Roman (Robert) Vasilievich Crown (); (, near

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Scotland – 1841,

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

) was a navy officer in British and Russian service. In the later he eventually became an Admiral and served in the Russo-Swedish War and the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

Life

Early naval Career in British Service

Robert Crown came from a family of Scottish tenants said to have been related to the Gregor clan. He began his maritime service with the Merchant Navy, joined the British

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 ...

(as a navigator, on the frigate ''Odeon'', in squadrons under Admiral

Edward Vernon Admiral Edward Vernon (12 November 1684 – 30 October 1757) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He had a long and distinguished career, rising to the rank of admiral after 46 years service. As a vice admiral during the War of Jenkins' E ...

in India about 1778) and participated in the

American Revolutionary War 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 ...

. In early 1788 he became an officer in the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until being dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution and the declaration of ...

, keeping his rank of a

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

Career in the Russian-Swedish war

Already on 10 March 1788 Crown was promoted to Captain-Lieutenant and appointed commander of the 22-gun cutter ''Merkuriy'', which was part of the Baltic fleet squadron Copenhagen. On this ship, Captain Crown carried out patrol services during the Russian-Swedish war in the Baltic Sea. His most important success was the capture of the Swedish 44-gun frigate ''

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

'' in the fjord of Christiania on 21 May 1789. Crown was promoted to 2nd rank captain and awarded the Order of St. George 4th class. He received command over the ''Venus'' and led it in the

battle of Reval The naval Battle of Reval took place on during the Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790), off the port of Reval in the roadstead (now Tallinn, Estonia). This battle ended in an imposing Imperial Russian Navy victory; it has been compared to the pr ...

and in the battle of Vyborg Bay in 1790. In the course of the latter he captured the

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

"Rättvisan" (''Justice'', built 1783). In recognition of his merits, he was awarded the

Order of Saint Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir () was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine the Great, Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev, Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of ...

3rd class and promoted to 1st rank captain ( Captain-Commodore). In 1791 Crown, together with many other naval officers of British origin, was transferred to the Black Sea in expectation of war with England.

Promoted to Vice-Admiral and later fate

During the war of the 2nd anti-French coalition, Crown took part in the attempted Anglo-Russian invasion of the Netherlands. He was appointed Rear Admiral in January 1799, while on the 66-gun ship Izyaslav serving in the Baltic, and Vice Admiral in February 1804. In the years 1802-1804 he was in the Baltic fleet on the 74-gun ship ''Yaroslav''. After resting ashore in 1805–1807, he went into a transient retirement on account of the state of war between Russia and England in the years 1808–1812. In 1812 he led a Russian squadron with six ships from Arkhangelsk to Great Britain and was involved in the blockade of France. In 1814 he was blockading the Dutch coast together with an English squadron, and after the Bourbon Restoration, he transported King

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...

from London to France on board his flagship. After the Napoleonic Wars, he returned to the Baltic fleet. On 8 February 1824 he was promoted to full admiral. He retired in 1831 and took residence permanently in St. Petersburg, where he died 10 years later.

Family

Crown was married three times, first in 1775 to Sarah Primrose (1759-1780), second to Martha Knight (1754-1839). He had several children from the second, and one son from the third marriage. Two of his sons with Martha Knight became Russian Vice-admirals in the 1870s, i.e. Alexander Egorovich (Malclein Alexander Crown; 1823-1900) and Thomas Yegorovich (Thomas Frederick; 1826-1893).

Citations

References

*
А. Горшман: ''Кроун, Роман (Роберт) Васильевич, адмирал''. Фундаментальная электронная библиотека
(A. Gorszman: ''Kroun, Roman (Robert) Wasiliewicz, admirał''. Fundamientalnaja eliektronnaja bibliotieka) * М. А. Михайпов, М. А. Баскаков: ''Фрегаты, крейсера, пинейные корабли'' (M. A. Michajłow, M. A. Baskakow: ''Friegaty, kriejsiera, liniejnyje korabli''). Moskwa: 1986. *

with Crown's portrait in the

Royal Museums Greenwich Royal Museums Greenwich is an organisation comprising four museums in Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater L ...

. Retrieved on 18 February 2020 {{DEFAULTSORT:Crown, Robert 1753 births 1841 deaths Military personnel from Perth, Scotland Scottish mercenaries British emigrants British military personnel in colonial India People from the Russian Empire of Scottish descent Imperial Russian Navy admirals Russian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Fourth Degree Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd class Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Royal Navy officers Russian military personnel of the Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790) Immigrants to the Russian Empire