Valentine Collard Rear - Admiral Valentine Collard ( " c . " 1770 – 18 March 1846 ) was a Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century who is best known for his service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . Born into a naval family , Collard served at numerous engagements of the wars , including the Siege of Toulon , operations against Corsica , the Battle of Cape St Vincent , the Siege of Genoa , the Battle of Copenhagen and numerous smaller actions off the Netherlands , Egypt and in the Baltic Sea . His last active service came in 1810 , after which he retired to Teddington in Middlesex . In his later years he suffered severe ill - health and the loss of his first and second wives , leading him to commit suicide . Life . Valentine Collard was born in approximately 1770 into a naval family : two of his uncles were Admiral Sampson Edwards and Captain Valentine Edwards who was killed in a shipwreck in 1794 . Pursuing a naval career , Collard first appears in the records as a midshipman at the end of the American War of Independence in 1783 . For four years he was under his uncle Captain Valentine Edwards in HMS " Shark " off Scotland before taking a position on HMS " Champion " with Sampson Edwards . He later served in HMS " Iphigenia " , and at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793 was transferred to HMS " St George " in the Mediterranean . There he took part in the Siege of Toulon engaging French Republican artillery along the siege lines , and in October 1793 was with the force that captured a French ship lying in Genoa harbour at the Action of 5 October 1793 . In November 1793 , while stationed in Sardinia , Collard was promoted to lieutenant and briefly joined HMS " Tartar " before receiving his own small command , the schooner " Petite Boston " , which participated in the Siege of Bastia and Siege of Calvi on Corsica . He then spent two years on HMS " Eclair " before joining HMS " Britannia " as senior lieutenant . " Britannia " was subsequently engaged at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in February 1797 and Collard was promoted to commander as a reward . He was briefly in command of HMS " Fortune " , which was wrecked off Portugal before joining the small frigate HMS " Vestal " and participating in the Siege of Genoa and the blockade of Egypt , capturing a storeship in 1801 . The frigate was paid off in 1802 at the Peace of Amiens and Collard entered the reserve . In 1804 Collard was returned to service and joined the fleet under Lord Keith as captain of the brig HMS " Railleur " and then the explosion vessel HMS " St Vincent " . He served off the Dutch coast and captured a number of small vessels and military equipment in April 1805 . He then commanded a squadron of armed vessels on the Weser River as part of the defence of Hanover . In 1806 and 1807 he was placed in command of squadrons of small warships that escorted merchant shipping through the Baltic Sea , joining with the fleet under James Gambier that fought in the Battle of Copenhagen . He then served in a number of temporary captaincies , including postings to HMS " Majestic " , HMS " Gibraltar " and HMS " Dreadnought " before he retired from the sea in 1810 . Collard retired to Teddington in Middlesex with his first wife , who died in 1821 . He remarried in 1823 to May Ann Kempster , who died in 1844 . The loss of his second wife drove him into depression , during which he suffered from apoplexy and eventually committed suicide in March 1846 aged 76 . Collard had remained in the Navy after and continued gaining seniority , eventually becoming a rear - admiral in 1841 . Throughout his career , Collard was a popular officer , who gained the nickname " the animated life - boat " after rescuing men who fell overboard from his ship on two separate occasions .