Robert Benjamin Young Commander Robert Benjamin Young , RN ( 15 September 1773 – 26 November 1846 ) was an officer in the Royal Navy . His service in small ships led to his presence observing the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 from the deck of the tiny 10 - gun cutter . Following this battle , Young performed well , acting as messenger and rescue boat during the storm , although the honour of carrying the dispatches back to England was given to John Richards Lapenotiere , commander of HMS " Pickle " ; Young maintained that prior to the battle Admiral Nelson had promised this honour to him . Early life . Born in 1773 at Douglas on the Isle of Man , Young joined his father ' s ship , the frigate HMS " Severn " in 1781 , and made lieutenant ten years later in the build up to the French Revolutionary Wars . He was however unable to gain any influence , and remained without a posting until 1795 , when he was sent to the Caribbean on HMS " Thorn " , and was commended for the capture of the French corvette " Courier - National " and for an armed landing on the island of St Vincent in which he was embroiled in the thick of the fighting but was unhurt . Sailing in HMS " Bonne Citoyenne " , he was an observer of the battle of Cape St . Vincent in 1797 , and was badly wounded by a collapsing spar during a gun action a few weeks later . Returning for duty in 1798 , Young participated in the defence of Gibraltar and was present in the aftermath of the Battle of the Nile , aiding in repairs and consolidation of the British fleet . Battle of Trafalgar . He returned home on HMS " Colossus " , and witnessed her shipwreck in the Isles of Scilly before joining the ship of the line HMS " Goliath " and almost being wrecked on her too , when she was dismasted and almost capsized in the West Indies . Young was commended for his excellent conduct in this operation , and was even able to take some enemy prizes despite the battered nature of his ship . His reward for this was to be given command of the " Entreprenante " following the Peace of Amiens and to take her as a despatch vessel to Nelson ' s fleet off Cadiz . Young claimed for the rest of life that when the combined fleet emerged on 21 October , Nelson ordered him to remain close to HMS " Victory " , so that despatches home could be instantly sent off . No written record has survived of such an order , and Young could find no corroborating witnesses but " Entreprenante " did remain close to the " Victory " except when " Victory " was embroiled in the thick of the fight , where a single enemy broadside would have blasted " Entreprenante " matchwood . Following the action and the subsequent death of Nelson , there was far too much to be done in terms of rescuing survivors , repairing ships and heading back to Cadiz to worry about dispatches . Young performed these duties heroically , even taking his little craft close to the blazing French battleship " Achille " and taking off 161 survivors before escaping just as the ship ' s magazines exploded . Young also found the " Bahama " , whose Spanish crew had overthrown the British prize crew put aboard and were attempting to take the ship back to Cadiz . Thanks to Young ' s fast message to Admiral Collingwood , the " Bahama " was swiftly retaken and brought to Gibraltar . Aftermath of Trafalgar . Young reportedly was " mortified " to discover on his arrival at Gibraltar , Collingwood had sent his own despatch vessel , the " Pickle " under Lapenotiere to England with the reports of the victory , none of which even mentioned Young ' s part in the battle ' s aftermath . The bearer of such good news could expect wealth and promotion ( which Lapenotiere did in fact receive ) , whilst Young was overlooked and ignored . Missing the general promotion from which so many other captains benefitted , Young remained a lieutenant in the Mediterranean until 1810 when he finally made commander , 19 years after passing as a lieutenant . This was a mixed blessing , as Young ' s lack of influence again resulted in his being overlooked and passed over for seagoing commissions , a problem not aided by recurring bouts of ill health following a severe sickness in 1807 . The remainder of Young ' s life was spent in bitter contemplation of what might have been had he performed the famous Trafalgar Way journey , and he died an impoverished and broken man in 1846 , never again having served at sea . He was buried in Exeter near his home , but in 1942 a massive air raid during the Blitz demolished the church and graveyard he was buried in . Postwar the site was turned into a car park , which it remains . The same raid also destroyed the grave of another Trafalgar captain , that of John Stockham .