Marriot Arbuthnot
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Admiral of the Blue Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...
Mariot Arbuthnot (1711 – 31 January 1794) was a
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
officer who served in the
American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
.


Early life

A native of Weymouth, Dorset in England, Arbuthnot was the son of Robert Arbuthnot and Sarah, née Bury. Robert's father was the son of the Rev. Robert Arbuthnot, Presbyterian minister of Crichton & Cranston. Mariot Arbuthnot entered the Royal Navy in the late 1720s, became a lieutenant in 1739, and commander in 1746. In 1746 he was commander of the sloop , which captured two French privateers while employed as a cruiser in the channel. He was appointed
post captain Post-captain or post captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term "post-captain" was descriptive only; it was never used as a title in the form "Post-Captain John Smith". The term served to di ...
in 1747. On 22 June 1747 Arbuthnot became captain of the
frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
. Shortly afterwards he became captain of the .


Seven Years' War

In 1757 he became chief officer of the . In 1759, during the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...
, he commanded the , one of the ships employed under Commodore Robert Duff in the blockade of Quiberon Bay, and was present at the total defeat of the French on 20 November. Towards the end of the war he commanded . In 1770 he was made captain of .


American War of Independence

From 1775 to 1778, he was Resident Commissioner of the Navy, Halifax Nova Scotia. He was
Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia The lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia () is the representative in Nova Scotia of the monarch, who Monarchy in Nova Scotia, operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the Canadian federalism, ten other jurisdictions of ...
, 1776–78. He was replaced in this role by Richard Hughes. It may have been about then that an armed
schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...
was named '' Arbuthnot'' after him. On 19 March 1779, he was made
Vice-Admiral of the Blue Vice-Admiral of the Blue was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Vice-Admiral of the White (see order of precedence below). Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, rear a ...
, and on 2 May 1779 took command of . That same year he took up his appointment as commander-in-chief on the North American Station. Soon after arriving at his destination, he was blockaded in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
harbour by the French fleet under Count d'Estaing. In December 1779, Arbuthnot conveyed the troops of Sir Henry Clinton to
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
, and cooperated with him in laying siege to that city. The surrender document signed by prominent citizens was addressed to him and Clinton. On 26 September 1780 he was promoted to
Vice-Admiral of the White Vice-Admiral of the White was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Vice-Admiral of the Red (see order of precedence below). Royal Navy officers holding the ranks of commodore, rear admiral, v ...
. On 13 March 1781, he fought the French Newport squadron, at the Battle of Cape Henry, (Arbuthnot's account of the battle of Cape Henry) before returning to England.


Later life

He advanced by seniority to become, on 1 February 1793,
Admiral of the Blue Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...
. He died in London the following year, leaving two sons, John and Charles. That he was ignorant of the discipline of his profession was proved by his altercation with Sir George Rodney; that he was destitute of even a rudimentary knowledge of naval tactics was shown by his absurd conduct of the Battle of Cape Henry; and, for the rest, he appears in contemporary stories (cf. ''Morning Chronicle'', 18 May 1781) as a coarse, blustering, foul-mouthed bully, and, in history, as a sample of the extremity to which the maladministration of Lord Sandwich had reduced the British Navy. Admiral Arbuthnot was the nephew of Dr. John Arbuthnot, the satirist and mathematician.


References


External links

* *
The Georgian Era
* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Arbuthnot, Mariot Mariot Arbuthnot Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Governors of the Colony of Nova Scotia English people of Scottish descent People from Weymouth, Dorset Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the Seven Years' War 1711 births 1794 deaths