Charles John Napier
Sir Charles John Napier (born March 6, 1786 in Falkirk , † November 6, 1860 in Merchiston-Hall , Hampshire ) was a British naval officer.
Life
Charles John Napier joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman in 1800 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1805 and commander in 1807 . Napier captured Fort Eduard in Martinique in 1809 . In the same year he was appointed captain, but soon afterwards put on half pay. In 1810 he made the campaign on the Iberian Peninsula as a volunteer . In the subsequent campaign, which the English undertook from September to November 1811 from Sicily against the Neapolitan coasts, he conquered the island of Ponza near Gaeta , which is why he was appointed Cavaliere di Ponza by the King of the Two Sicilies, Ferdinand .
In 1832 Napier entered the service of Dom Pedro of Portugal as an admiral in the fight against the usurper Miguel . Here he was able to distinguish himself on July 5, 1833 by his sea victory at Cape Saint Vincent . Then he was appointed Visconde de Cabo de San Vincente by Dom Pedro . After Dom Pedro was expelled from Portugal, he returned to England and was made a knight in 1840. In the autumn of 1840, as a Commodore under Admiral Stopford's command, he took a significant part in the campaign against Muhammad Ali Pasha and Ibrahim Pasha on the coast of Syria. After storming Saida and taking away Saint-Jean d'Acre, he dictated peace in 1841. He himself described these events in his work The War in Syria (2 vols., London, 1842). On his return to England he was elected to Parliament in 1841 , where he worked zealously for the strengthening of British naval power and proved himself as a consistent Whig .
In November 1846, Napier was promoted to Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy Blue Flag . He commanded the Canal Fleet in 1847 and distinguished himself in the fight against the Rispirates. In a series of letters to the Times (collected under the title The navy, is past and present state , London 1851), he exposed maladministration in the British Navy. In May 1853 he was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Blue Flag. Shortly before the outbreak of the Crimean War in February 1854, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British fleet in the Baltic Sea and already sailed for the Baltic Sea on March 11, 1854, 17 days before the British declaration of war, where he had been the Russian since May 28 Coasts and ports blocked. After uniting with the French fleet on June 21, he captured the Bomarsund fortress and occupied the Aland Islands in early August . Apart from that, however, he was unable to achieve much as a result of the deficiencies he had previously complained about. That is why he was recalled in September 1854, from then on lived in London , rejoined Parliament and justified himself here in 1855 against the accusations unjustly made against him.
In 1855 Napier was promoted to Vice Admiral of the White Flag and in 1857 to Vice Admiral of the Red Flag. Finally, on March 6, 1858, he was promoted to Admiral of the Blue Flag. The History of the Baltic campaign (1857) was one of the last writings he wrote . He died on November 6, 1860 at the age of 74 in Merchiston-Hall, Hampshire.
literature
- Priscilla Napier: Black Charlie. Life of Admiral Sir Charles Napier KCB, 1787-1860. Michael Russell Publishing, Wilby 1995, ISBN 0-85955-209-8 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Napier, Charles John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British admiral |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 6, 1786 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Falkirk |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 6, 1860 |
| Place of death | Merchiston Hall , Hampshire |