Arthur Herbert , 1st Earl of Torrington Arthur Herbert , 1st Earl of Torrington ( c . 1648 – 13 April 1716 ) was a British admiral and politician of the late 17th and early 18th century . Cashiered as a rear - admiral by James II of England in 1688 for refusing to vote to repeal the Test Act , which prevented Catholics from holding offices , he brought the Invitation to William to The Hague , disguised as a simple sailor . As a reward he was made commander of William ' s invasion fleet during the Glorious Revolution . Arthur was the son of the Attorney General and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal , Sir Edward Herbert of Aston , Montgomeryshire by his wife , Margaret , daughter of the Master of Requests , Thomas Smith of Abingdon , Berkshire ( now Oxfordshire ) & Parson ' s Green , Middlesex , and widow of Thomas Carey of Sunninghill Park , Berkshire . He was brother of Chief Justice Herbert , member for Dover , Master of the Robes , and rear - admiral of England . He was much loved by the sailors , and was reputed one of the best of the aristocratic class of naval officers . It had been generally supposed that he would readily comply with the royal wishes ; for he was heedless of religion , he was fond of pleasure and expense , he had no private estates , his places ( offices or employments ) brought him in £4 , 000 a year , and he had long been reckoned among the most devoted personal adherents of James . When , however , the rear - admiral was closeted , and required to promise that he would vote for the repeal of the Test Act , his answer was , that his honour and conscience would not permit him to give any such pledge . " Nobody doubts your honour " , said the King ; " but a man who lives as you do ought not to talk about his conscience . " To this reproach — a reproach which came from a bad grace from the lover of Catharine Sedley — Herbert manfully replied : - " I have my faults , sir ; but I could name people who talk much more about conscience than I am in the habit of doing , and yet lead lives as loose as mine . " He was dismissed from all his places . - - ( Macaulay , Thomas Babington . History of England . 2 vols ) In May 1689 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Herbert of Torbay and Earl of Torrington . During the reign of William and Mary , he served as Lord High Admiral ( 1689 ) and then First Lord of the Admiralty ( 1689 – 1690 ) . Torrington played an important role in the War of the Grand Alliance , commanding the English and Dutch fleets at the Battle of Beachy Head ( 30 June 1690 O . S ) , a serious defeat for the allied fleet . He was imprisoned in the Tower of London and court - martialed for failing to support the Dutch van squadron against the French , but was acquitted . Nevertheless he lost his position as First Lord of the Admiralty . The stories that Torrington was not a popular commander , because of his reputation of being a drunk and his habit of taking several prostitutes with him to sea , are in fact untrue . In connection with his 1690 operations against the French , the Earl is credited with being the first to use the expression , ' fleet in being ' . Torrington proposed avoiding a set battle , except under very favorable conditions , until the arrival of reinforcements . By maintaining his fleet in being , he would force the French to remain in the area and prevent them from undertaking other operations . See also . List of deserters from James II to William of Orange