Robert Linzee

Admiral of the Blue Robert Linzee (1739 – 4 October 1804) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Linzee entered the navy and was promoted to lieutenant during the Seven Years' War. He was advanced to his own commands shortly before the outbreak of the American War of Independence and served off the North American coast and in the Caribbean during that conflict. He saw important service against privateers as a frigate captain before advancing to command a ship of the line despite the loss of one of his ships. He saw action in several important battles, commanding a ship at the Battle of the Saintes and at the Battle of the Mona Passage. Left without a ship after the peace, he briefly commissioned a ship during the Spanish Armament, but paid her off after the crisis passed.

He was back in service after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, taking a ship out to the Mediterranean, and quickly being appointed a commodore with orders to assist the Corsican patriots against the French. Linzee commanded a small squadron in the area supporting Corsican and British efforts to dislodge the French. He later became a junior flag officer in the Mediterranean Fleet. He fought in two fleet actions in 1795, at Genoa and then at Hyères Islands. He returned to Britain shortly after Sir John Jervis took over command in the Mediterranean. He did not serve at sea again, though he continued to be promoted, rising to the rank of admiral of the blue before his death in 1804.

Family and early life Robert Linzee was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire in 1739 and baptised there on 13 February 1740, the youngest child of five sons and five daughters born to Edward Linzee and his wife Anne Newnham. Edward Linzee was a burgess and several times mayor of Portsmouth and the Linzees were a significant local family.

Linzee entered the navy and saw service during the Seven Years' War, being promoted to lieutenant on 29 January 1761. He was advanced to commander on 25 November 1768 and given command of the 10-gun sloop , based at Boston in 1769. His promotion to post-captain followed soon after, on 3 October 1770, and took command of the 50-gun that month. Romney was at this time flying the broad pennant of Commodore Samuel Hood, and Linzee remained in command until she was paid off in March 1771. Linzee's next command, from 1780, was the 32-gun . He was sent out as a convoy escort under the command of Captain Sir John Moutray, and managed to escape when the convoy was largely overwhelmed and captured on 9 August 1780 by a Spanish fleet under Luis de Córdova y Córdova. Linzee then joined the squadron dispatched to the West Indies under Samuel Hood in November 1780, and remained serving in the Leeward Islands the following year. On 12 May 1781 Thetis struck a rock off Saint Lucia and was wrecked. He resumed his service in the Caribbean by returning to the Leeward Islands in February 1782, and went on to see action in a number of important engagements between British and French fleets. He was present with Admiral Sir George Rodney's fleet at the first indecisive clash with the Comte de Grasse's force in the Dominica Channel on 9 April, and then again at Rodney's decisive victory over de Grasse three days later at the Battle of the Saintes on 12 April. Linzee was one of those dispatched a few days later under Sir Samuel Hood to search for more French ships, and was in action again on 19 April at the Battle of the Mona Passage.

Linzee left the Caribbean for North America in July 1782 with Admiral Hugh Pigot's force, and spent September and October at New York. She was close enough to identify the mysterious ship as a frigate by 18:00, and by 20:00 as darkness fell Concorde opened fire on her pursuer with her stern guns. Linzee was appointed a Colonel of Marines in March 1793, shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. He supported the defence of Toulon, and was appointed a commodore in September, raising his broad pennant aboard Alcide. The squadron carried out several attacks on fortified French positions, but the British could render little material assistance until the landing of an expeditionary force under Lieutenant-General David Dundas and the reinforcement of the British blockade with extra ships from the Mediterranean Fleet. He remained with Alcide, passing command of her to his flag captain, Thomas Shivers. Linzee remained active in the operations off Corsica during this time. While anchored in San Fiorenzo Bay on 10 November 1794, a mutiny broke out aboard his ship. The mutineers declared that they were unhappy with the admiral, captain, first lieutenant and boatswain. Hotham, Rear-Admiral Hyde Parker, and several senior captains went aboard Windsor Castle to try to persuade the men to return to their duties. Shield requested a court martial to investigate his conduct, which was granted and honourably acquitted him. The mutiny was suppressed in time, the mutineers being pardoned by Hotham, and shortly after this Shield left the ship and was replaced by Captain John Gore, while a new first lieutenant and boatswain were also appointed. He had been promoted to vice-admiral shortly before the latter battle, on 1 June 1795. After serving for a brief period under Jervis, Linzee finally returned to Britain aboard in June 1796, escorting several merchant convoys. He was buried in the church there.