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Admiral Sir Charles John Napier KCB GOTE RN (6 March 1786〔Priscilla Napier (1995), who is not elsewhere free from error, gives the birth year as 1787 (p. 1, and book title), but provides no evidence. All other authorities agree on 1786.〕 – 6 November 1860) was a British naval officer whose sixty years in the Royal Navy included service in the War of 1812 (with the United States), the Napoleonic Wars, Syrian War and the Crimean War (with the Russians), and a period commanding the Portuguese navy in the Liberal Wars. An innovator concerned with the development of iron ships, and an advocate of humane reform in the Royal Navy, he was also active in politics as a Liberal Member of Parliament and was probably the naval officer most widely known to the public in the early Victorian Era. Napier was the second son of an also famous father, Captain Charles Napier, R.N., and grandson of Francis, 6th Lord Napier; he was thus a direct descendant of the great mathematician John Napier. He was born at Merchiston Hall, near Falkirk, on 6 March 1786, and educated at the Royal High School, in Edinburgh, Scotland. ==French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars== He became a midshipman in 1799 aboard the 16-gun sloop , but left her in May 1800 before she was lost with all hands. He next served aboard , flagship of Sir John Borlase Warren.〔Priscilla Napier states (p. 3) he was made midshipman in 1800 and "entered on the books of" HMS ''Martin'', but never actually served in her,because she was lost before he could join her; but Edward Elers Napier (p. 6) quotes a contemporary account showing he was made midshipman in 1799 and sailed in ''Martin'' from Leith Roads in November of that year. ''Martin'' disappeared, presumed lost with all hands, in October 1800, therefore 5 months after Napier left her for ''Renown''.〕 After this, in November 1802, he transferred to the frigate under Captain William Hoste. The following year, he moved to ''Égyptienne'' for a voyage to St Helena escorting a convoy of ships and then in the English Channel and off the coast of France. (In later years, feeling he had been badly treated as a Midshipman by her captain, Charles Fleeming, Napier challenged that officer to a duel, though they were eventually reconciled by their seconds.)〔Edward Elers Napier, ''Life and Correspondence'', Vol. I, p. 12.〕 In 1804–5 he served briefly on ''Mediator'' before moving to off Boulogne. He was promoted lieutenant on 30 November 1805. He was appointed to , and was present in her in the West Indies at the action in which the squadron under Admiral Warren took the French ''Marengo'' (80 guns) and ''Belle Poule'' (40 guns), on 13 March 1806. After returning home with Warren, he returned to the West Indies in and having been promoted to commander on 30 November 1807, he was appointed acting commander of the brig of 16 guns, formerly the French privateer ''Austerlitz''. In August 1808 he became captain of the brig-sloop (18 guns), and in her fought a hot action off Antigua with the French sloop ''Diligente'' (18 guns), in which his thigh was smashed by a cannonball. In April 1809, Napier took part in the capture of the Caribbean island of Martinique, and subsequently distinguished himself in the Troude's pursuit of three escaping French ships of the line, handling the small ''Recruit'' so well that the British were able to capture the French flagship ''Hautpoult''. As a result, he was promoted acting post captain and briefly given the command of the captured 74-gun ship-of-the-line. His rank was confirmed on 22 May 1809, but he was put on half-pay, when he came home as temporary captain of the frigate escorting a convoy. While on half-pay he spent some time at the University of Edinburgh. Napier, still on half-pay, then went to Portugal to visit his three cousins, (all colonels serving in Wellington's army, and one of whom was Charles James Napier, the future conqueror of Sindh). He took part in the Battle of Buçaco, during which he saved his cousin Charles's life and was himself wounded. In 1811, he was appointed captain of the frigate (32 guns) and served in the Mediterranean Fleet under Sir Edward Pellew, disrupting enemy shipping. Among his principal exploits was the 1813 capture of the island of Ponza, which was a possible haven for corsairs.〔From this exploit he took the pseudonym of "Charles, Conte di Ponza" (Charles, Count of Ponza) when he commanded a Portuguese naval squadron during the Liberal Wars.〕 In 1813 he moved to command the frigate (36 guns), operating mainly off the French and Spanish Mediterranean coast. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charles Napier (Royal Navy officer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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