Hamilton Sir Edward

Hamilton, Sir Edward, Bart., British naval commander, was a son of Captain Sir John Hamilton, R.N., and was born in 1772. In command of the Surprise, 32, he took or destroyed above 80 vessels, but it was in 1799 that he gained his greatest fame by cutting out with his boats from under the fire of nearly 200 guns in the batteries at Puerto Cabello, the Spanish (formerly British) Hermione, 44. Hamilton, who was severely wounded, was in due course made a knight, a K.C.B., and a baronet; but, in the meantime, he bad been captured by the French, and had been dismissed the service for ill-treatment of his men. He was, however, exchanged and restored, and died in 1851, having been for thirty years a flag-office'-.