John Brisbane

Admiral John Brisbane (24 September 1735 – 10 December 1807) was a Royal Navy officer.

Life and career

He was born in Largs, Renfrewshire on 24 September 1735 one of ten children of Thomas Brisbane (b.1688) and his wife, Isabel Nicholson.

On 5 August 1757 he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. He was created Commander of the 12 gun sloop at Barbados on 17 October 1760 as an in-field promotion. In March 1762 he was one of seven wounded in a landing party on St Lucia attempting to capture a schooner laden with coffee, but under fire from local fortifications.

He was promoted to Captain on 24 September 1761 and given command of the 28-gun HMS Lizard and her crew of 200 men in place of Captain James Doake. On 8 October on passage from Antigua to St Kitts he captured or sank five vessels out of a convoy of 17 en route from St Eustatius to Martinique. In January/February 1762 she was part of the attacks on Martinique.

In October 1769 he was given command of HMS Cruizer which did simple patrol duties in the English Channel. In September 1770 he was given the larger HMS Cerberus, again nominal as Cerberus was undergoing repairs at Chatham. He then had another three years of shore leave before taking command of the 32-gun HMS Flora in December 1775 and again returned to action, sailing to North America to address the growing tensions there in April 1776. On 7 July 1777 with HMS Rainbow (under George Collier) they engaged the US ships Hancock and Boston, and their captive British vessel , famously captured both vessels, an action bringing him national fame in Britain.

Family

On 11 June 1759 he was married to Mary Young (b.1736). Their sons included

Sir Charles Brisbane RN (1770-1829) John Douglas Brisbane RN (c.1750-1782) drowned William Henry Brisbane RN (c.1765-1794) Sir James Brisbane RN (1774-1826) Lt Col Thomas Stewart Brisbane (d.1795)