Admiral Robert Man (1721–1783) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

officer. He commanded the third-rate HMS ''Lancaster'' at the siege of Louisbourg in June 1758 during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. He went on to become commander-in-chief of the

Leeward Islands Station The Leeward Islands Station originally known as the Commander-in-Chief at Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands was a formation or command of the Kingdom of Great Britain and then the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed at English Harbour, Antigua, L ...

, then Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet and finally First Naval Lord.

Naval career

Robert Man was born in 1721 and baptised at St Mary's, Chatham on 2 July of that year. He is listed in three ships commanded by his father, Captain Robert Man (1675-1745), these being a mixture of the usual fiction and fact. His passing certificate is dated 12 March 1739. Man officially joined the

on 17 September 1740. Promoted to

post-captain Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain ...

on 22 June 1745, he took command of the

fifth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal ...

HMS ''Launceston'' in June 1745, the fifth-rate HMS ''Lynn'' in June 1746 and the

fourth-rate In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided i ...

HMS ''Anson'' in February 1755. He went on to command the

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

HMS ''Prince Frederick'' in 1758 and the third-rate HMS ''Lancaster'' later that year. He commanded ''Lancaster'' at the siege of Louisbourg in June 1758 during the

. He then transferred to the command of the third-rate HMS ''Cornwall'' in 1760. Whilst in command of Cornwall, he took on board the orphaned son of his cousin, another Captain Robert Man (1720-1762), and did much to promote his career. The boy, later Admiral Robert Man (1745-1813), was described by Nelson as 'a good man in every sense of the word'. Man became commander-in-chief of the

in 1769 and established a naval hospital at Antigua. Promoted to rear admiral on 18 October 1770, Man went on to be commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1774 and, having been promoted to vice admiral on 31 March 1775, he joined the Board of Admiralty as First Naval LordRodger, p. 69 in the

North ministry Frederick North, Lord North was appointed to lead the government of the Kingdom of Great Britain by King George III from 1770 to 1782. His ministry oversaw the Falklands Crisis of 1770, the 1780 Gordon Riots and the outbreak of the American Wa ...

in April 1779. He retired from the Admiralty Board in September 1780 and, having been promoted to full admiral on 26 September 1780, died in 1783.

References

Sources

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Man, Robert Royal Navy admirals 1783 deaths Lords of the Admiralty 1721 births