Robert Devereux Fancourt

Notes on Officer

This officer was first Lieutenant of the Gibraltar, of 80 guns, bearing the broad pendant of the late Sir Richard Bickerton, in Feb. 1782, at which period that officer sailed for the East Indies, with several men of war, to reinforce the squadron on that station under Sir Edward Hughes. On his passage the Commodore touched at Rio Janeiro, where he purchased a cutter on Government account, and promoted Mr. Fancourt into her, with the rank of Commander. In this vessel, .which we believe was named the Substitute, and mounted 14 guns, Captain Fancourt proceeded to India, and continued there during the remainder of the war.

In 1790, a dispute arose with Spain relative to Nootka Sound; and Captain Fancourt, who had been advanced to post rank, on the 2d Dec., in the preceding year, was appointed to the command of the Ambuscade frigate, stationed in the Mediterranean. Soon after the commencement of the war with France, in 1793, we find him in the Chichester, of 44 guns, employed principally in escorting the trade to and from the West Indies and Mediterranean. This vessel, in company with the Intrepid, 64, captured la Sirenne, French corvette, off St. Domingo, about the month of Aug. 1794.

In the year 1797, Captain Fancourt was removed into the Agamemnon, of 64 guns, attached to Admiral Duncan’s fleet in the North Sea. This ship appears to have been implicated in the mutiny at the Nore, but previous to its suppression seceded from the rebellious cause. In the summer of 1800, she formed part of the squadron sent to Elsineur under the orders of Vice-Admiral Dickson, for the purpose of giving weight to the arguments adduced by the British Minister in support of the right claimed by Great Britain to search neutral vessels.

We next find Captain Fancourt accompanying Sir Hyde Parker on an expedition against Copenhagen, in the spring of 1801; but from the unfortunate circumstance of the Agamemnon striking upon a shoal when approaching the Danish line of defence, he was prevented from participating in the glorious victory achieved by Lord Nelson, to whose division he had been attached. On the Agamemnon’s return to England, she was stationed as a guard ship in Hosely Bay. Captain Fancourt subsequently commanded the Zealand, 64, bearing the flag of the Commander-in-Chief at the Nore. He was advanced to the rank of Rear-Admiral, April 28, 1808; and Vice-Admiral, Aug. 12, 1812.