Zachary Mudge

Admiral Zachary Mudge (also Zacharia or Zechariah; 22 January 1770 – 22 October 1852) was an officer in the British Royal Navy, best known for serving in the historic Vancouver Expedition.

Family background Mudge was one of 20 children of the noted physician, Dr. John Mudge, of Plymouth; his mother was John's third wife, Elizabeth. Mudge's grandfather was clergyman Zachariah Mudge. The family included distinguished surveyors and mathematicians. His older half-brother was William Mudge, who developed the Ordnance Survey and was responsible for much of the early detailed mapping of Britain. His uncle Thomas Mudge was a famous horologist. In addition, the family was connected to the politically powerful Pitt family.

Early naval career Mudge entered the Navy on 1 November 1780 as a captain's servant aboard the 80-gun ship , under the command of Captain John Jervis. He was aboard on 21 April 1782 when she captured, after an action of nearly an hour, the 74-gun . Mudge then served as a midshipman aboard various ships on the Home and North American Stations; firstly the Pegase and Recovery, commanded by Captain the Honourable George Cranfield Berkeley, then , Captain Charles Hope, , Captain George Palmer, , the flagship of Rear-Admiral Herbert Sawyer, and , Captain Robert Fanshawe.

On 24 May 1789, he was promoted to lieutenant aboard , flagship at Jamaica of Rear Admiral Philip Affleck, and 26 November transferred to the , Captain Ford, at Plymouth. On 20 January 1790, he returned to the Perseus, Captain John Gibson, on the Irish and Channel stations. and George Vancouver captain. In addition to his other duties, Mudge had been asked to look after the 16-year-old (and future Baron) Thomas Pitt, but was compelled to flog him when the latter used ship stores to purchase romantic favours in Tahiti.

In 1791, they voyaged to Tenerife, Cape Town, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and North America. In 1792, they spent a season of exploring the west coast of America, and then put into Nootka Sound to implement the Nootka Sound Convention.

The British and Spanish commanders had been given conflicting instructions, and the primary purpose of the mission could not be completed. Vancouver therefore sent Mudge back to England with dispatches, botanical samples and a request for further orders. He crossed the Pacific to China in the Portuguese-flagged trading vessel Fenis and St. Joseph, a 50-foot open boat carrying 14 men, and from there proceeded home in the Lord Macartney East Indiaman.

On 8 February 1794,

Later career Mudge's career advancement had suffered from being away for more than six years. However, through the intercession of Lady Camelford (Pitt's mother), he was promoted to commander on 24 November 1797, and on 8 November 1798 he obtained command of the 16-gun sloop on the North America station. He captured the French privateer cutters Glaneur (5 February 1799) and Trompeur (30 August 1800), in the English Channel, but almost lost his ship in an encounter with an immense iceberg during a passage home from Halifax with despatches from the Commander-in-Chief the Duke of Kent. Two days later, on 10 June, he captured the merchant ship Wilhelm Georg Frederic, and in July, with the assistance of the sloop , captured El Cantara, a Spanish privateer of 22 guns and 110 men, and her consort, a 10 gun lugger, near Cape Ortegal. Constance was subsequently engaged in conveying foreign soldiers from Lymington to the Elbe. the French schooner captured in October 1804, and Amitie in June 1805, each of 14 guns, and also the 4-gun Dutch schooner Nimrod, the 3-gun French privateer Hazard, as well as a large number of merchantmen.

From 18 November 1805 to May 1810 he commanded in the Bay of Biscay and at Lisbon. and the Vigilante in October 1807, and also the French warships Agile on 29 May 1809, and Charles on 29 January 1810.

Mudge's last command was of the 74-gun on the Brazilian station from July 1814 to August 1815. He died at Plympton on 26 October 1852.

Legacy Cape Mudge on Quadra Island is named for Zachary Mudge; he was the first European to sight it from a nearby mountain.

The Memoirs of the Mudge family was printed in 1883 in an edition of only 100 copies, edited by Stamford Raffles Flint. Mainly concerning Mudge's grandfather, theologian Zachariah Mudge, it also contains an account of Zachary Mudge's naval career.

In 1855 a memorial window to Zachary Mudge (the "Mudge Window") was placed in St Andrew's Church, Plymouth, England.