James Robert Mosse

Captain James Robert Mosse (1745 – 2 April 1801) was a Royal Navy officer killed during his command at the Battle of Copenhagen during the War of the Second Coalition. He was also one of the prosecution during the trials of the participants of the Nore Mutiny.

Early life Richard Parker about to be hanged for his part in the Nore mutiny. Mosse is the figure on the right.

He was born from a long line of naval commanders. He was baptised at Little Missenden in Buckinghamshire, on 5 December 1745. At the age of 11 years and 8 months, on 6 August 1757, he took on the role of captain's servant (then a standard route into a commissioned rank) on the newly built , where he served until October 1758. In November 1758 he joined as a master's mate where he remained until May 1763, serving in the Americas and West Indies. During this period Mosse was captured by the Americans and held prisoner for some time.

From 1763 until 1771 he served on the English Channel on several ships: , , and . In 1771 he was promoted to midshipman under the overall command of Sir Robert Harland, and served on in the East Indies. In October 1771 he was promoted to lieutenant, and served on Swallow, and before returning to England in 1775.

After a brief respite, presumably in the company of his family, he returned to active duties in March 1776, stationed in what was then the critical location of North America, under Lord Howe. Here he served on until her scuttling at Rhode Island in 1778 to evade capture. He was then posted to the relatively new . It was sculpted by John Charles Felix Rossi. The grave of his wife (d.1843) and children in Wickham, Hampshire also acts as his memorial.

His will (read September 1801) is held in The National Archives at Kew.