Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/305

Martin off Brest, he fell in with, and after a sharp action captured, the Immortality, flying homeward from the destruction of M. Bompard's squadron on the coast of Ireland [see ]. In addition to her complement, the Immortality had on board 250 soldiers, and her loss was consequently very great. Otherwise the two frigates were nearly equal in force, and the Fisgard's victory has always been considered one of the most brilliant frigate actions of the war (, ii. 160;, iii. 84). For the next two years the Fisgard was employed actively on the coast of France under the orders of Sir John Warren, and, in company with different ships of the squadron, captured or destroyed several ships of war, privateers, coasting craft, and batteries.

From 1803 to 1805 Martin commanded the Impétueux; in 1807 the Prince of Wales, both in the Channel; and in 1808 the Implacable in the Baltic. On 26 Aug., while attached to the Swedish fleet under the immediate orders of Sir Samuel Hood [q. v.] in the Centaur, he brought to action and had a large share in the capture of the Russian ship Sewolod. In his official letter Hood assigned much of the credit to Martin, and the king of Sweden conferred on him the cross of the order of the Sword. He was again in the Baltic in 1809. On 1 Aug. 1811 he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, and in 812, with his flag in the Aboukir, took part in the defence of Riga against the French army under Davoust. He was afterwards second in command at Plymouth till 1814. On 2 Jan. 1815 he was nominated a K.C.B., and a few days later was appointed deputy-comptroller of the navy. In 1816 he became comptroller, which office he held till the reorganisation of the navy board in 1831. From 1818 to 1831 he sat in parliament as member for Plymouth. On 12 Aug. 1819 he was made a vice-admiral, a G.C.B. 3 March 1830, admiral 22 July 1830, vice-admiral of the United Kingdom in 1847, and admiral of the fleet 13 Oct. 1849. He died at Portsmouth on 21 Oct. 1854. Sir William Hotham [q. v.] recorded that 'his capacities for business and thorough knowledge of the state of the navy marked him as a fit man to be at the head of its civil department. He added to a strong understanding and quick perception great personal application and activity, and transacted arduous business without any trouble to himself and satisfactorily to others; exceedingly amiable in his family and much beloved by those who knew him well' (Hotham MS.) He married Catherine, daughter of Captain Robert Fanshawe, for many years naval commissioner at Plymouth, and had issue three daughters and three sons, the eldest of whom, Sir William Fanshawe Mart in, bart., G.C.B., rear-admiral of the United Kingdom, was commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean 1860-2, and is now (1893) senior admiral on the retired list; the second, Sir Henry Byam Martin, K.C.B., died an admiral in 1865; and the third, Lieutenant-colonel Robert Fanshawe Martin, died in 1846. There is a portrait of Sir Thomas in the United Service Club.

 MARTIN, WILLIAM (1696?–1756), admiral, was the son of Commodore George Martin (d. 1724), and, it is said, a kinsman of Admiral Sir John Norris [q. v.] He entered the navy as a ' volunteer per order,' or ' king's letter boy,' on board the Dragon, with his father, 26 Aug. 1708 (Commission and Warrant Book, 12 Aug. 1708). When the Dragon went to Newfoundland in May 1710, Martin was put on shore at Plymouth 'for his health' (Dragon's Pay Book). He must have been entered on board some other ship almost immediately, for on 30 July 1710 he was promoted by Sir John Norris in the Mediterranean to be second lieutenant of the Resolution. On 4 Jan. 1711-12 he was appointed by Sir John Jennings, also in the Mediterranean, to the Superbe, in which he continued till July 1714 (Comm. and Warr. Books; Admiralty Lists). During 1716 and 1716 he was in the Cumberland, flagship of Sir John Norris in the Baltic. In 1717 he was in the Rupert; in 1718 again with Norris in the Cumberland. On 9 Oct. 1718 he was promoted to the rank of captain, and took post from that date. On 5 Nov. 1718 he was appointed to the Seahorse; and on 9 Feb. 1719-20 to the Blandford, which during the summers of 1720-1 was attached to the Baltic fleet under Norris, and was afterwards employed in American waters in the suppression of piracy. From 1727 to 1732 he commanded the Advice in the fleet at Gibraltar or in the Channel, under Sir Charles Wager; and from 1733 to 1737 the Sunderland on the home station, at Lisbon, or in the Mediterranean. In May 1738 he was appointed to the Ipswich, one of the fleet in the Mediterranean under Rear-admiral Nicholas Haddock [q. v.] In January 1740-1 he was ordered to hoist a broad-pennant in command of a detached squadron oft' Cadiz, and in July 1742 was sent by Admiral Thomas Mathews [q. v.] to enforce the neutrality of 