Balchen

Balchen, John, a distinguished British admiral, was born on February 2nd, 1669, and having, in early life, entered the navy, became a captain in 1697. In 1707, as captain of the Chester, 50, he was, after a gallant fight, taken prisoner by the Chevalier de Forbin in the engagement off the Lizard, but upon trial by court-martial was most honourably acquitted of blame. He commanded many other vessels with credit, but was not promoted rear-admiral until 1728. In 1731 he was second in command at the occupation of Leghorn ; in 1733 he was made a vice-admiral; in 1739 he was commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean; in 1743 he was promoted to admiral; in 1744, while governor of Greenwich Hospital, he was knighted; and in the summer of the same year, being in his seventy-sixth year, he sailed with a fleet to relieve Sir Charles Hardy, who was at the time blockaded in the Tagus by the French. He executed his mission but did not live to return. On October 7th, 1744, his flagship, the Victory, of 110 guns, with a crew of about 1,150 officers and men, struck on the Caskets, off Alderney, and every soul on board perished. Sir John's body was not recovered ; but a monument to his memory stands in Westminster Abbey.