Edward Knowles ( Royal Navy officer ) Edward Knowles ( 1744 – c . 28 December 1761 ) was an officer of the Royal Navy , who saw service during the Seven Years War . Knowles was born into a distinguished naval family , with his father rising to the rank of admiral and receiving a baronetcy for his services . Edward followed him into the navy , and served with several important officers in operations during the Seven Years ' War , which he spent mostly in North American waters . He supported the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec and made the acquaintance of the natural philosopher John Robison , who spent some time as his mathematics tutor . Knowles was eventually promoted to command his own ship , an elderly and much reworked vessel , which already had a reputation for being difficult to steer . He set off in poor weather to deliver important despatches to the British commands in the Bay of Biscay but never returned . His ship was presumed to have foundered at sea with the loss of all hands . Family and early life . Edward Knowles was born in 1744 , the only son from the marriage of Captain Charles Knowles and Mary Alleyne , the sister of John Alleyne . His father became a noted naval officer , rising to the rank of admiral and receiving a baronetcy for his services to his country . Edward attended Eton College and then followed his father into the navy . He first served with a colleague of his father , Captain Richard Howe , of . He afterwards went out with Admiral Sir Charles Saunders to the Siege of Louisbourg in February 1759 , aboard the 90 - gun . Accompanying him as his personal mathematics tutor was John Robison , who spent the next few years with Edward , and would later serve with his father as a personal secretary . At Louisbourg Knowles took part in the assault on the 64 - gun French ship " Prudent " , anchored in the harbour , and was later promoted to lieutenant during the voyage and operations to capture Quebec . He transferred to the 100 - gun HMS " Royal William " to serve his commission . Command . After his extended service in North America , Knowles was promoted to commander and appointed to the sloop HMS " Peregrine " in 1761 . " Peregrine " was the former royal yacht " Royal Caroline " , which had been fitted with a poop deck , which consequently made it difficult to wear ship . Knowle ' s tutor Robison had initially hoped to be made purser of the ship , but found her small size less congenial than the larger men of war he had served on , and left after seeing some service in the Bay of Biscay and Lisbon . After some time in command of HMS " Peregrine " , Knowles was promoted and a commission made out for him as post captain by the Admiralty . It never reached him . Final voyage . The imminent declaration of war with Spain necessitated the sending of despatches to the British commands at Belle Isle and Lisbon , and Knowles was entrusted with the task . He rendezvoused with the fleet under Commodore Augustus Keppel off Belle Isle and passed on the news . Keppel attempted to persuade Knowles not to put to sea again owing to the stormy weather , but Knowles convinced Keppel to allow him to continue on . Keppel relented , and " Peregrine " put to sea . She was never seen again . It was assumed that she had foundered with the loss of all hands on or sometime after 28 December 1761 . Legacy . Knowles predeceased his father , the baronetcy was therefore inherited by Sir Charles Knowles ' s second son , Charles , Edward ' s half brother . A posthumous portrait of Edward was commissioned from Francis Cotes , based on a silhouette and a description from his father . Notes . a . The birth date of 1744 may be an error . The entry for Edward ' s father in the " Oxford Dictionary of National Biography " records that Mary Alleyne died in 1742 . b . " Peregrine " was an elderly ship by this time . She had been launched in 1700 as " Peregrine Galley " , a 20 - gun sixth rate but renamed " Carolina " in 1716 and converted into a royal yacht . She had been rebuilt and renamed " Royal Caroline " in 1733 , reclassified as a sixth rate in 1739 , and finally converted to a sloop and renamed " Peregrine " . c . This proved to be a fortuitous decision for Robison , who went on to become a respected natural philosopher and inventor , and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .