Edward Howard ( admiral ) Sir Edward Howard , KG ( 1476 / 1477 – 25 April 1513 ) , son of Thomas Howard , 1st Earl of Surrey ( later 2nd Duke of Norfolk ) and his first wife , Elizabeth Tilney , and a younger brother of Thomas Howard , 3rd Duke of Norfolk . He was the first of the Howards to win fame as an admiral , participating in his first naval battle while in his teens . He was in command during the Battle of Saint - Mathieu , which may have been the first sea battle fought by ships with cannons deployed through ports . He was killed shortly afterwards , leading an assault on galleys in the French fleet near Brest . Early life . Sir Edward Howard ' s date of birth can be determined only approximately , and nothing is known of his early upbringing or education . He began his military career in August 1492 at the age of fifteen under Sir Edward Poynings at the siege of Sluys . In 1497 his father , then Earl of Surrey , was given a command in Scotland and took his sons Thomas and Edward with him . Surrey knighted both Thomas and Edward on 30 September 1497 at Ayton Castle after the signing of a treaty concluding an invasion by James IV of Scotland . In 1503 Howard was among those who escorted Margaret Tudor to Scotland for her marriage to King James IV . King Henry VII died on 21 April 1509 . Howard played a prominent role in the tournament held to celebrate the coronation of the new King , Henry VIII , and was appointed the King ' s standard - bearer on 20 May 1509 . Naval career . Between June and August 1511 Howard was paid over £600 to fit out ships for the conveying of ' merchant aventurers ' , and both Holinshed and the " Ballad of Andrew Barton " record that in the course of these seafaring operations he and his brother Thomas captured the ships of the Scottish adventurer Andrew Barton . Barton was sailing in his warship " Lion " and the small " Jennet of Purwyn " , ( which was a captured Danish ship ) with a royal Letter of Marque , which was a license to plunder Portuguese ships as a privateer . Both ships were captured and taken to Blackwall . Andrew Barton was killed during their capture . When war with France broke out in April 1512 , Howard was appointed Admiral of a fleet of 18 ships sent by the King to keep the seas between Brest and the Thames estuary . Howard seized vessels of various nationalities on the pretext that they were carrying French cargoes . At the beginning of June , he escorted to Brittany the army which Henry was sending to France under the Marquess of Dorset with the hope of recovering Guyenne . Howard then raided Le Conquet and Crozon on the Breton coast . During June and July 1512 Howard effectively controlled the Channel and is said to have captured more than 60 vessels . By August , a French fleet had assembled at Brest . Howard attacked , and in the ensuing Battle of Saint - Mathieu the two largest ships on either side , the Regent and the Marie de la Cordelière , were destroyed when the latter ' s magazine exploded . Although undefeated , the French retreated . On 10 October the King showed his appreciation by awarding Howard an annuity of 100 marks and the reversion of the office of Lord High Admiral held by the Earl of Oxford . The French King had Prégent de Bidoux bring 6 galleys from the Mediterranean in the late autumn of 1512 , and by the end of March 1513 a sizeable French fleet had been mobilized . On 10 March 1513 the Earl of Oxford died , and Howard became Lord Admiral . On 19 March he sailed from the Thames , reaching Plymouth on 5 April . Without waiting for his supply ships , he set out from Plymouth and found the French fleet , which retreated into Brest . Howard lost one ship on a hidden rock , and on 22 April was attacked by Bidoux ' s galleys , whose heavy guns sank another ship . On 25 April Howard decided to attack the galleys with his smaller boats known as row - barges . Howard led the attack on Bidoux ' s flagship in person . During the fighting he was forced over the side of the galley and drowned by the weight of his armour . Both his body and his silver whistle , the Lord Admiral ' s badge of office , were found three days later , and delivered to Bidoux at Le Conquet , who sent the armour as a trophy to Princess Claude , the French King ' s daughter , and the whistle to Queen Anne . Demoralised by Howard ' s death and short of supplies , the English fleet retreated to Plymouth , where Howard ' s brother Thomas took command . The French were unable to exploit Howard ' s death , and after successful English campaigns in Picardy and Scotland , a truce was agreed on in March 1514 . Howard had been elected to the Order of the Garter in 1513 , but died before being installed . Marriages and issue . Howard ' s first wife was Elizabeth Stapleton , widow of Sir William Calthorpe and Sir John Fortescue . She died on 18 February 1505 . Before January 1506 he married Alice ( d . 1518 ) , the daughter and heir of William Lovel , Lord Morley , and Eleanor , Baroness Morley , and widow of Sir William Parker . She was 10 or 12 years Howard ' s senior , and held the barony of Morley in her own right . There were no children of the marriage . When Howard wrote his will in January 1513 he left bequests to two unnamed bastard sons , commending one to the care of the King , and the other to the care of his friend Charles Brandon , 1st Duke of Suffolk . As a younger son , he held only the manor of Morley in Norfolk , which he willed in reversion to his stepson , Henry Parker , after the termination of his widow ' s life interest .