Archduke Friedrich of Austria ( 1821 – 1847 ) Archduke Friedrich Ferdinand Leopold of Austria ( ) ( 14 May 1821 – 5 October 1847 ) was a member of the House of Habsburg and Commander - in - Chief of the Austrian Navy . Family . Friedrich was the third son of Field Marshal Archduke Charles of Austria ( 1771 – 1847 ) and Princess Henrietta of Nassau - Weilburg ( 1797 – 1829 ) . He never married and did not leave issue . Military career in the Navy . Born in Vienna , Friedrich joined the Imperial Austrian Navy in 1837 at the age of sixteen . He threw himself into this career with much zeal and quickly rose to command a ship , sailing to the orient for the first time in 1839 . Oriental Crisis of 1840 . During the Oriental Crisis of 1840 between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire , Friedrich fought in the campaign against Muhammad Ali after the Convention of London . He served with the Austrian fleet off the Levantine coast as commander of the ship " Guerriera " . In that convention , the United Kingdom , Austria , Prussia , and Russia had offered Muhammad Ali hereditary rule of Egypt as part of the Ottoman Empire if he withdrew from the Syrian hinterland and the coast of Mount Lebanon . Muhammad Ali hesitated until British naval forces moved against Syria and Alexandria . After the British and Austrian navies blockaded the Nile delta coastline , shelled Beirut ( on September 11 , 1840 ) , and after Acre had surrendered ( on November 3 , 1840 ) , Muhammad Ali agreed to the terms of the Convention on November 27 , 1840 . From his ship Friedrich directed the assault on the citadel s of Sidon and Beirut which soon fell . Following the bombardment of Acre on November 3 , 1840 he personally led a small landing party of Austrian , British and Ottoman Turkish troops and took the citadel of Acre after the Egyptian garrison had fled . They hoisted the Turkish , British and Austrian flags over the citadel . For his exceptional leadership during the campaign he was appointed " Knight of the Military Order of Maria Theresa " . Commander - in - Chief . In 1842 Friedrich sailed to Algeria and England . In 1844 he was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral and took office as Commander - in - Chief of the Imperial Austrian Navy at the age of twenty - three . His appointment came after a mutiny by Venetian junior officers led by the sons of admiral Baron Francesco Bandiera . As Commander - in - Chief , Friedrich introduced many modernising reforms , aiming to make his country ' s naval force less " Venetian " but more " Austrian " . In Austria there had until the end of the eighteenth century only been limited attempts at establishing a navy of its own . When the Habsburgs received the city of Venice along with Istria and Dalmatia following the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797 , this situation was changed considerably . The Venetian naval forces and facilities were handed over to Austria and became the basis of the formation of the future Austrian Navy . Until Friedrich ' s term as Commander - in - Chief it was however often felt that the force officially styled the " Austrian Navy " was in practice little more than Venetian crews and ships sailing under the Austrian flag . Friedrich had a keen private interest in the fleet , and with him the Austrian naval force gained its first influential supporter from the ranks of the Imperial Family . This was crucial as sea power was never a priority of the Austrian foreign policy and the navy itself was relatively little known or supported by the public . It was only able to draw significant public attention and funds during the three short periods of its history when it was actively supported by an imperial prince . Following Friedrich ' s example , the archdukes Ferdinand Maximilian ( 1832 – 1867 ) and Franz Ferdinand ( 1863 – 1914 ) would later become active campaigners for naval matters . Death . Friedrich ' s term as Commander - in - Chief of the Imperial Austrian Navy was cut short . He died of jaundice in Venice at the age of twenty - six , only three years after taking office . Further reading . Dauber , Robert L . " Erzherzog Friedrich von Österreich : Admiral und Ordensritter " . Graz : Styria , 1993 . ISBN 3 - 222 - 12218 - 0 .