James Spratt (officer)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Spratt (born May 3, 1771 in Harrel's Cross, County Dublin , † 1853 ) was an officer in the Royal Navy and was known as a hero of the Battle of Trafalgar .

Life

Commander James Spratt became famous for diving alone from HMS Defiance to the French warship Aigle . He climbed through a stern window , made his way to the poop deck, and pounced on the crew - one man against hundreds. In a scuffle he killed two sailors and while fighting a third both fell from the poop deck onto the main deck ; while his opponent died, he was seriously injured. The intervention of the Defiance's crew finally saved him from his predicament, but his bravery damaged his further professional career.

On April 4, 1809 he married Jane Brimage (born April 2, 1790), their eldest son was Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt , who was born on May 11, 1811.

Works

  • The Homograph or Every Man a Signal Tower. , London ( online ; PDF; 24 kB)

literature

  • JK Laughton, 'Spratt, James (1771-1853)', in Andrew Lambert, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004 (online)
  • Louis Roeder, ... poor old Jack Spratt is done up at last! ( online ; PDF; 59 kB)
  • William Richard O'Byrne , A naval biographical dictionary: comprising the life and services of every living officer in Her Majesty's navy, from the rank of admiral of the fleet to that of lieutenant, inclusive , London 1849, p. 1105 ( online )

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Edward Giffard: A second series of Deeds of naval daring 1854, p. 362. ( online )
  2. ↑ Data on the wedding at familysearch.org
  3. ↑ data at familysearch.org
  4. ↑ Timothy Severin: The Ulysses Voyage: Sea Search for the Odyssey . EP Dutton, 1987, ISBN 978-0525246145 .
personal data
SURNAME Spratt, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British officer
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1771
PLACE OF BIRTH County Dublin , Ireland
DATE OF DEATH 1853