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HOOD, SAMUEL HOOD, VISCOUNT (1724–1816)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 666 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HOOD, See also:SAMUEL HOOD, See also:VISCOUNT (1724–1816) , See also:British See also:admiral, was the son of Samuel Hood, See also:vicar of Butleigh in See also:Somerset, and See also:prebendary of See also:Wells. He was See also:born on the 12th of See also:December 1724, and entered the See also:navy on the 6th of May 1741. He served See also:part of his See also:time as See also:midshipman with See also:Rodney in the " See also:Ludlow," and became See also:lieutenant in 1746. He was fortunate in serving under active See also:officers, and had opportunities of seeing service in the See also:North See also:Sea. In 1753 he was made See also:commander of the " See also:Jamaica " See also:sloop, and served in her on the North See also:American station. In 1756, while still on the North American station, he attained to See also:post See also:rank. In 1757, while in temporary command of the " See also:Antelope " (5o), he drove a See also:French See also:ship ashore in Audierne See also:Bay, and captured two privateers. His zeal attracted the favourable See also:notice of the See also:Admiralty and he was appointed to a ship of his own. In 1759, when See also:captain of the " Vestal " (32), he captured the French " See also:Bellona (32) after a See also:sharp See also:action. During the See also:war his services were wholly in the Channel, and he was engaged under Rodney in 1759 in destroying the vessels collected by the French to serve as transports in the proposed invasion of See also:England. In 1778 he accepted a command which in the See also:ordinary course would have terminated his active career. He became See also:commissioner of the dockyard at See also:Portsmouth and See also:governor of the See also:Naval See also:Academy.

These posts were generally given to officers who were retiring from the sea. In 178o, on the occasion of the See also:

king's visit to Portsmouth, he was made a See also:baronet. The circumstances of the time were not ordinary. Many admirals declined to serve under See also:Lord See also:Sandwich, and Rodney, who then commanded in the See also:West Indies, had complained of want of proper support from his subordinates, whom he accused of disaffection. The Admiralty was naturally anxious to secure the services of trustworthy See also:flag officers, and having confidence in Hood promoted him See also:rear-admiral out of the usual course on the 26th of See also:September 1780, and sent him to the West Indies to See also:act as second in command under Rodney, to whom he was personally known. He joined Rodney in See also:January 1781, and remained in the West Indies or on the See also:coast of North See also:America till the See also:close of the War of American See also:Independence. The calculation that he would See also:work harmoniously with Rodney was not altogether justified by the results. The See also:correspondence of the two shows that they were far from being on cordial See also:personal terms with one another, but Hood always discharged his See also:duty punctually, and his capacity was so See also:great, and so signally proved, that no question of removing him from the station ever arose. The unfortunate turn taken by the See also:campaign of 1781 was largely due to Rodney's neglect of his See also:advice. If he had been allowed to choose his own position there can be no doubt that he could have prevented the See also:comte de See also:Grasse (1722–1788) from reaching Fort Royal with the reinforcements from See also:France in See also:April (see RODNEY, LORD). When the See also:fleet went on to the coast of North America during the See also:hurricane months of 1781 he was sent to serve with Admiral See also:Graves (1725?–1802) in the unsuccessful effort to relieve the See also:army at See also:Yorktown. But his subordinate rank gave him no See also:chance to impart a greater measure of See also:energy to the naval operations.

When, however, he returned to the West Indies he was for a time in See also:

independent command owing to Rodney's See also:absence in England for the See also:sake of his See also:health. The French admiral, the comte de Grasse, attacked the British islands of St Kitts and See also:Nevis with a much See also:superior force to the See also:squadron under Hood's command. The See also:attempt Hood made in January 1782 to See also:save them from See also:capture, with 22 See also:ships to 29, was not successful, but the See also:series of bold movements by which he first turned the French out of their anchorage at the See also:Hasse Terre of St Kitts, and then See also:beat off the attacks of the enemy, were the most brilliant things done by any British admiral during the war. He was made an Irish peer for his See also:share in the defeat of the comte de Grasse on the 9th and 12th of April near See also:Dominica. During the See also:peace he entered See also:parliament as member for See also:Westminster in the fiercely contested See also:election of 1784, was promoted See also:vice-admiral in 1787, and in See also:July of 1788 was appointed to the See also:Board of Admiralty under the second See also:earl of See also:Chatham. On the outbreak of the revolutionary war he was sent to the Mediterranean as commander-in-See also:chief. His See also:period of command, which lasted from May 1793 to See also:October 1794, was very busy. In See also:August he occupied See also:Toulon on the invitation of the French royalists, and in co-operation with the Spaniards. In December of the same See also:year the See also:allies, who did not work harmoniously together, were driven out, mainly by the generalship of See also:Napoleon. Hood now turned to the occupation of See also:Corsica, which he had been invited to take in the name of the king of England by See also:Paoli. The See also:island was for a See also:short time added to the dominions of See also:George III., chiefly by the exertions of the fleet and the co-operation of Paoli. While the occupation of Corsica was being effected, the French at Toulon had so far recovered that they were able to send a fleet to sea.

In See also:

June Hood sailed in the See also:hope of bringing it to action. The See also:plan which he laid to attack it in the Golfe Jouan in June may possibly have served to -some extent as an See also:inspiration, if not as a See also:model, to See also:Nelson for the See also:battle of the See also:Nile, but the See also:wind was unfavourable, and the attack could not be carried out. In October he was recalled to England in consequence of some misunderstanding with the admiralty, or the See also:ministry, which has never been explained. He had attained the rank of full admiral in April of 1794. He held no further command at sea, but in 1796 he was named governor of See also:Greenwich See also:Hospital, a post which he held till his See also:death on the 27th of January 1816. A See also:peerage of Great See also:Britain was conferred on his wife as Baroness Hood of Catherington in 1795, and he was himself created Viscount Hood of Whitley in 1796. The titles descended to his son, See also:Henry (1753-1836), the ancestor of the See also:present Viscount Hood. There are several portraits of Lord Hood by See also:Abbot in the See also:Guildhall and in the See also:National Portrait See also:Gallery. He was also painted by See also:Reynolds and See also:Gainsborough. There is no See also:good See also:life of Lord Hood, but a See also:biographical notice of him by M`See also:Arthur, his secretary during the Mediterranean command, is in the Naval See also:Chronicle, vol. ii. See also:Charnock's Biogr. Na.v. vi., Ralfe, See also:Nay.

Biog. i., may also be consulted. His correspondence during his command in America has been published by the Navy See also:

Record Society. The See also:history of his See also:campaigns will be found in the historians of the See also:wars in which he served: for the earlier years, Beatson's Naval and Military See also:Memoirs; for the later, See also:James's Naval History, vol. i., for the See also:English See also:side, and for the French, Troudes, Batailles navales de la France, ii. and iii., and See also:Chevalier's Histoire de la marine franqaise See also:pendant la guerre de l'independance americaine and Pendant la Republique. (D.

End of Article: HOOD, SAMUEL HOOD, VISCOUNT (1724–1816)

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