LEAKE, Richard, was born at Harwich in 1629, and was bred to the sea. At the Restoration, he was made master gunner of the Princess, a frigate of fifty guns, and [7:13:157] in the first Dutch war distinguished himself by his skill and bravery in two extraordinary actions; one against fifteen sail of Dutch men of war; and another in 1667 against two Danes in the Baltic, in which, the commanding officers of the Princess being killed or desperately wounded, the command, according to the rules of war at that time, fell to the gunner. In 1669 he was promoted to be gunner of the Poyal Prince, a first-rate man of war. He was engaged, with his two sons, Henry and John, in the battle against Van Tromp, in 1673, when the Royal Prince had all her masts shot away, nearly 4Ό0 of her men killed and disabled, and most of her upper tier of guns dismounted. As she lay thus like a wreck upon the water, a great Dutch man of war came down upon her with two fire-ships, either to burn or carry her oft’; and Captain, afterwards Sir George Rooke, thinking it impossible to defend her, ordered the men to save their lives, and the colours to be struck. Mr Leake hearing this, ordered the lieutenant off the quarter-deck, and took the command himself, saying, “the Royal Prince shall never be given up to the enemy while I am alive to defend her.” The undaunted spirit of the brave gunner inspired with resolution the small residue of the ship’s company; they returned with alacrity to the fight, and, under the direction of this valiant gunner and his two sons, sunk both the fire-ships, and having obliged the man of war to sheer off, saved the Royal Prince, and brought her into Chatham. But Mr Leake’s joy in obtaining this victory was damped by the loss of Henry, his eldest son, who was killed near him. Soon afterwards Mr Leake was preferred to the command of a yacht, and also made gunner of Whitehall. In 1677 he obtained a grant for life of the office of master gunner of England, and storekeeper of the ordnance at Woolwich. In this situation he had full scope for his genius. He accordingly, amongst other things, invented the cushee piece; and contrived to fire a mortar by the blast of a piece, which has been used ever since. He was also the principal contriver of what the French call infernals, used at the bombardment of St Malo in 1693. Mr Leake had a surprising genius for all inventions of this kind; and had frequent trials of skill with French and Dutch gunners and engineers in Woolwich Warren, at which Charles II. and the Duke of York were often present, and in which he never failed to excel all his competitors. Nor was he less skilled in the art of contriving compositions for fireworks, of which he likewise made frequent trials with equal success.

Leake, Sir John, an English admiral, distinguished by his bravery and success, was born in 1656, and taught mathematics and gunnery by Mr Richard Leake, his father, master gunner of England. Having early entered into the navy, he distinguished himself under his father in 1673, in the memorable engagement between Sir Edward Spragg and Van Tromp, when only sixteen years of age; and being afterwards appointed captain, he signalized himself on various occasions, particularly by executing the desperate attempt of convoying some victuallers into Londonderry, which obliged the enemy to raise the siege, and also at the famous battle of La Hogue. In 1702, being made commodore of a squadron, he destroyed the French trade and settlements at Newfoundland, and restored to the English the possession of the whole island. On his return he was created rear-admiral; and soon afterwards he was made vice-admiral of the blue, and knighted. He was engaged with Admiral Rooke in taking Gibraltar; after which he particularly distinguished himself in the general engagement off Malaga, when, commanding the leading squadron or the van, consisting only of six ships, he drove that of the enemy, consisting of thirteen, out of the line of battle,* so disabled that they never returned to the fight. In 1705, he relieved Gibraltar, which the French had besieged by sea, and the Spaniards by land, so seasonably, that the enemy was to have attacked the town that very night in several places, and would undoubtedly have made themselves masters of it. Five hundred Spaniards had, by the help of rope-ladders, climbed up the rocks by a way which was thought inaccessible; and at the same time they had got a great number of boats, to land, at the New Mole, three thousand men, who, by making a vigorous assault on the side next the sea, were to draw the garrison to oppose the attack, whilst the five hundred men concealed rushed into the town. The latter being the next day forced by hunger to quit their ambuscade, were discovered; upon which, Sir John assisting the garrison with sailors and marines, they were attacked with such vigour, that, though they had taken an oath not to surrender to the English, a hundred and ninety common soldiers and thirty-five officers accepted quarter, two hundred were killed on the spot, and the rest who endeavoured to make their escape fell headlong down the rock. He was soon afterwards made vice-admiral of the white, and then twice relieved the same fortress. The last time, he attacked five ships of the French fleet coming out of the bay, of which two were taken, and two driven ashore and destroyed. Baron Pointi died soon afterwards of the wounds he received in the battle; and in a few days the enemy raised the siege. In the year 1706, Sir John engaged in the reduction of Barcelona, and next year relieved that city when it was reduced to the last extremity, obliging King Philip to raise the siege. Soon afterwards he took the city of Carthagena, whence he proceeded to Alicant and Joyce, which both submitted to him; and he concluded the exploits of that year with the reduction of the city and island of Majorca. Upon his return home, Prince George of Denmark made him a present of a ring valued at L.400, and he had the honour of receiving L.1000 from the queen as a reward for his services. Upon the unhappy death of Sir Cloudesly Shovel, in 1707, he was made admiral of the white, and commander-in-chief of her majesty’s fleet; and the next year, having surprised a convoy of the enemy’s corn, he sent it to Barcelona, and thus saved both that city and the confederate army from the danger of famine. He then proceeded to the island of Sardinia, which he reduced to the obedience of King Charles; and soon afterwards assisted Lord Stanhope in the conquest of Minorca. On his return home, he was appointed one of the council to the lord high admiral; and in 1709 he was made rear-admiral of Great Britain. He was several times chosen member of parliament for Rochester; and in 1712 conducted the English forces to take possession of Dunkirk. But upon the accession of King George I. he was superseded, and allowed a pension of L.600 a year. After this he lived privately till his death, which happened at his house in Greenwich in 1720.

Leake, Stephen Martin, son of Captain Martin, went through different ranks in the herald’s office till he came to be garter king at arms. He was the first person who wrote professedly on our English coins, two editions of his Historical Account of which were published with plates, under the title of Nummi Britannici Historia, the first, London, 1726, 8vo; the second, much improved, London, 1745, 8vo. He printed, in 1750, a Life of Sir John Leake, admiral of the fleet, to whom he was indebted for a considerable estate, which the admiral devised to trustees for the use of his son for life, and upon his death to Captain Martin, who had married Lady Leake’s sister, and his heirs, by which means it came to the captain’s son, who, in gratitude to the memory of Sir John Leake, wrote an account of his life, of which only fifty copies were printed. In 1766, he printed also fifty copies of the statutes of the order of the garter, 4to. He died in 1773, and was buried in the chancel of the parish church of Thorp in Essex.
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