Sir Richard King , 2nd Baronet Vice Admiral Sir Richard King , 2nd Baronet KCB ( 28 November 1774 – 5 August 1834 ) was an officer in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , who fought with distinction at the battle of Trafalgar despite being amongst the youngest captains present . Naval career . King was the son of Sir Richard King , 1st Baronet , a wealthy and high - ranking member of the Navy . King was placed on board ship at fourteen thanks to the influence of his father and made Post Captain just six years later , an achievement made possible by his father ' s rank of admiral . Normally an officer would be waiting double or triple that time before gaining such a prestigious rank . Nonetheless , King was no incompetent , and proved his worth as captain of HMS " Sirius " , capturing four enemy privateers whilst in command , as well as sitting on the navy board which condemned Richard Parker to death for his part in the Nore mutiny in 1797 . At the Action of 24 October 1798 , King captured two Dutch ships . In 1801 he captured a French frigate , and was rewarded with command of the large 74 gun ship of the line HMS " Achille " . A month before the battle of Trafalgar , sensing that there was glory to be won in the coming operations off Cadiz , King used his influence with his father in law , Admiral Sir John Duckworth , to persuade Nelson to give him a position in the blockading fleet . Since his reputation was good , Nelson endorsed the move and King joined just in time to catch the combined fleet off Trafalgar on 21 October 1805 . The seventh ship in Collingwood ' s division , " Achilles " was heavily engaged , chasing off the Spanish " Montanez " and the battling alongside HMS " Belleisle " with the " Argonauta " . Whilst chasing this ship through the melee , " Achille " was cut off by her namesake , the French " Achille " , with whom she began a savage cannonade until joined by the French ship , whom " Achille " turned her attention on . An hour of savage fighting forced the French craft to eventually surrender , but at the cost of 13 dead and 59 wounded , severe losses in comparison with most of the British fleet . King was , along with the other captains , voted many honours following the battle , and unlike several of him compatriots retained his command at sea , being engaged the following year in the action against a French frigate squadron in an action in which Sir Samuel Hood lost an arm . The same year he inherited his fathers baronetcy and transferred to the Mediterranean , where in 1812 he made the jump to Rear - Admiral and second in command to Edward Pellew . He was appointed KCB on 2 January 1815 and served as commander - in - chief on the East Indies Station from 1816 . Continuing in service postwar in 1819 as a Vice - Admiral and Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath , King served as commander in chief in the East Indies and also remarried following his first wife ' s death to the daughter of Admiral Sir Charles Cotton , Maria Susannah . As Commander - in - Chief , The Nore from 1833 after an eventful life , King continued his successful career past the age many of his contemporaries retired at . Such devotion to duty often has a price , and King died in office in 1834 whilst at Sheerness from a sudden outbreak of cholera . He was buried nearby , survived by twelve children and his second wife .