command , one of the small schooner s employed for the prevention of smuggling . She had thirty men , with an armament of four 2 - pounders , and on 27 May 1775 , being sent from Boston into the Charles River , was attacked by a large force of insurgents , whose numbers swelled till they reached a total of something like two thousand men , with two field - pieces . It fell calm , and towards midnight , as the tide ebbed , " Diana " ran aground , and lay over on her side , when the colonial forces succeeded in setting her on fire , and the small crew , after a gallant defence , were compelled to abandon her , Graves having been first severely burnt , as well as his brother John , then a lieutenant of the flagship , who had been sent in one of the " Preston ' s " boats to the " Diana ' s " support . Promotion and further service . After this Graves continued to be employed in command of other tenders in the neighbourhood of Boston and Rhode Island till , on the recall of his uncle , he rejoined " Preston " and returned to England ; but was again sent out to the North American station in the same ship , commanded by Commodore William Hotham . In 1779 he was promoted to the command of the sloop on the West Indian and North American stations , and in May 1781 he was advanced to post rank . In the temporary absence of Commodore Edmund Affleck , he commanded in the Battle of the Chesapeake on 5 September , and continuing afterwards in " Bedford " , as Affleck ' s flag captain , was present in the engagement at St . Kitts on 26 January 1782 , and in the Battle of the Saintes on 9 and 12 April , in which last the " Bedford " had a very distinguished part . In the following autumn Graves was appointed to the frigate HMS " Magicienne " , in which , on 2 January 1783 , he fought a very severe action with the French " Sibylle " , which was encumbered with a second ship ' s company which she was carrying to the Chesapeake . Both frigates were reduced to a wreck , and so parted ; the " Magicienne " to get to Jamaica a fortnight later ; the " Sybille " to be captured on 22 February 1783 by under Thomas McNamara Russell . Years of peace and the French Revolutionary Wars . During the peace Graves spent much of his time in France , and in the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars had no employment . It was not until October 1800 that he was appointed to command the 74 - gun , in the Channel Fleet , under the orders of Lord St . Vincent . This was only for a few months ; for on 1 January 1801 he was promoted to be Rear - Admiral of the White Squadron , and in March hoisted his flag on board the 64 - gun , one of the fleet proceeding to the Baltic with Sir Hyde Parker . Flag rank and later life . Graves afterwards shifted his flag to , and in her was second in command under Rear - Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801 . For his services on this important occasion he received the thanks of Parliament , and an appointment as Knight Commander of the Bath . Towards the end of July the fleet left the Baltic , and on its return to England Graves , who had been in very bad health during the greater part of the campaign , retired from active service . , captained for a time by Christopher Nesham , carried his flag in the Bay of Biscay from October 1804 to February 1805 . He became a vice - admiral on 9 November 1805 and admiral on 2 August 1812 . Personal life . He was twice married , but had only one daughter . He died at his house , Woodbine Hill , near Honiton on 29 March 1814 .