Robert Fancourt

Robert Devereux Fancourt (1742 – 7 June 1826) was a Royal Navy officer who saw active service during the Seven Years' War and the French Revolutionary War. He joined the Navy in 1759 and served in North America and the West Indies. Fancourt passed his lieutenant's examination in 1765 but was not promoted until 1777 and made Post Captain in 1789. The following year, he was appointed to in the Mediterranean.

In 1797, Fancourt took command of and became involved in the fleet mutinies when his ship was taken by the crew that May. He was still in command of Agamemnon in 1800, when he was sent to the Baltic to pressure Denmark into withdrawing from the League of Armed Neutrality. Although present at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, Fancourt took no active role; Agamemnon running aground in the very early stages. Fancourt advanced to the rank of rear-admiral on 28 April 1808 and vice-admiral on 12 August 1812, but he never went to sea again and died on 7 June 1826.

Career Robert Devereux Fancourt was born in 1742 and joined the navy in 1759, serving as an able seaman and then midshipman under Robert Man in the waters around North America and the West Indies. He followed Man from to and then where, at the beginning of 1762, he met Maurice Suckling and moved with him to .

In 1765, Fancourt passed his lieutenant's examination but it was another 12 years before he was promoted. By 1782, he had risen to first lieutenant, on board , under Captain Thomas Hicks. Serving as flagship to Sir Richard Bickerton, Gibraltar was sent to the East Indies that February. On the way, Gibraltar stopped at Rio de Janeiro, where Bickerton purchased a 14-gun cutter which he named Substitute, giving command to Fancourt. Shortly after arrival in the Indian Ocean, Fancourt was sent home with dispatches and missed the opportunity to acquire prize money from the successful campaign there.

When Great Britain became embroiled in the French Revolutionary Wars, Fancourt was in command of the 44-gun , involved mainly in the escort of convoys to and from the West Indies and Mediterranean. While carrying out such duties off St Domingo in August 1794, Chichester and the 64-gun captured the French corvette, Sirenne. When a blockade of London was suggested, support for the mutiny waned and several ships deserted. Order was restored aboard Agamemnon when the marines and the loyal seamen retook the ship. Fancourt obtained a pardon for the ship's company. Fancourt advanced to the rank of Rear-Admiral himself on 28 April 1808, then Vice-Admiral on 12 August 1812. He never returned to sea and died on 7 June 1826.