Thomas Louis
| Sir Thomas Louis | |
|---|---|
| Born |
bap. 11 May 1757 Exeter, Devon |
| Died | 17 May 1807 Alexandria, Egypt |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |
 Royal Navy
|
| Years of service | 1769 to 1807 |
| Rank | Royal Navy Admiral |
| Battles/wars |
American Revolutionary War • First Battle of Ushant • Battle of Cape St Vincent • Capture of Comte d'Artois French Revolutionary Wars • Battle of the Nile Napoleonic Wars • Battle of San Domingo • Dardanelles Operation |
| Awards | Baronetcy |
Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Louis, 1st Baronet (bap. 11 May 1758 – 17 May 1807) was an officer of the British Royal Navy who served in three wars and saw numerous actions, notably as one of Horatio Nelson's "Band of Brothers" in the Mediterranean in 1798 who commanded ships at the Battle of the Nile. Louis had previously seen extensive action during the American Revolutionary War and later was to be second in command at the Battle of San Domingo, for which service he was made a baronet. He died of an unknown ailment aboard his flagship in Alexandria harbour in 1807 and was buried in Malta.
Thomas Louis was born in 1758 to John and Elizabeth Louis. John was a schoolmaster in Exeter, and family legend maintained that his grandfather had been an illegitimate son of King Louis XIV, although this cannot be verified. Louis joined the Navy in 1769 aged eleven, and first went to sea aboard the sloop HMS Fly. In 1771 he moved to the larger HMS Southampton and under her captain John MacBride he subsequently moved to first HMS Orpheus and subsequently the ship of the line HMS Kent. In 1775 he gained his first experience of foreign service, joining HMS Martin on the Newfoundland Station.
In 1776, at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Louis joined the frigate HMS Thetis and in her returned to Europe, there joining the ship of the line HMS Bienfaisant. In this ship he was promoted to lieutenant the following year, and in 1778 participated at the First Battle of Ushant, a British victory in the Atlantic under Augustus Keppel. In 1780, Bienfaisant was engaged at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, where the ship was badly damaged in a bitter exchange with the larger Spanish battleship Phoenix. During the storm which followed the battle, Louis took command of the captured Phoenix and saw her safely to Gibraltar. A week before, at the Action of 8 January 1780, he had performed a similar feat with another captured Spanish ship of the line, the Guipuzcoana.
...
Wikipedia