Thomas Eyles Thomas Eyles ( c . 1769 – 29 September 1835 ) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . Little has been recorded about Eyles ' early life , but he served for much of his time in the navy under the patronage of Sir John Borlase Warren , a prominent naval commander , who arranged for Eyles to have a significant role in the Quiberon Expedition in 1795 . Success in this operation led to a promotion to post - captain , and command of his own frigate , the 44 - gun . Eyles continued to served under Warren in the frigate squadron patrolling the Western Approaches , often captaining Warren ' s ships . Eyles saw action at the Battle of Tory Island in 1798 , and later became Warren ' s flag captain after Warren ' s promotion and appointment to serve in the Channel Fleet . As one of the early commanders of , Eyles had to deal with a mutiny as disaffected sailors aired their grievances at being sent abroad as peace seemed imminent . The mutiny was put down and Eyles carried out his original mission , sailing to the West Indies , before returning to Britain . Eyles appears to have been unemployed for a time , only returning to command a ship in 1809 , and moving to command one of the royal yachts shortly before his promotion to rear - admiral in 1814 . He rose through the ranks , never hoisting his flag , until his death as a vice - admiral of the white in 1835 , at the age of 66 . Early career . Eyles was the son of Thomas Eyles of Stratton Audley , Oxfordshire , and his wife , Ann Woodward Baxter , and , in turn , the father of Major Thomas Woodward Eyles . Little is recorded about Eyles ' s early life and career in the navy . He was a protégé of Sir John Borlase Warren and was serving aboard Warren ' s ship , the 44 - gun , during the Quiberon Expedition in mid - 1795 . Eyles was a lieutenant at this time , and did not have an active posting , but Warren lobbied the Admiralty to give Eyles a position on the expedition , and himself appointed Eyles to oversee all matters related to signalling and transportation . Encouraged by the expedition ' s initial success , the Admiralty promoted Eyles to post - captain on 13 July 1795 and Warren to commodore . Eyles received an appointment to command the " Pomone " , initially as acting captain , and later being confirmed as captain . The expedition ultimately ended in the frustration of the British plans to encourage a French Royalist rising , but Eyles and Warren both benefited from it . Command . With the frigate squadron . " Pomone " continued to serve under Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren as part of the frigate squadron in the Western Approaches , and Eyles played an important part in cruises with the squadron against enemy privateer s and merchant shipping . Eyles narrowly lost his command in 1796 when , through the ignorance of her French pilot , " Pomone " ran aground off Nantes . She was damaged , but was able to be refloated . Warren sent her into port to be repaired , with the crew struggling to keep her afloat on the voyage to Plymouth . Eyles managed to get her into port safely , and received the thanks of the Admiralty for saving the ship . Eyles remained in command until 1797 , capturing either singly , or in company with other vessels , a large number of privateers , including the 8 - gun cutter " Sans Peur " on 13 March 1796 , and on 20 March 1796 captured the " Etoile " and four vessels in a convoy off Pointe du Raz , on the Brittany coast . The capture of the 14 - gun " Fantaisie " off Morlaix followed on 25 May 1796 . On 22 August 1796 Eyles was in company with several frigates and smaller ships when the French 36 - gun " Andromache " was spotted making for the Gironde estuary . The 32 - gun , under Captain Richard Goodwin Keats , and the brig , made French signals to fool the French ship into anchoring . On discovering her mistake , the French ship attempted to escape , pursued by " Galtaea " , " Pomone " and . After a sustained chase , the " Andromache " ran herself aground , and was later boarded and burnt by boats from the British squadron . Further successes that Eyles had a hand in included the running of the French 28 - gun " Calliope " onto the Penmarcks on 16 July 1797 , an attack on a convoy escorted by the 20 - gun " Réolaise " and other ships on 11 August 1797 , and engagements with the " Egalité " on 23 August and the 18 - gun cutter " Petit Diable " on 27 August 1797 . Eyles left " Pomone " in late 1797 , being succeeded by Captain Robert Carthew Reynolds . Eyles took command of the 74 - gun , flying the broad pennant of Commodore Warren , and under him saw action at the Battle of Tory Island , in which a French invasion force under Jean - Baptiste - François Bompart was encountered and successfully dispersed on 12 October 1798 . The Brest blockade . Eyles association with Warren continued after Warren ' s promotion to rear - admiral . When Warren hoisted his flag aboard the 98 - gun , Eyles came with him , succeeding " Temeraire " s previous commander , Captain Peter Puget , in July 1799 . The newly commissioned " Temeraire " then joined the Channel Fleet under the overall command of Admiral Lord Bridport and supported the blockade of the French port of Brest , making several long cruises of two or three months at a time patrolling the area . Eyles was superseded during this period by " Temeraire " s former commander , Captain Puget , who resumed command on 14 October 1799 , and the following month " Temeraire " became the flagship of Rear - Admiral James Whitshed . Eyles continued to serve with Warren , with his next posting as captain of Warren ' s new flagship , the 74 - gun . Eyles was aboard her until November 1800 . He then returned after a period of absence to resume command of " Temeraire " on 31 August 1801 . Rear - Admiral Whitshed had struck his flag by now , and in his place " Temeraire " became the flagship of Rear - Admiral George Campbell . By this time the Second Coalition against France had collapsed , and negotiations for peace were underway at Amiens . Lord St Vincent had been promoted to First Lord of the Admiralty , and command of the Channel Fleet passed to Admiral Sir William Cornwallis . Anticipating the imminent end of the war , " Temeraire " was taken off blockade duty and sent to Bantry Bay to await the arrival of a convoy , which she would then escort to the West Indies . Many of the crew had been serving continuously in the navy since the start of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793 , and had looked forward to returning to England now that peace seemed imminent . On hearing rumours that instead they were to be sent to the West Indies , a group of around a dozen men began to agitate for the rest of the crew to refuse orders to sail for anywhere but England . Mutiny . The first open clash between the mutineers and officers came on the morning of 3 December , when a small group of sailors gathered on the forecastle and refusing orders to leave , began to argue with the officers . Captain Eyles asked to know their demands , which were an assurance that " Temeraire " would not go to the West Indies , but instead would return to England . Eventually Rear - Admiral Campbell came down to speak to the men , and having informed them that the officers did not know the destination of the ship , he ordered them to disperse . The men went below decks and the incipient mutiny appeared to have been quashed . Trouble flared up again when the mutineers , believing they would be supported by the majority of the crew , again made their refusal to sail to the West Indies known , and began to agitate against the officers . Campbell met with Vice - Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell the following day and after a period of tensions and standoffs between the officers and the crew , the mutiny collapsed when the marines obeyed orders to arrest the ringleaders . " Temeraire " was ordered to Spithead and an investigation was carried out , which eventually saw the court - martial and punishment of the mutiny ' s ringleaders . After deliberations , twelve were sentenced to be hanged , the remaining two were to receive two hundred lashes each . Having carried out the executions , " Temeraire " was immediately sent to sea , and Eyles sailed for Barbados , arriving there on 24 February , and the ship remained in the West Indies until the summer . During her time there the Treaty of Amiens was finally signed and ratified , and " Temeraire " was ordered back to Britain . She arrived into Plymouth on 28 September and Eyles paid her off on 5 October . Later service . Eyles does not appear to have had any more commands until early 1809 , when he was appointed to command the 74 - gun , which he did until early 1812 . He was given command of the royal yacht HMY " Royal Charlotte " in early 1813 , and was promoted to rear - admiral on 4 July 1814 . He was promoted to the rank of vice - admiral of the white in May 1825 . He died at this rank on 29 September 1835 , at Loddington Hall , Northamptonshire , at the age of 66 , having never hoisted his flag . Notes . a . A number of general histories , including Goodwin ' s " The Ships of Trafalgar " and Noel Mostert ' s " The Line on the Wind " , state that all 14 were hanged . Willis studied contemporary records and reports of the court - martial for his " The Fighting Temeraire " , and states only 12 of the 14 were sentenced to be hanged . Roy and Lesley Adkins offer a third account , that twenty mutineers were tried , all were found guilty and eighteen were sentenced to death , the other two were to received one hundred and twenty lashes each . They note that at least six were hanged and possibly as many as twelve , the remainder may have had their sentences commuted to transportation .