Robert Plampin

Posted by Brian Stephens on Tuesday 22nd of April 2014 12:09

The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 155 p. 655 pub 1834
Feb. 14. At Florence, aged 72, Robert Plampin, esq. Vice-Admiral of the White.
Adm. Plampin was a native of Essex, where be possessed considerable property. He entered the Navy at an early age, and served with much credit in the American war. On the commencement of hostilities with the French republic, he was appointed as Lieutenant on board the Syren, a 32-gun frigate, commanded by Capt. John Manley. In this ship the Duke of York embarked for Holland; and one of the services in which Lieut. Plampin was employed, was the defence of Williamstadt, where he commanded a gun-boat. On the 21st of March, 1793, in an attack on the enemy's camp on the Moordyke, his superior officer Lieut. J. Western was slain (to whom the Duke of York erected a monument in the church of Dordrecht), and Plampin took the command: the Prince of Orange, for his services on this occasion, presented him with a medal worth 500 guilders; and on his return to England he was promoted to the rank of Commander, and promoted to the Time sloop of war.
In 1795 Capt. Plampin attained post rank, and was commissioned to the Ariadne of 26 guns, from which he removed to the Lowestoffe 32. This vessel was wrecked on returning with a convoy from the West Indies Aug. 11,1801; but, on a court-martial, her commander was acquitted of all blame.
Capt. Plampin afterwards commanded the Antelope 50, and the Powerful 74. This ship was attached to the squadron of Sir J. T. Duckworth, and afterwards sent to reinforce Sir E. Pellew in the East Indies. On the 13th of June 1806 he captured a mischievous privateer called la Henriette, of 20 guns; and in the following month, off Ceylon, a still more notorious privateer, la Bellone of 34 guns, which had committed great depredations on the British commerce, and 'was afterwards enrolled in the Royal Navy, under the name of the Blanche.
Towards the close of 1806, the Powerful was one of the squadron which accompanied Sir Edward Pellew to Batavia, where they destroyed a frigate, four brigs, of war, and several armed vessels. After this, Capt. Plampin returned to Europe on account of ill-health. He subsequently obtained the command of the Courageux, and commanded a division of Sir R. Stracban's fleet on the expedition to Walcheren in 1809. In 1810 be commanded the Gibraltar 80, and in 1811 the Royal Sovereign, a first-rate.. His next appointment was to the Ocean of 98 guns, in which be again served under Sir E. Pellew, in the Mediterranean, and be belonged to the blockading fleet off Toulon during the remainder of the war.
At the ring promotion which took place at the peace, Capt. Plampin was advanced to the rank of Rear-Admiral, and in Feb. 1817 be hoisted his ring on board the Conqueror 74, as Commander-in-chief on the St. Helena and Cape stations. This delicate commission, as one of the guardians of Napoleon, he held during the customary period of three years; during which the only disagreeable result of his duty was the necessity of dismissing, by court martial, the surgeon of his own ship, for making improper communications to the attendants of the exiled Emperor.
In 182?, Rear-Admiral Plampin succeeded Colville in the Irish command at Cove; and in the following year he hoisted his flag at the fore, as ViceAdmiral of the White. The Cove was his last appointment, which he rilled for three year, with high esteem. His death is lamented by a large circle of acquaintance. His remains were brought to England, and interred in Wanstead churchyard.