Augustus Brine Augustus Brine ( 1769 – 28 January 1840 ) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . Despite being the son of a prominent naval officer of the American War of Independence , Augustus Brine had a relatively quiet career . He rose through the ranks to his first command during the French Revolutionary Wars , and was serving at the Cape of Good Hope by 1798 . In 1799 he was faced with rumours of a mutiny while off Madagascar , and took decisive steps to maintain his authority and suppress any attempted insubordination . In doing so he was able to navigate his ship back to a British port and obtain support from other British ships . He was unable to obtain a seagoing command early in the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars , but accepted a shore position in charge of a unit of Sea Fencibles . He finally received a ship , the 74 - gun , in 1810 , and carried out patrols off the Dutch coast until 1813 . Other commands followed , including that of a ship sent out to the Cape . While cruising in the Atlantic he discovered the homeward - bound American commerce raider , and captured her . Apparently entering retirement after the end of the Napoleonic Wars , he was promoted to rear - admiral shortly before his death in 1840 . Family and early life . Augustus Brine was born into a naval family in 1769 , the eldest son of James Brine , who became an admiral and commanded a ship at the Battle of the Chesapeake . Augustus ' s brother , George , also entered the navy and became a captain . Little is known about his early service , but entered the navy at the age of thirteen in 1782 and served as a midshipman aboard his father ' s ship , . His portrait was painted at about this time by John Singleton Copley . He was commissioned a lieutenant on 20 November 1790 , and a commander on 6 December 1798 . He commissioned the 14 - gun sloop that year and commanded her at the Cape of Good Hope until paying her off in February 1800 . Mutiny threatened . While cruising off Madagascar on 8 May 1799 Brine was informed by a member of the crew that some of the sailors were planning to seize control of the sloop , confine the officers , and sail the " Hope " into a French - controlled port . Brine promptly arrested the supposed ringleaders and began the voyage back to the Cape . By 2 July the danger had still not passed , as Brine was informed that more men were now involved in the plot to mutiny . Brine decided that " if [ he ] had confined the whole of the ship ' s company , there would have been great difficulty in working the ship , the officers were therefore divided " into two watches , armed with their servants who kept a constant and good lookout on those still out of confinement . On 15 July he arrested two more ringleaders , and ordered his officers to shoot any man who appeared on deck while his watch was below , and informed his crew that if two men were seen talking together before the main mast during the night , they would be shot . An outbreak of a violent illness amongst the officers and some of the loyal members of the crew on 22 July was attributed to an attempt by the mutineers to poison them . When " Hope " finally anchored in Simon ' s Bay on 30 July , Brine brought two companies of marines on board from and , and placed the ship ' s company in confinement . Napoleonic Wars . Brine was promoted to post - captain on 29 April 1802 , but did not receive an active seagoing command for some time . Instead in May 1805 he was given command of a unit of the Sea Fencibles , with responsibilities for the coast between St Alban ' s Head and Puncknowle . He finally received a ship towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars , taking command of the 74 - gun on 5 November 1810 . Brine commanded " Bellerophon " until 10 February 1813 , mostly spent on cruises in the North Sea and off the Dutch coast . He then briefly took command of the 74 - gun later in 1813 . He was not in command for long , in April 1813 he transferred to the 74 - gun and became flag captain to Vice - Admiral Charles Tyler . Brine then took " Medway " out to the Cape . Brine sailed from the Cape in mid - 1814 to search for American shipping , and while sailing through the Atlantic " Medway " came across the 16 - gun , bound for the United States . The " Syren " mistook the " Medway " for a large merchant vessel and approached her . On realising his mistake , " Syren " s commander , Lieutenant N . J . Nicholson , tried to outrun the British warship . After failing to escape and being unable to fight the more powerful vessel , he surrendered his ship to Brine . Later life . Brine does not appear to have commanded any other ships after paying " Medway " off after the end of the Napoleonic Wars , but was promoted to rear - admiral in 1837 . He died at Boldre Hill , Hampshire on 28 January 1840 at the age of 70 . Brine married Martha - Maria Dansey on 14 May 1803 at Blandford and had one son , Rev . Augustus James Brine ( later changing his last name to Knapton ) on 26 January 1805 . Martha - Maria predeceased Brine , dying at Lymington on 31 December 1831 . Notes . a . The captured " Syren " was not commissioned into the Royal Navy , but found some employment as a lazaretto from 1815 , and was discarded soon afterwards .