Thomas Pringle ( Royal Navy officer ) Vice - Admiral Thomas Pringle ( died 8 December 1803 ) was an officer of the Royal Navy . He served during the American War of Independence , and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . Family and early life . He was born into a wealthy Scottish family , the only son of Walter Pringle , a prosperous West Indies planter . He served in North America in 1775 , as first lieutenant of . Stationed at Quebec as American forces approached , Pringle was sent to Britain in November 1775 aboard the merchant vessel " Polly " , with despatches warning of the imminent American attack . Command . He was made a post - captain in 1776 , and in October 1776 , he commanded the Royal Navy fleet on Lake Champlain in the Battle of Valcour Island , where he defeated a smaller American fleet under the command of Benedict Arnold . On his return to England in November 1776 he was promoted to post - captain . In January 1777 , he was given command of HMS " Ariadne " , assigned to duty as part of the West Indies fleet . He served well there , capturing a number of American naval vessels , transports , and privateers , including the Virginia State Navy brig " Mosquito " on 5 June 1777 , and the privateer " Johnston " on 29 November 1777 . His most notable prize was USS " Alfred " on 10 July 1778 , captured in company with James Richard Dacres ' s . He operated for the next two years with Admiral Samuel Barrington ' s fleet , seeing action at the Battle of St . Lucia on 14 / 15 December 1778 ; and at the Battle of Grenada on 6 July 1779 . Pringle sailed home with Barrington and paid off the " Ariadne " for a refit in early 1780 . In July 1780 he was given command of HMS " Daedalus " , a 32 - gun frigate , in which he served as part of the North American fleet for the next two years . He also operated in British waters , capturing the privateer " Moustic " in the English Channel on 20 January 1782 . The Nelson connection . In April 1782 he escorted a convoy from Cork to Quebec . Joining him for this task , and placed under his command was Captain Horatio Nelson , in command of the frigate . Nelson was not looking forward to the tedious and difficult task of escorting a convoy through the Atlantic storms , nor did he rate Pringle highly , thinking that he wanted to go to Canada only because of the money he could make shipping specie . In the event Nelson found the voyage to be not as bad as he had feared , and also realised that he had misjudged Pringle , subsequently declaring that Pringle was ' my particular friend , and a man of great honour . ' Nelson and Pringle ' s friendship was an enduring one . The day after Nelson ' s marriage to Frances Nisbet in 1787 Pringle wryly remarked that the navy had lost its ' greatest ornament ' , so expressing his concern that a wife got in the way of a successful naval career . The Peace , and the French Revolutionary Wars . Pringle returned to Britain at the end of 1782 , in time to capture another privateer in the Channel , this time the " Légère " on 11 December 1782 . The " Daedalus " was assigned to patrol the Shetland fisheries in 1783 , before Pringle paid her off in July 1784 . He is recorded to have recommissioned the hulked 74 - gun third rate in October 1787 as a receiving ship at Chatham Dockyard , though had moved later that month take take command of the new 90 - gun second rate . In May 1790 he was put in command of HMS " Royal George " , a 100 - gun first - rate that served briefly as Admiral Samuel Barrington ' s flagship . In October 1793 he was given command of the 74 - gun , joining Lord Howe ' fleet . Pringle was therefore present at the Glorious First of June the following year , where his ship had two killed and nine wounded . He was awarded the Naval Gold Medal for his part in the action , and promoted to rear - admiral that year . Flag rank . In 1795 Pringle , by now a rear - admiral , raised his flag aboard the 74 - gun and served in the North Sea . He later removed to , and sailed to the Cape of Good Hope in May 1796 , where he took command of the fleet stationed there . He was in Saldanha Bay under Vice - Admiral George Elphinstone when the Dutch fleet under Rear - Admiral Engelbertus Lucas was forced to surrender on 17 August 1797 . His legacy as commander of the navy on the Cape station was commemorated in the naming of Pringle Bay . In 1797 , he had to put down a mutiny aboard his flagship which was anchored in the harbour . The seamen aboard the ship had threatened their captain , George Hopewell Stephens , with a court - martial composed of members of the crew on charges of cruelty and mistreatment . The mutinous spirit was temporarily quashed with a general pardon , while Stephens requested a regular court - martial to clear his name . While this was held aboard , Pringle sent a ship to recall the " Tremendous " s previous captain , Charles Brisbane . Stephens was honourably acquitted at the court - martial and returned to duty , but shortly afterwards the crew of the " Tremendous " broke out into open mutiny , this spreading to other ships in the harbour . Pringle , who was onshore at the time , ordered the batteries around the harbour to be manned , and aimed at the " Tremendous " , the source of the mutiny . With over 100 guns pointed at his flagship he demanded the crews return to obedience and give up the ringleaders within two hours , or he would order the " Tremendous " destroyed . Realising that Pringle was sincere in his intent , the mutineers surrendered 10 minutes before Pringle ' s deadline passed . The ringleaders were handed over and order was restored to the fleet . On 14 February 1799 , Pringle was promoted to Vice Admiral of the White , and on 1 January 1801 , to Vice Admiral of the Red . He died in Edinburgh on 8 December 1803 .