The First Baronet

Who is Peter Parker?

This edition of the Yankee Doodle Spies will recount the exploits of one Peter Parker. No, not that Peter Parker. Our Peter Parker was not a web-crawling teen like his comic book namesake. But before he was a teen, he was skipping along the rigging with a speed and grace that would make even Spider-Man jealous. This is our first naval topic in a while and focuses on a little-known British sailor who rose through the ranks due to long service, some patronage, good timing, and courage. Sometimes all it takes to rise to the top is simply being there.

Skipping up the rigging

Midshipman

Our Peter Parker was born in Ireland in 1721, the son of Vice-Admiral Christopher Parker. Like all the legacy officers of the Royal Navy, he began his career early, serving as a cabin boy and midshipman. During this time, he served on several vessels under Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon of the West Indies station at the onset of the War of Jenkins' Ear.

Vice Adm Sir Edward Vernon

War of the Austrian Succession

Rear Admiral
Sir William Rowley

The eight-year War of the Austrian Succession provided plenty of action for the Royal Navy and numerous opportunities for up-and-coming young officers like Peter. Parker received his lieutenant’s commission in the summer of 1743 aboard the HMS Russell, a second-rate, 80-gun ship of the line. He served on several warships at various stations, most notably in the Mediterranean, where he participated in the battle of Toulon on February 11, 1744, aboard the flagship of Rear-Admiral William Rowley, the 90-gun HMS Barfleur.







In May 1747, he was made captain and commissioned a captured French privateer as the 24-gun frigate HMS Margate. Captain Parker commanded this vessel in the Channel, North Sea, and the Mediterranean. When she was paid off in April 1749, he had a brief stint aboard the 66-gun HMS Lancaster before going on half-pay with the war’s end. It was common practice to place officers on half-pay in between “hot” wars.

Young Lieutenant Parker served at Toulon

Seven Years of War

Captain Parker remained ashore on half-pay for several years while supervising the construction of the 44-gun HMS Woolwich in Portsmouth. With the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War, he went to sea on the Woolwich and commanded it on a voyage to the Baltic Sea. However, he fell seriously ill during the voyage after catching a fever that swept through the ship.

Once he recovered, the navy sent him to the Leeward Islands in December 1756, where, in January 1759, he transferred to the 50-gun HMS Bristol. Parker commanded the Bristol during the unsuccessful campaign against Martinique and later in the campaign that seized Guadeloupe.

Taking Fort Louis at Guadeloupe was one
of many sea-land campaigns in Parker's career

In 1760, he transferred back to his home station (the Channel) where he took command of the 64-gun HMS Montague.  Parker took several prize ships while cruising the narrow but deadly waters between Britain and the Continent. His success gained him command of the 70-gun HMS Buckingham and a squadron that reduced French fortifications on the Isle d’Aix.  The following year, he participated in the assault on a fort at Belle-Isle. This was classic 18th-century warfare, involving the reduction of posts and the exchange of chits to negotiate a better peace. But plenty of hot action and naval savvy made this possible. His last wartime command was the 74-gun HMS Terrible just before the 1763 Treaty of Paris.

HMS Terrible in action

Another Half-Pay Hiatus

The 1763 Treaty of Paris consigned Parker and most of his fellow officers to half-pay. This half-pay status was intended to reduce expenses while keeping experienced officers on hand so they could be reactivated for the next war. And in the 18th-century Royal Navy, there was always the next war. Parker remained without a command for nearly a decade. But then things got interesting. Knighted in 1772, Sir Peter Parker was given command of the second-rate but heavily armed (90-gun) HMS Barfleur when he rejoined the service in 1773. By 1773, tensions were escalating in the North American colonies. In 1775, Parker was given command of the fourth-rate 50-gun HMS Bristol, but more importantly, he would soon receive command of a squadron and be promoted to commodore.

Ships returning to Plymouth

War of Rebellion

In February 1776, Captain Peter Parker was named commodore of a small squadron at Plymouth and ordered to transport several Irish regiments under General Charles Cornwallis to America.  Destination: the Cape Fear region of North Carolina. This was part of a complex plan in which he would cooperate with North Carolina’s infamous Royal Governor Josiah Martin and General Henry Clinton in an effort to raise Loyalist support in the troubled colony.

Sir Peter Parker, 1st Baronet

Ill-Fated Southern Rendezvous

Bad weather and bad luck would thwart these efforts. A rough Atlantic voyage ensued, and by the time Parker’s armada reached its rendezvous with Clinton, the expected Loyalist uprising they depended on had been crushed.  To their chagrin, they learned of the decisive battle at Moores Creek Bridge on 21 February 1776. The resettled Scots highlanders of the Carolina hill country had agreed to march to the coast in support of the crown. The irony here was that many had been resettled after the disaster at Culloden decades earlier in Scotland. Now they had taken up the claymore on behalf of the crown that vanquished them in 1745. The highlanders’ attack was easily scattered by the rebels from the coastal tidewater - thus, no force to link up with.

Battle at Moores Creek Bridge

But no armada should ever go to waste, so Parker and Clinton shifted their sights south, on Charleston, South Carolina.  The town was perceived as being poorly defended. Quickly seizing it would provide a good naval base in the south and provide a safe haven for Loyalists throughout the region. The concept of winning hearts and minds remained a key aspect of the British approach to the war.

Charleston

On June 1, 1776, Parker’s flotilla lay off Charleston, but the lack of charts (see the Yankee Doodle Spies Blog Post on hydrography) forced the British to sound the waters while they waited for the tides to favor an attack. It was a good plan under the conditions, but the delay gave the American commander, Colonel William Moultrie, time to improve the defenses of Fort Sullivan on Sullivan’s Island.

Moultrie's gallant defense of Fort Sullivan
spared the south for a few years

On June 28, Parker finally managed to land British troops on Long Island, the island further up the coast to the northeast of Sullivan’s Island, and positioned ships where they could bombard the island. Despite a severe bombardment, the defenders held their ground, shielded by Fort Sullivan’s palmetto walls. The spongy bark of the palmetto logs absorbed cannon fire. The defenders had only a few guns, but Moultrie utilized these effectively. He concentrated their fire on Parker’s flagship, HMS Bristol. In a stroke of bad luck, the ship’s cable was severed. Out of control, the Bristol swung around, and the guns from the fort unleashed enfilade fire upon her.

Our commodore bravely stood his post on the quarterdeck in the finest tradition of the Royal Navy. But a heated cannonball, deadly red hot shot, burned his pants off his rear end and inflicted serious injuries. Meanwhile, things deteriorated further. To evade capture, the frigate HMS Actaeon ran onto shoals and ran aground. Under American fire, the resourceful British sailors set their ship ablaze to prevent capture. The intense fighting continued for 10 hours. Finally, with casualties exceeding 250, Parker signaled the flotilla to break off, and they disengaged.

Shoals, palmetto logs, and well-aimed guns set
our commodore's pants afire

Parker’s failure at Charleston saved the South for the glorious cause, at least for a few years. The resulting boost in American morale rallied southern patriots and subdued southern Loyalists. In this kind of war the rebellion was becoming, morale would prove decisive.

True North

With their commodore recovering from his burns, Parker’s flotilla made its way back to New York. There, it joined the fleet under Admiral Richard Howe. Commodore Parker recovered enough to command the squadron that captured Long Island in August 1776. There, his ships supported the landing of British troops on Long Island, forcing the rebel army to retreat from New York City.

Parker's leadership was part of a brilliant sea-land
campaign that resulted in victory on
Long Island and New York

In December 1776, Parker was given command of a flotilla that transported an invasion force under Henry Clinton in yet another successful venture: seizing Newport, Rhode Island. This provided the British with an additional base from which to threaten Massachusetts and Connecticut. More sea-land success for the commodore that would not go unnoticed.

Sir Henry Clinton

Commodore Parker remained stationed at Rhode Island for nearly a year with two 50-gun warships and several frigates under his command. Despite the seemingly obvious backwater assignment, his career was about to pivot him into a higher trajectory: flag rank!

A Flag Officer

Comte de Grasse

  Parker was promoted to rear admiral on April 28, 1777. He was soon appointed commander of the Jamaica Station (not the subway stop). By that time, British strategy had shifted to securing as much of the West Indies as possible. The remainder of the war focused on supporting efforts there against the French and Spanish. He executed his duties proficiently and received a promotion to rear admiral in March 1779.

His time in America came to an end in 1782, and Parker returned to England in August of that year. He had the distinct privilege of carrying the captured French admiral, Francois-Joseph-Paul, Comte de Grasse, and his staff as prisoners from the Battle of the Saintes. Despite the defeat at the Saintes, de Grasse gained honors for his victory at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781-a rare defeat of the Royal Navy that set the stage for American victory. One can only wonder about the sea stories they shared over wine during the voyage back! In London, de Grasse would set the stage for negotiations that led to the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American War for Independence.

High Command

Service in American waters brought Parker great distinction, despite Charleston. He was elevated to baronetcy in 1783 and appointed commander of Portsmouth harbor, the home port of the Royal Navy. During this time, he met and mentored a young Lieutenant Horatio Nelson, the future victor of Trafalgar. Parker facilitated Nelson's early career, and for that alone, the British should hold him in esteem. Parker was named admiral of the fleet in September 1799 following the death of Admiral Lord Howe. He was also appointed a general of marines. Sadly, one of Parker’s last official acts was to serve as the chief mourner at Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson’s funeral on 9 January 1806.

Parker would mentor a young Horatio Nelson
and sadly preside at his funeral

An MP

Not uncommon for military officers at the time, Parker served in Parliament as MP for Seaford from 1784 to 6. In 1787, he became MP for Malden, a position he held until 1790. Parker’s West Indian prize money allowed him to build an estate in Essex, although his parliamentary address was given as Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire. He supported the government, but delivered only two speeches during his tenure in the House of Commons. As a member of Parliament, Parker was pro-slavery, stating that “the abolition of the Africa Trade would, in my opinion, cause a general despondency amongst the Negroes and gradually decrease their population and consequently the produce of our islands, and must in time destroy near half our commerce and take from Great Britain all the pretensions to the rank she now holds as the First Maritime power in the World.”

Parliament

Family Life

True to his class and position, Parker made a good match in his family life by marrying Margaret Nugent. They had two sons and two daughters, with one son, Christopher, rising to Vice-Admiral.

Admiral Sir Peter Parker, 1st Baronet, was regarded as tough and opinionated, yet well-respected for his composure and coolness in action. After all, how many admirals continued to fight with their pants seared off? While he was considered cantankerous, he met his match with Margaret, who had a very strong personality. During his command period in Jamaica, she was almost his equal in managing the station. He died in London on December 21, 1811, and was buried at St Margaret's. Westminster.

Peter Parker's resting place at
St. Margaret's Church

Legacy

Peter Parker's Forrest Gump-like career, spanning decades, continents, battles, and interactions with a who's who of the 18th-century Royal Navy, was not unusual. After all, building an empire requires such men to place themselves in strange situations, often for years at a time. Naval officers frequently came from a lineage of naval officers. As we can see, Parker's lineage was quite accomplished. In addition to being the son and father of an admiral, he was also the grandfather of an admiral. Parker's use of patronage elevated his son Christopher (who served under him) to captain and then admiral at a very young age. Christopher's son Captain Peter, the celebrated 2nd Baronet, also served under his grandfather as well as Horatio Nelson. The second Peter Parker fought in America, as did his father and grandfather, during the War of 1812, where, during combat near Baltimore in 1814, he was shot in the pants like the first Sir Peter. Unfortunately, this would be mortal. He, too, was buried at St. Margaret's.

Captain Peter Parker, 2nd Baronet