serviceyears branch commands relations death_place death_date allegiance birth_date rank article_title name
1786 ; -- 1860 -lrb- de facto from 1792 -rrb- & nbsp 23px royal navy hms '' mignonne '' george charles hawker -lrb- son -rrb- brighton , sussex 08 june 1860 united kingdom of great britain and ireland 07 november 1782 admiral edward hawker
 edward hawker
edward hawker

edward hawker -lrb- 7 november 1782 -- 8 june 1860 -rrb- was an officer of the royal navy who served during the french revolutionary and napoleonic wars .
born the son of a naval officer in 1782 , edward hawker was first entered in the books of a warship when just four years old .
his actual seagoing service did not begin until 1792 , after which he saw action in some of the early engagements of the french revolutionary wars .
commissioned a lieutenant at thirteen , he served with several relatives both in the west indies and in the waters off the british coast .
a commander at twenty-one , he captained his own ships at the outbreak of the napoleonic wars .
posted again to the west indies , he endured several mishaps , including running his ship aground , and then having it struck by lightning and damaged .
his travails with the weather there continued after his promotion to post-captain , including a severe hurricane that dis-masted his ship and nearly sank her .
he was a successful frigate captain in the caribbean , capturing a number of enemy privateers , and served at the capture of guadeloupe in 1810 .
rewarded with the command of ships of the line , he spent most of his time in north american waters or the caribbean towards the end of the napoleonic wars and during the war of 1812 .
the end of the wars after 1815 left little opportunity for active service , but hawker briefly commanded a ship as flag captain to the earl of northesk , and eventually reached flag-rank himself .
he spent his retirement as a correspondent for `` the times '' , and died an admiral in 1860 , one of the last surviving commanders of the wars with france .
