18-514: HMS Vengeance (October 1758 – May 1761) Captain Sir Gamaliel Nightingale, 9th Baronet (15 February 1731 – January 1791) was an English landowner and Royal Navy officer. Sir Gamaliel was born at Kneesworth Hall , his family seat. He was the son of Sir Edward Nightingale, the 7th baronet, and Eleanora Ethelston. His older brother Edward succeeded to the Nightingale baronetcy on
36-469: A lieutenant in substantive rank could be a commodore for the term of the command.) The rank of commodore was introduced during the 17th century in November 1674 (though not legally established until 1806). In 1684 the navy introduced two classes of commodore, the first known as a Commodore Distinction and the other a Commodore Ordinary ; these would later evolve into commodores first and second class. In 1734
54-475: A substantive rank in the Royal Navy since 1997. Before then it continued to be an appointment conferred on senior captains holding certain positions. For example, the senior commander of destroyers within a fleet in the Royal Navy could carry the title of "Commodore (D)", while the fleet's senior commander of submarines could carry the title of "Commodore (S)", although in both cases as an appointment rather than
72-531: Is recognized by Birdlife International as an Important Bird Area . Two of the world's rarest birds are found only on the island: the Nightingale Bunting (4,000 pairs) and Wilkins's Bunting (approximately 85 pairs). HMS Vengeance (1758) HMS Vengeance was a 28-gun sixth rate of the Royal Navy . She had previously been a French privateer under the same name until her capture in 1758 during
90-532: The British Army and Royal Marines and to air commodore in the Royal Air Force . Commodore has only been a substantive rank in the Royal Navy since 1997. Until then the term denoted a functional position rather than a formal rank, being the title bestowed on the senior officer of a fleet of at least two naval vessels comprising an independent (usually ad hoc and short-term) command. (In this case, for instance,
108-515: The Seven Years' War . Vengeance was built in 1757 at Saint-Malo . HMS Hussar , under the command of Captain John Elliot , captured her off The Lizard on 8 January 1758 and brought her into Plymouth . An Admiralty order was issued, authorising her purchase into the navy on 11 March 1758, and she was duly acquired on 21 June that year for the sum of £2,151.3.0d. She was officially named
126-464: The command flag for commodores first class, who wore the same sleeve lace as rear admirals . The white broad pennant with a red ball was introduced as the command flag for commodores second class. The appointment of commodore first class has been in abeyance since 1958, leaving the pennant with a single red ball to cover all Royal Navy commodores. Modern commodores wear the sleeve lace previously worn by commodores second class. Commodore has only been
144-482: The letter-of-marque Entreprenant , pierced for 44 guns, but armed en flûte with twenty-six 6 and 12-pounder guns. Entreprenant had a crew of 203 men and was carrying a cargo from Bordeaux to San Domingo. The engagement involved three exchanges of fire lasting in total some three hours. Vengeance had six men killed and 27 wounded, most dangerously; two died later. The French suffered 15 men killed and 24 wounded before they struck. On 23 March Vengeance captured
162-491: The death of their father in 1750. Sir Gamaliel succeeded his brother in 1782. Nightingale's first command was HMS Badger in 1757. From 1758, he commanded HMS Vengeance . In 1759, the Vengeance and its 200 men and 28 guns saw action off Quiberon Bay . On 13 March 1761, while still commanding the Vengeance , he captured the 44-gun French privateer Entreprenant by Land's End . He later took command of HMS Flora . He
180-573: The following day, and was fitted at Plymouth between August and September 1758 for the sum of £1,619.18.6d. Vengeance was first commissioned into the Royal Navy on 27 October 1758 under the command of Captain Gamaliel Nightingale , for service in the Irish Sea and, later, to assist with the impressment of sailors on the River Mersey in northwest England. In July 1759 she was anchored at
198-526: The gang, capturing Vengeance ' s first lieutenant and throwing the rest of the gang overboard. Golden Lyon then headed for the Mersey docks. Vengeance gave chase but the whaler reached the dock first and her crew and passengers fled ashore. Having recovered the press gang members from the river, Captain Nightingale waited for nightfall and then led the crew of Vengeance ashore to the customs house, where
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#1733093174376216-419: The mouth of the Mersey when she encountered a whaler , Golden Lyon , returning from Greenland . On Nightingale's orders a press gang from Vengeance boarded the whaler to search for seamen eligible for impressment. The whaler's crew were exempt by virtue of their current merchant service, but not so her passengers, who were crew from another whaler that had sunk. To avoid impressment these passengers attacked
234-466: The privateer Tigre . This was a small vessel out of Saint Malo , armed with four carriage guns and four swivel guns . She had a crew of 45 men under the command of Joseph Merven. She had left Abbrevak on the 21st and had not captured anything before falling prey to Vengeance off The Lizard. Vengeance captured the 12-gun privateer Auguste , of La Rochelle , on 5 April, and was paid off in June 1761. She
252-448: The title of commodore was formally approved by an order in council . They were formally separated into first class (those with subordinate line captains) and second class (those commanding ships themselves) in 1826. The previous broad red and blue pennants were abolished in 1864 along with the coloured squadrons, the commodore of the white's broad pennant with the Cross of St George remained as
270-536: The whalers had taken refuge. The customs house was stormed by armed assault and the whaler crew seized and carried back to Vengeance . An angry crowd that gathered on the docks was dispersed by pistol fire and Vengeance then returned to the Mersey. Nightingale subsequently had the whaler crew flogged; those that were eligible for impressment were also kept on board and added to the Royal Navy ranks. Vengeance joined Commodore Robert Duff's squadron in October 1759, and
288-585: Was a member of the Honourable East India Company . Sir Gamaliel is also known for exploring a small volcanic island near Tristan da Cunha , which in 1760 he named Nightingale Island . Lying in the South Atlantic Ocean between Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope , it is part of one of the remotest archipelagos in the world. The island is densely populated by wildlife, particularly birds, and
306-595: Was part of Admiral Sir Edward Hawke's fleet at the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759. The following year she scored a success against privateers, capturing the letter-of-marque Comte de Nancy on 6 April 1760. Vengeance departed for Quebec on 22 June 1760, but was back in Britain by September. Her success against privateers continued into 1761; she captured the Minerve on 27 January. On 33 March Vengeance captured
324-410: Was surveyed on 8 August 1763, and again on 26 August 1766. This time an admiralty order was issued on 4 September for her to be fitted as a breakwater , and she was scuttled at Plymouth in October. Commodore (Royal Navy) Commodore ( Cdre ) is a rank of the Royal Navy above captain and below rear admiral . It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6 . The rank is equivalent to brigadier in
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