Napier Sir Charles

Napier, Sir Charles, British naval commander, was born in 1786, and entered the navy in 1799. In 1807 he was made a commander, and as such witnessed the reduction of the islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix, assisted in the cutting out of a Spanish ship lying under batteries off Porto Rico, took Fort Edward, Martinique, and was posted (1809). He was afterwards made a C.B. The long peace not providing him with sufficient employment at home, he, in 1833, accepted an appointment as admiral of Dom Pedro's fleet, and in that capacity gained a great victory over a Miguelite squadron off Cape St. Vincent. In 1839 he was sent to the Mediterranean, where, under the direction of Sir Robert Stopford, he rendered good service during the operations of 1840 on the coast of Syria. For this he was made a K.C.B. In 1846 he became a rear-admiral, and in 1853 a vice-admiral. In 1854 he was, at the outbreak of the war with Russia, made commander-in-chief in the Baltic, but effected little. Promotion to the rank of admiral followed in 1858, and Sir Charles died in 1860.