Vice-Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

Samuel Reeve (c. 1732 – 5 May 1803) was an officer of 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 ...

who saw service 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 ...

and the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

. Samuel Reeve was captain of HMS ''Surprise'' in 1779, seizing American

privateers A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

''Monmouth'', ''Wild Cat'' and ''Jason'' off the coast of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

. On 20 January 1780 ''Surprize'' captured French privateer ''Duguay Trouin'', and in January 1781 captured ''Les Sept Freres''. In the French Revolutionary Wars, Reeve was captain of with the Mediterranean Fleet under Lord Hood. In October 1793 he was ordered, along with and , to attack a French frigate anchored in the harbour at

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. The

Raid on Genoa The Raid on Genoa was a minor naval engagement fought in the harbour of the Italian city of Genoa during the first year of the French Revolutionary Wars. French Republican forces in the Mediterranean, under pressure from Austrian and Spanish a ...

was a success, and six days later Reeve discovered and captured the abandoned French ship ''Impérieuse'' at

La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...

. Reeve was promoted to vice-admiral in 1799, and retired to his home near

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

. On 5 May 1803 Reeve was riding in a

chaise A chaise ( ), sometimes called shay, is a light two-wheeled carriage for one or two people. It may also have a folding hood. The coachmaker William Felton (1796) considered ''chaises'' a family of vehicles which included all two-wheel one-hor ...

near his home when the horse bolted. Reeve was flung from the chaise and was killed immediately, suffering a broken neck.*

Notes

1730s births 1803 deaths Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Road incident deaths in England {{UK-navy-bio-stub