Admiral of the Fleet John James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier (born 13 October 1756 New Providence, Bahamas – 19 April 1833 Iver, England), was an admiral of the Royal Navy, who served as Governor of Newfoundland, and as a Lord of the Admiralty, but who gained notoriety for his actions at the Battle of the Basque Roads.
Gambier was born in the Bahamas, where his father John Gambier was the Lieutenant Governor. His mother was a Bermudian, and he rema...
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Admiral of the Fleet John James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier (born 13 October 1756 New Providence, Bahamas – 19 April 1833 Iver, England), was an admiral of the Royal Navy, who served as Governor of Newfoundland, and as a Lord of the Admiralty, but who gained notoriety for his actions at the Battle of the Basque Roads.
Gambier was born in the Bahamas, where his father John Gambier was the Lieutenant Governor. His mother was a Bermudian, and he remained the patron of an extended, but impoverished, Bermudian family throughout his adult life..
He entered the Navy in 1767 as a midshipman on board the HMS Yarmouth, commanded by his uncle, and family interests gained him rapid promotion. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant on 12 February 1777, was promoted to Master & Commander on 9 March 1778, and was made a Post Captain on 9 October 1778, at the age of only 22, and appointed to the 32-gun frigate HMS Raleigh.
In 1783, at the end of the American War of Independence, he was placed on half-pay...
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