Sir Charles Knowles , 2nd Baronet Sir Charles Henry Knowles , 2nd Baronet GCB ( 24 August 1754 – 28 November 1831 ) was an officer of the Royal Navy , who saw service during the American War of Independence , and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , eventually rising to the rank of Admiral . Highly intellectual , he authored a number of signal books and had the chance to put his ideas into practice during his naval career . Knowles was at times beset by problems with discipline aboard his ships , often due to large proportions of raw recruits and untrained seamen . This may have been a factor in his rocky relationship with his superior , Sir John Jervis , which eventually led to Knowles ' s retirement from active service after the Battle of Cape St Vincent , and his concentration on scholarly studies of the issues affecting the naval service . Family and early life . Knowles was born at Kingston , Jamaica on 24 August 1754 , the second son of the Governor of Jamaica Admiral Sir Charles Knowles and his wife Maria Magdalena Theresa de Bouget . He received his initial education at Eton College circa 1764 – 6 , and then subsequently at Glasgow and Edinburgh . He joined in navy in 1768 as a midshipman aboard the 36 - gun frigate , which was then serving in the English Channel under the command of Captain Samuel Barrington . He was then aboard the Spithead guard ship the 74 - gun under Captain Robert Roddam , before joining the 32 - gun under Captain John MacBride , where he served at Plymouth and in the Channel . West Indies . Knowles was appointed as acting - lieutenant without pay aboard the sloop by Sir George Brydges Rodney in 1773 , and Knowles went on to serve in this capacity aboard , and under Captain William Cornwallis at Pensacola and from Jamaica . He then moved aboard Captain Collins ' s 20 - gun where he served off Cap Francois and Santo Domingo . His next appointment was aboard Rear - Admiral Clark Gayton ' s flagship , the 50 - gun at Port Royal from 1774 to May 1776 , from which he moved aboard the 20 - gun under Captain Stair Douglas . Under Douglas Knowles served at Jamaica , the Mosquito Shore and the Bay of Honduras . Knowles ' s commission was confirmed on 28 May 1776 and he was appointed as second lieutenant of the 28 - gun , then under the command of Captain Charles Thompson . He served aboard the " Boreas " at Port Royal , and later on the North American Station at New York after the Battle of Bunker Hill . He was promoted to first lieutenant and in 1776 moved aboard the 50 - gun , which was at that time the flagship of Vice - Admiral Molyneux Shuldham . He went on to see service on the flat boats at New York and Rhode Island . Knowles returned to Britain aboard in January 1777 to see his father , who was in declining health . Whilst at home he took the opportunity to prepare his first signal book , " A Set of Signals for a Fleet on a Plan Entirely New " , for publication , before returning to the Americas in summer 1777 . The book , published that year , proposed innovative new ways of flying numbered signals , and the development of tactics whereby the traditional line of battle would be abandoned once the battle began . Knowles claimed to have communicated the work to Lord Howe , and that Howe ' s tactics at the Glorious First of June reflected Knowles ' s theories on effective naval tactics . The death of his father on 9 December that year and his succession as the second baronet caused Knowles to return to England again . He returned to active service again during the summer of 1778 , and was present with Barrington ' s fleet at the Battle of St . Lucia on 15 December 1778 , serving aboard Commander James Richard Dacres ' s 18 - gun . Two days later the " Ceres " was chased and captured by a squadron under the comte d ' Estaing . He was exchanged and appointed to serve as lieutenant aboard Vice - Admiral Barrington ' s flagship , the 74 - gun . In May 1779 he was briefly ordered to be master and commander of the storeship , but had returned to the " Prince of Wales " by 6 July , when he took part and was wounded in the Battle of Grenada . Knowles returned to England with Barrington in October 1779 , and by December had joined Admiral Sir George Rodney ' s flagship , the 90 - gun , as a volunteer for the Relief of Gibraltar . Command . Rodney appointed him to command the 18 - gun xebec on 26 January 1780 , quickly following this with a promotion to post - captain and an appointment to the 24 - gun on 2 February . Knowles went on to serve in a highly active role in the defence of British trade in the Mediterranean , engaging privateer s and escorting convoys . At one point he was briefly blockaded in Minorca , where he fell ill . He was eventually able to escape to sea in January 1781 , and was based out of Gibraltar until his return to England in April 1782 . On his arrival he was accused of piracy and murder , but was able to clear his name , returning to Gibraltar aboard to resume command of the " Porcupine " . He became senior naval officer there on the departure of Sir Roger Curtis , until returning to England once more in command of the 74 - gun Spanish prize . French Revolutionary Wars . The end of the war allowed Knowles to continue with his studies , and he made a tour of France in 1788 . The outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793 led to Knowles returning to active service in command of the 32 - gun frigate . He was ordered to Halifax , but given permission to move to the $ 3 , where a French convoy was planning to sail from . Problems with manning his ship meant that Knowles sailed from Portsmouth with a largely inexperienced crew , but Knowles was able to have them fully trained by the time of their arrival at Hampton Roads . Shortly after his arrival , the French escort arrived , and the convoy sailed shortly afterwards , observed by Knowles on the " Daedalus " . Knowles passed this latest information on to Lord Howe , who moved his Channel fleet to intercept it , setting in motion the events that would lead to the Glorious First of June . Having fulfilled his objective Knowles sailed to Halifax , and from there returned to England . He was appointed to the 74 - gun and served in the North Sea . Once again Knowles was beset by difficulties in manning his ship , the " Edgar " put to sea from the Nore manned by soldiers from 23 different regiments , and commanded by officers from still other regiments . Typhus and ' the itch ' were rampant , on the ship ' s return to port she had to be scrubbed with lime water and fumigated with vinegar , while 100 men were discharged to the hospital . Knowles suffered a further mishap when the " Edgar " was dismasted in a storm off the Texel , and had to be towed back to the Nore . Knowles transferred to the 74 - gun in late 1795 , serving under Sir John Jervis at Lisbon . While serving there he ran foul of Jervis , who had him court - martialled in 1796 on a charge of disobeying a verbal order . At the trial Jervis ' s captain of the fleet Robert Calder swore that no order had been given , and the lieutenant who was supposed to have transmitted it swore he had not received one . The charge was therefore dismissed , but this appears to have been the start of a personal enmity of Jervis against Knowles . Battle of Cape St Vincent . Knowles was still in Jervis ' s fleet in command of " Goliath " when the Battle of Cape St Vincent was fought on 14 February 1797 . During the engagement Jervis ordered his ships to tack in succession whilst in close action with the enemy . Knowles did so , coming under heavy fire and was forced to temporarily drop out of the action while the " Goliath " knotted and spliced their rigging . On his return to the battle , Knowles observed an opportunity to pass to windward of the " Santísima Trinidad " and so becalm her . Jervis however signalled " Goliath " and ordered Knowles to stop the manoeuvre . The following morning both Knowles on the " Goliath " , and James Whitshed on had observed the vulnerable situation that the " Santísima Trinidad " was in , and attempted to signal this to Jervis . They received no reply . The fleet anchored in Lagos Bay the following day , with Knowles placing the " Goliath " where she could provide flanking cover for the line . On going aboard Jervis ' s flagship he was however told by Jervis that the " Goliath " was vulnerable where she lay . Knowles replied that the Spanish were hardly likely to attack given their condition . While Knowles was dining with Vice - Admiral William Waldegrave that evening , Jervis sent the " Victory " s master to move " Goliath " , a great insult to Knowles . Jervis also ordered him to swap ships with Thomas Foley and take over HMS " Britannia " . Knowles soon returned to England after this , citing poor health . Later life . Knowles attended the service of thanksgiving at St Paul ' s Cathedral on 19 December 1797 for the victories at St Vincent and Camperdown , receiving a Naval Gold Medal , and then largely retired from public life . He spent the rest of his life in study , producing seven books of professional studies and a new code of signals in 1798 , based on his 1777 work and incorporating revisions he had made in 1780 , 1787 and 1794 . He was promoted to Rear - Admiral on 14 February 1799 , two years to the day after the Battle of Cape St Vincent , a Vice - Admiral on 24 April 1804 and a full Admiral on 31 July 1810 . He suggested using balloons to observe the French invasion forces at Brest in 1803 , and in 1830 he published his largely autobiographical work " Observations on Naval Tactics " . He had married Charlotte Johnstone on 10 September 1800 , the couple eventually having three sons and four daughters . He was nominated a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 16 May 1820 at the accession of King George IV . Admiral Charles Henry Knowles died on 28 November 1831 at the age of 77 . He was succeeded as baronet by his son Francis Charles Knowles .