Royal Naval Biography/Nagle, Edmund
SIR EDMUND NAGLE,
Admiral of the Blue; Knight Commander of the most honourable Military Order of the Bath; a Groom of the Bedchamber, and Naval Aide-de-camp to his Majesty.
This officer is a nephew of that celebrated orator and statesman the late Right Hon. Edmund Burke. During the American war he commanded the Polecat, of 14 guns, from which sloop he was removed into the Racoon, of the same force. In the latter vessel he had the misfortune to be captured by two French frigates, off the Delaware river; but was soon afterwards liberated by Captain Elphinstone, now Viscount Keith, who fell in with and took l’Aigle, the ship to which the Racoon’s crew had been conveyed[1].
Captain Nagle was afterwards appointed to the Due d’Estitac, of 14 guns, on the Jamaica station. He obtained post rank Jan. 27, 1783, but does not appear to have held any other command prior to the commencement of the war with France, in 1793, when we find him commanding the Active frigate, and subsequently in the Artois, of 44 guns and 281 men, cruising on the French coast, under the orders of Commodore Warren. In August, 1794, he assisted at the destruction of la Felicité French frigate, and two corvettes, near the Penmarks[2].
On the 21st Oct. in the same year, the Artois, being off Ushant, in company with a squadron under Sir Edward Pellew, joined in the chace of an enemy’s ship, and her superior sailing afforded Captain Nagle the happy opportunity of distinguishing himself by a well conducted action of 40 minutes; when upon the approach of the other British frigates the Frenchman struck his colours. The prize proved to be la Révolutionnaire, of 44 guns and 35 1 men, 8 of whom were killed and 5 wounded. The Artois had Lieutenant Craigy, of the marines, and 2 men slain, with 5 wounded. For his gallant conduct on this occasion, Captain Nagle received the honour of knighthood.
From this period until July 31, 1797, on which day the Artois was lost by running upon a sand bank when reconnoitring the harbour of Rochelle, Sir Edmund Nagle was actively employed under that excellent officer the late Sir John B. Warren, whose squadron kept the enemy’s coast in a perpetual state of alarm. The Artois also accompanied the Commodore in an expedition against Quiberon, &c. in the summer of 1795[3].
For a short time, in 1801, Sir Edmund commanded the Montagu, of 74 guns; and during the remainder of the war, the Juste, 80. Soon after the renewal of hostilities, in 1803, he was appointed to superintend the Sea Fencibles from Emsworth to Beachy Head, on which service he continued until his advancement to the rank of Rear-Admiral, Nov. 9, 1805.
About the commencement of the year 1808, our officer hoisted his flag as Commander-in-Chief at Guernsey, from whence he removed to Leith, where he remained until the general promotion, July 31, 1810, when he became a Vice-Admiral. In 1813 we find him at Newfoundland, with his flag in the Antelope, of 50 guns, as Governor of that colony; and in the following year, when the allied monarchs reviewed the fleet at Spithead, Sir Edmund had the distinguished honor of being nominated a Naval Aide-de-Camp to his present Majesty, then Prince Regent, on whom he has ever since been in constant attendance. He was nominated a K.C.B. Jan. 2, 1815.
Residence.– King’s Palace, Pall-Mall.