Jamaica Station (Royal Navy)
Jamaica Station | |
---|---|
![]() Ships at Port Royal c. 1820 | |
Active | 1655–1830 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch |
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Type | Fleet |
Part of | Royal Navy |
Garrison/HQ | Port Royal |
The Jamaica Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed at Port Royal in Jamaica from 1655 to 1830.
History
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The station was formed, following the capture of Jamaica, by assembing about a dozen frigates in 1655.[1] The first "Admiral and General-at-Sea" was Sir William Penn.[2] Its main objectives in the early years were to defend Jamaica and to harass Spanish ports and shipping.[3] In the late 1720s three successive commanders of the station lost their lives to tropical diseases while undertaking a Blockade of Porto Bello during the Anglo-Spanish War.[4] The general ill-health associated with the station continued throughout the century. An assessment of Navy strength at the Jamaica station in 1742 found around 3,000 men were fit to serve out of a total Navy complement of 6,620.[5] A Navy hospital was constructed in 1745 but its location was poor and many patients brought in for shipboard diseases developed additional tropical illnesses while in the hospital itself. A report to Admiralty in 1749 found that the Hospital was "rather a hurt to the [Navy] Service than a Relief."[6]
The station merged with the North American Station to form the North America and West Indies Station in 1830.[2]
Commanders
Commanders included:[2]
Commander-in-Chief, Jamaica Station
- Vice-admiral Sir William Penn (1655)
- Vice-Admiral William Goodsonn (1655–57)
- Vice Admiral Christopher Myngs (1657; 1662–63)
- Sir Thomas Whetstone (1663)
- Vice-Admiral Henry Morgan (1669)
- Commodore Ralph Wrenn (1692)
- Rear-Admiral Francis Wheler (1692)
- Vice-Admiral John Benbow (1702)
- Commodore William Whetstone (1702–03)
- Vice-Admiral John Graydon (1703)
- Rear-Admiral Sir William Whetstone (1705–06)
![](../I/m/John_Lynn_-_The_barque_%E2%80%9AWoodmansterne%E2%80%98_calling_for_a_pilot.jpg)
- Commodore William Kerr (1706)
- Rear-Admiral Sir John Jennings (1706)
- Rear Admiral Charles Wager (1707–09)
- Commodore James Littleton (1710–12)
- Rear-Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker (1712)
- Commodore Edward Vernon (1720)
- Vice-Admiral Francis Hosier (1726–27)
- Commodore Edward St. Lo (1727)
- Vice Admiral Edward Hopson (1728)
- Rear-Admiral Edward St. Lo (1728–29)
- Commodore William Smith (1729)
- Rear-Admiral Charles Stewart (1730–32)
- Commodore Richard Lestock (1732)
- Commodore Sir Chaloner Ogle (1732–36)
- Captain Digby Dent (1736–37)
- Commodore Sir Chaloner Ogle (1737–39)
- Admiral Edward Vernon (1739–42)
- Rear-Admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle (1742–44)
- Vice-Admiral Thomas Davers (1744–46)
- Captain Cornelius Mitchell (1746)
- Captain Digby Dent (1747)
- Rear-Admiral Charles Knowles (1747–49)
- Commodore George Townshend (1749–52)
- Rear-Admiral George Townshend (1755–57)
- Rear-Admiral Thomas Cotes (1757–60)
- Rear-Admiral Charles Holmes (1760–61)
- Commodore Sir James Douglas (1762)
- Rear-Admiral Augustus Keppel (1762–64)
- Rear-Admiral William Burnaby (1764–66)
- Rear-Admiral William Parry (1766–69)
- Commodore Arthur Forrest (1769–70)
- Rear-Admiral George Rodney (1771–74)
- Vice-Admiral Clark Gayton (1774–78)
- Vice-Admiral Peter Parker (1778–82)
- Vice-Admiral Joshua Rowley (1782–83)
- Vice-Admiral James Gambier (1783–84)
- Captain John Pakenham (1785)
- Captain Alan Gardner (1785)
- Rear-Admiral Alexander Innes (1786)
- Commodore Alan Gardner (1786–89)
- Rear-Admiral Philip Affleck (1790–1793)
- Commodore John Ford (1793–95)
- Rear-Admiral William Parker (1796)
- Commodore Richard Rodney Bligh (1796)
- Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker (1796–1800)
- Vice-Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour (1800–01)
- Rear-Admiral Robert Montague (1802)
- Vice-Admiral Sir John Duckworth (1803–04)
- Vice-Admiral James Richard Dacres (1804–08)
- Vice-Admiral Bartholomew Rowley (1809–11)
- Vice-Admiral Charles Stirling (1811–12)
- Vice-Admiral James Vashon (1812)
- Rear-Admiral William Brown (1813–14)
- Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane (1814–15) (also C-in-C of the North American Station during the latter part of the War of 1812)
- Rear-Admiral John Erskine Douglas (1816–17)
- Rear-Admiral Sir Home Riggs Popham (1817–20)
- Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Rowley (1820–23)
Commander-in-Chief, West Indies
- Commodore Edward Owen (1823)
- Vice Admiral Lawrence Halsted (1824–27)
- Vice-Admiral Charles Elphinstone Fleeming (1828–29)
References
Sources
- Baugh, Daniel A. (1965). British Naval Administration in the Age of Walpole. Princeton University Press. OCLC 610026758.
- Bradley, Peter (2000). British Maritime Enterprise in the New World: From the Late Fifteenth to the Mid-eighteenth Century. Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 978-0773478664.
- Cundall, Frank (1915). Historic Jamaica. West India Committee.