Benjamin Hallowell Carew Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell Carew GCB , ( born Benjamin Hallowell ) ( ? 1 January 1761 – 2 September 1834 ) was a senior officer in the Royal Navy . He was one of the select group of officers , referred to by Nelson as his " Band of Brothers " , who served with him at the Battle of the Nile . Early years . Although he is often identified as Canadian , Hallowell ' s place and exact date of birth have been the subject of dispute among researchers . He was probably born on 1 January 1761 in Boston , Massachusetts , where his British father , former naval captain Benjamin Hallowell ( 1723 – 1799 ) , was Commissioner of the Board of Customs . His mother , Mary ( Boylston ) Hallowell , was the daughter of Thomas Boylston , and a first cousin of Susanna Boylston , the mother of the 2nd President of the United States , John Adams , and grandmother of the 6th President , John Quincy Adams . He was a brother of Ward Nicholas Boylston and a nephew of Governor Moses Gill . His father ' s job exposed Hallowell ' s Loyalist family to attacks as American revolutionary sentiment grew . In August 1765 the Hallowell house in Roxbury was ransacked by a mob and the family relocated to Jamaica Plain and in September 1774 his father was pursued by a furious mob of 160 mounted men who had gathered to hear news of the resignation of other customs officials . The family left the country in March 1776 , at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War , and their estates were confiscated . They stayed for a short time in Halifax , Nova Scotia , then took a passage to England in July 1776 . Educated in the private schools of England , through his father ' s connections with Admiral Samuel Hood , 1st Viscount Hood , Hallowell entered the Royal Navy at a slightly later age than was normal , receiving his promotion to lieutenant on 31 August 1781 . Naval career . Benjamin Hallowell ' s naval career spanned the American Revolutionary War , the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars , and he took part in a number of important actions in all three . As a lieutenant in Admiral Lord Hood ' s fleet , he saw action in the Battles of St . Kitts and the Saintes in 1782 . He continued on active service after the end of the war and was promoted to the rank of commander in about 1791 . Commissioned as a post - captain in August 1793 , he and his ship took part in the evacuation following the Siege of Toulon in that year . He was involved in the Siege of Bastia under the command of Lord Hood , and then as a volunteer at the capture of Calvi , Corsica , in 1794 ( in which Nelson lost the sight of his right eye ) ; he was mentioned in despatches by Lord Hood for his part in this action , and was subsequently given command of . By 1795 he was in command of " HMS Courageux " , and took part with her in the Battle of Hyères . He was not aboard in December 1796 when the vessel was wrecked after an incident in the Bay of Gibraltar during bad weather . Her mooring cable parted and she was driven within range of Spanish shore batteries ; Hallowell , ashore to sit at a court - martial , was denied permission to rejoin the ship and take her to safety . She was subsequently wrecked off Monte Hacho in high winds during her officers ' attempts to move to a safer anchorage , with the loss of almost 500 lives . Following her loss , Hallowell served as a volunteer aboard during the Battle of Cape St . Vincent ( 1797 ) , was commended to the Admiralty by Admiral Sir John Jervis for his actions during the battle . Subsequently , Hallowell received another command , , in which he took part in the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife ( 1797 ) , where Nelson lost an arm . Nelson ' s coffin . Hallowell is probably best known as the man who made Nelson a present of what would become his own coffin , after the Battle of the Nile in August 1798 . Hallowell commanded , a 74 - gun ship of the line , during the battle . " Swiftsure " engaged the French flagship " L ' Orient " at close quarters and played a major role in her destruction . Some time later Hallowell sent Nelson a coffin Hallowell had ordered to be made from a salvaged piece of " L ' Orient " ' s mainmast , with an accompanying note : Nelson is said to have been pleased with the gift , keeping it propped against the wall of his cabin for some time , behind the chair in which he sat for dinner , and taking it with him to his next command . After he was killed in 1805 during the Battle of Trafalgar , he was buried in Hallowell ' s coffin . Hallowell himself , now in command of HMS " Tigre " , missed the Battle of Trafalgar . Nelson had sent " Tigre " , along with five others in his squadron , to Gibraltar for water and on convoy duty . However his old command , " Swiftsure " , took part on the French side . She and her officers and crew , including Hallowell , had been captured in 1801 after a fight with a squadron of five French warships . Hallowell faced a court - martial over this incident when he was returned to England after a short time as a prisoner of war , but he was honorably acquitted of any failure of duty . Hallowell remained a serving naval officer after Nelson ' s death . He was promoted to the rank of Rear - Admiral of the Blue on 1 August 1811 ; Rear - Admiral of the White in 1812 ; Vice - Admiral of the Blue on 12 August 1819 ; Vice - Admiral of the White on 19 July 1821 ; and Admiral of the Blue in 1830 . Honours . Hallowell was awarded the Neapolitan Order of Saint Ferdinand and Merit for his actions during the siege of Corsica , an honour also presented to Nelson . He was appointed a Colonel of Royal Marines on 31 July 1810 , and was number 61 amongst those appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath ( KCB ) in the restructuring of the Order on 2 January 1815 , and promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath ( GCB ) on 6 June 1831 . Inheritance and change of name in later life . In 1828 , Sir Benjamin Hallowell succeeded to the estates of the Carew family of Beddington , Surrey , on the death of his cousin , who had herself inherited them from her brother - in - law . In accordance with the terms of her will , he assumed the Carew name and coat of arms , becoming known as Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell Carew . He died on 2 September 1834 . Hallowell - Carew married Ann Inglefield , daughter of John Nicholson Inglefield . They were the parents of Captain Charles Hallowell - Carew R . N . , who married a daughter of Sir Alexander Maxwell , 2nd Bt . , of Myrton Castle , Wigtownshire .