Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/71

 returned to England in 1786, having acquired in ten years' service a very considerable sum, which was lost by the bankruptcy of his agent. In the armament of 1790 he commanded the Asia, which was paid off on the settlement of the dispute; and in February 1795 he was appointed to the Impregnable in the Channel fleet. From her on 1 June 1795 he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral.

On 14 Feb. 1799 he was advanced to be vice-admiral, and in April was appointed to a command in the North Sea under Lord Duncan. In August he had charge of the transports for the expedition to Holland; and though Duncan himself convoyed them across and superintended the disembarkation of the troops, he left the further operations to Mitchell, who on 30 Aug. received the surrender of the Dutch ships, consequent on the mutiny of the Dutch seamen, who refused to fight against the allies of the Prince of Orange. Their brethren on shore took a different view of the position, and in conjunction with the French repulsed the English and Russian army; so that the Duke of York, who was in command, was compelled to ask for an armistice, on the basis of an immediate evacuation of Holland. Mitchell, who, with a squadron of small vessels, had made himself master of the Zuyder Zee, was bound by the same treaty, and withdrew his ships; but neither he nor Sir Ralph Abercromby, who had commanded the army at its first landing, was blamed for the ignominious termination of the campaign; the thanks of parliament were given to both, as well as to the officers and men; and Mitchell was nominated a K.B., 9 Jan. 1800. The city of London, too, presented him with a sword of the value of one hundred guineas.

During 1800 and 1801 he commanded in the Channel fleet, under Lord St. Vincent and Admiral Cornwallis, and in November 1801 was detached with a squadron to the coast of Ireland and to Bantry Bay. In December, on some of the ships being ordered to sail for the West Indies, a mutiny broke out, especially on board the Téméraire, the flagship of Rear-admiral George Campbell. The mutiny was suppressed, and some twenty of the ringleaders, having been made prisoners, were brought round to Spithead, where they were tried by a court-martial, of which Mitchell was president. The greater number of them were found guilty and were executed (the minutes of the court-martial were published, 8vo, 1802). In the spring of 1802 Mitchell was appointed commander-in-chief on the North American station. On 9 Nov. 1805 he was promoted to be admiral; after a short illness he died at Bermuda on 26 Feb. 1806, and was buried there with military honours. He was twice married, having by his first wife three sons, Charles, Nathaniel, and Andrew (, Roy. Nav. Biog. vii. 325, viii. 380, and ix. 215), who all died captains in the navy. By his second wife he had a daughter. His portrait by Bowyer has been engraved (Catalogue of the Naval Exhibition, 1891).



MITCHELL, CORNELIUS (d. 1749?), captain in the navy, entered the navy in 1709 on board the Ranelagh, then carrying the flag of Sir John Norris in the Channel. On 22 Dec. 1720 he was promoted by Commodore Charles Stewart, in the Mediterranean, to be lieutenant of the Dover. In 1726 he was a lieutenant of the Weymouth, and in June 1729 he was appointed to the Lion going out to the West Indies with the flag of his old patron Stewart, at this time a rear-admiral. By Stewart he was promoted, on 14 June 1731, to be captain of the Lark, which he took to England and paid off in the following February. From that time he had no service till August 1739, when he was appointed to the Rochester. In the following year he was moved into the Torbay, and afterwards into the Buckingham, in which he sailed for the West Indies in the fleet under Sir (d. 1751) [q. v.] On the way out, however, the Buckingham was disabled in a storm and was sent home (, iii. 27), and Mitchell, appointed to the Kent, went out later. In December 1743 he was moved by Ogle into the Adventure; and again by Davers in July 1745 into the Strafford. In the following December, with the Plymouth and Lyme frigate in company, he was convoying a fleet of merchant ships through the Windward Passage, when on the 15th he fell in with three French ships of war off Cape Nicolas. A slight engagement ensued, and, content with having beaten off the enemy, Mitchell pursued his voyage. A court-martial afterwards decided that he was justified in so doing, as the French force was superior, and the safety of the convoy was the first consideration.

In August 1746 Mitchell was again in command of a squadron, and again met a French squadron off Cape Nicolas, but the circumstances were reversed. The French had the convoy; Mitchell had the superior force. He had four ships of the line, one of 44 guns, and a small frigate, against three ships of the