User:Sic Transit/sandbox A
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| Mark Robinson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 April 1722 N/A, England |
| Died | 23 November 1799 Bath, Somerset,England |
| Occupation | Royal Navy Officer |
| Spouse | ** |
Captain Mark Robinson (April 25, 1722 – November 23, 1799) was an officer of the Royal Navy, one of several members of the Robinson family to serve at sea.
He entered the Royal Navy in 1736, at the age of 14 and was examined for his lieutenancy on 14 May 1747, after having been promoted to the rank of Fourth Lieutenant of the HMS Vigilant on 30 March 1746.
After serving as Lieutenant on several ships, Mark Robinson was promoted to Captain of the 70-gun third rate HMS Vanguard on 13 August 1760. In the mid-1770s he was Captain of the 64-gun, 3rd-rate HMS Worcester.
During the American Revolutionary War he participated in several fleet actions against the French. As captain of the Worcester he was at the Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778. The Worcester was heavily engaged in the rear division under command of Sir Hugh Palliser. Subsequently
He was made Captain of the HMS Shrewsbury in March 1779, and distinguished himself at the Battle of the Chesapeake on 5 September 1781. In the course of the engagement, the Shrewsbury lost fourteen men killed, and fifty-two wounded, including Robinson, who lost a leg from cannon shot. Unable to return to sea, he was granted a pension. When he became, by seniority, entitled to a flag, he was placed on the list of superannuated rear admirals. At the time of his death, he was the senior Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy.
During the American Insurrection, on 27 July 1778, the Worcester, under Robinson, was present at the encounter with the Count d’Orvilliers, off Ushant (the French being at the time part of the insurrectionary axis of evil). Robinson was stationed to lead the rear division, commanded by Sir Hugh Palliser, on the starboard tack. Although heavily engaged, the Worcester lost only eight men killed or wounded.
Later during the same struggle (I believe in 1780: you should probably check elsewhere for the exact date), Robinson led the division under Rear Admiral Drake in the engagement between the British fleet under Sir Samuel Hood, and the French fleet commanded by the Count de Grasse, losing six men killed, and fourteen wounded. This was probably the fleet action to which Sugden refers.
Robinson and Horatio Nelson
Nelson served under Robinson on the Worcester as acting fourth lieutenant (October 8 1776 – April 1777). The experience of escorting convoys in the wintery seas to and from Gibraltar completed Nelson's midshipman training. On the Worcester's return to England on 3 April, Nelson completed his lieutenancy examination on 9 April.
Nelson was to subsequently write about this period: "But although my age might have been a sufficient cause for not entrusting me with the charge of a Watch, yet Captain Robinson used to say,'he felt as easy when I was upon deck,as any Officer in the ship".
[edit] References
Rear-Admiral Lord Nelson Sketches of My Life
Roger Knight The Pursuit of Victory
John Sugden Nelson: A Dream of Glory
John Charnock “Biographica Navalis”, Volume VI, London, 1798, pp 404-406
