Streynsham Master (1682–1724) was an English captain in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

Life

He was the only son of James Master of East Langdon in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, by Joyce, only daughter of Christopher Turnor, baron of the exchequer; James Master's grandfather, Sir Edward Master (died 1648), had married Audry, eldest daughter and coheiress of Robert Streynsham, by whom he had fifteen children.A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, 1847, vol. 2, ed. John Burke and John Bernard Burke, pg 842 His uncle (younger brother of his father, James), an influential figure in the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...

, was also named Streynsham Master. Master entered the navy under Captain George Byng, who had married his sister, Margaret. He was serving with him as a midshipman of HMS ''Ranelagh'' in 1704, was promoted to be a lieutenant of the ''Ranelagh'', and was severely wounded in the leg by the explosion at the

capture of Gibraltar The Capture of Gibraltar by Anglo-Dutch forces of the Grand Alliance occurred between 1 and 4 August 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. Since the beginning of the war the Alliance had been looking for a harbour in the Iberian Penins ...

. On 5 July 1709 he was promoted by Byng, then commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, to command HMS ''Fame'', and on 22 March 1710 he was posted by Sir John Norris to HMS ''Ludlow Castle''. In 1712 Master was captain of HMS ''Ormonde'' in the Mediterranean; in 1716 and 1717 of the same vessel, now called HMS ''Dragon'', in the Baltic Sea, with Norris and Byng. In March 1718 he was appointed to HMS ''Superbe'', one of the fleet which went out to the Mediterranean with Byng. In the

Battle of Cape Passaro The Battle of Cape Passaro, also known as Battle of Avola or Battle of Syracuse, was a major naval battle fought on 11 August 1718 between a fleet of the British Royal Navy under Admiral Sir George Byng and a fleet of the Spanish Navy under Re ...

off the southern tip of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, 31 July 1718, Master made himself prominent. The ''Superbe'' and HMS ''Kent'' together engaged the ''Real San Felipe'', the Spanish flagship, till, having beaten her to a standstill, she was boarded and taken by a party from the ''Superbe'', led by

Thomas Arnold Thomas Arnold (13 June 1795 – 12 June 1842) was an English educator and historian. He was an early supporter of the Broad Church Anglican movement. As headmaster of Rugby School from 1828 to 1841, he introduced several reforms that were wid ...

, her first lieutenant. After his return to England Master had no further service, dying of a fever, 22 June 1724. He had married, only four months before, Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of Richard, son of Sir Henry Oxenden, 1st Baronet, but left no issue.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Master, Streynsham 1682 births 1724 deaths Royal Navy officers People from Dover District British military personnel of the War of the Quadruple Alliance Military personnel from Kent