Edward Knowles

Captain Edward Knowles (1744 – c. 28 December 1761) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the Seven Years' War.

Knowles was born into a distinguished naval family, with his father rising to the rank of admiral and receiving a baronetcy for his services. Edward followed him into the navy, and served with several important officers in operations during the Seven Years' War, which he spent mostly in North American waters. He supported the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec and made the acquaintance of the natural philosopher John Robison, who spent some time as his mathematics tutor.

Knowles was eventually promoted to command his own ship, an elderly and much reworked vessel, which already had a reputation for being difficult to steer. He set off in poor weather to deliver important despatches to the British commands in the Bay of Biscay but never returned. His ship was presumed to have foundered at sea with the loss of all hands.

Family and early life Edward Knowles was born in 1744, the only son from the marriage of Captain Charles Knowles and Mary Alleyne, the sister of John Alleyne. His father became a noted naval officer, rising to the rank of admiral and receiving a baronetcy for his services to his country.

Command After his extended service in North America, Knowles was promoted to commander and appointed to the sloop HMS Peregrine in 1761. Peregrine was the former royal yacht Royal Caroline, which had been fitted with a poop deck, which consequently made it difficult to wear ship.

Legacy Knowles predeceased his father; the baronetcy was therefore inherited by Sir Charles Knowles's second son, Charles, Edward's half brother.

b. Peregrine was an elderly ship by this time. She had been launched in 1700 as Peregrine Galley, a 20-gun sixth rate but renamed Carolina in 1716 and converted into a royal yacht. She had been rebuilt and renamed Royal Caroline in 1733, reclassified as a sixth rate in 1739, and finally converted to a sloop and renamed Peregrine.