Sir Francis Samuel Drake, 1st Baronet: Difference between revisions

{{redirect|Francis Samuel Drake|the United States historian|Francis Samuel Drake (historian)}}

{{Infobox military person

|name =Sir Francis Samuel Drake, 1st Baronet

}}

|battles =

* [[Seven Years' War]]

|battles_label =

|awards =

Francis was baptised on 14 September 1729, at [[Buckland Monachorum]], Devonshire. He was the fourth son of [[Sir Francis Drake, 4th Baronet]], and Anne Heathcote. He was the younger brother of [[Sir Francis Henry Drake, 5th Baronet]], the last in the line of baronets descending from [[Sir Francis Drake, 1st Baronet]], nephew of the [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan]] naval hero [[Francis Drake|Sir Francis Drake]]. He served for a time as lieutenant aboard the 44-gun {{HMS|Torrington|1743|6}} and the 60-gun {{HMS|Windsor|1695|6}}.<ref name="DNB445">{{Cite book| chapter=Drake, Francis Samuel (d.1789)| title=Dictionary of National Biography|pages=445–6}}</ref> He was promoted to command the 10-gun [[sloop]] {{HMS|Viper|1756|6}} on 30 March 1756, during the [[Seven Years' War]], and achieved the rank of [[post-captain]] later that year with a posting to command the 20-gun {{HMS|Bideford|1756|6}} on 15 November. On 11 March 1757 he was appointed, in succession to his second brother, [[Francis William Drake]], to the 50-gun {{HMS|Falkland|1696|6}}. He commanded the ''Falkland'' for the next five years.<ref name="DNB445"/> He was present in the [[West Indies]] during the operations under Commodore [[Sir John Moore, 1st Baronet|John Moore]] between 1757 and 1758, and then went to [[St. Helena]] to escort the homeward-bound trade in the spring of 1759. He served on the south coast of [[Brittany]] that autumn with the squadron under Captain [[Robert Duff (Royal Navy officer)|Robert Duff]], and was present at the defeat of the French at the [[Battle of Quiberon Bay]] on 20 November 1759.<ref name="DNB445"/>

 

 

==Peace and American War of Independence==

Drake was then sent to join Rodney in the West Indies, and accompanied him to the coast of North America, and back again to the West Indies, where he received a commission as rear-admiral, dated 26 September 1780.<ref name="DNB445"/> He then hoisted his flag in the 70-gun {{HMS|Princessa}}; took part under Rodney in [[Dutch West Indies campaign|the operations against the Dutch Islands]], including the [[Capture of Sint Eustatius]], and was detached under [[Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood|Sir Samuel Hood]] to blockade [[Martinique]], where, with his flag in {{HMS|Gibraltar|1780|6}}, he was warmly engaged in the [[Battle of Fort Royal]] against with [[François Joseph Paul de Grasse|De Grasse]] on 29 April 1781.<ref name="DNB445"/> In August, with his flag again in the ''Princessa'', he accompanied Hood to North America, and commanded the van at the [[Battle of the Chesapeake]] on 5 September, with the fleet under [[Thomas Graves, 1st Baron Graves|Sir Thomas Graves]]. The ''Princessa'' was heavily damaged in the battle, forcing Drake to shift his flag temporarily to the 74-gun {{HMS|Alcide|1779|6}}.<ref name="DNB445"/>

 

 

==Later life==

 

==Notes==

{{s-reg|gb-bt}}

{{S-new | creation }}

{{s-non|reason=Extinct}}

{{s-end}}

 

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, Francis Samuel}}

[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Seven Years' War]]

[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War]]

[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain|Drake, 1st Baronet]]

[[Category:1729 births]]

[[Category:1789 deaths]]