Jervis

Jervis, Earl St. Vincent, Sir John, English admiral and the greatest of all naval administrators, was born at Meaford in 1734. At the age of ten he entered the navy, became a lieutenant in 1755, and was made acting captain in 1757. The operations at Quebec won him a commander's commission in 1759, and in 1760 he was posted. In 1784 he was elected M.P. for North Yarmouth, and he became a rear-admiral in 1787, and a vice-admiral in 1793. He thereupon assumed the chief command in the West Indies, where Martinique, St. Lucia, and Guadeloupe were quickly captured. He returned in 1795, and in the same year was made admiral and commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, where he hoisted his flag, 1796, in the Victory. He carried out, with the aid of Nelson, the evacuation of Corsica, assisted the Austrians in the Adriatic, blockaded Leghorn and Genoa, and protected the convoys. But when Spain joined France he was reduced to the necessity of abandoning the Mediterranean, and retired to Lisbon. In 1797 he won a splendid victory which gained him an earldom, a gold chain and medal, and a pension of £3,000 a year. He next blockaded and set Nelson to bornbard Cadiz, repressed a serious mutiny in his fleet, and detached Nelson on the mission which ultimately resulted in the victory of the Nile. Lord St. Vincent returned to England in 1799, and in the following year took command of the Channel fleet and was made Lieutenant-General of Marines. But in 1801 he relinquished employment afloat in order to become First Lord of the Admiralty.