Joseph Sydney Yorke

Admiral Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke KCB (6 June 1768 – 5 May 1831) was an officer of the Royal Navy. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of the Saintes in April 1782 during the American Revolutionary War. He commanded at the defeat of the Dutch fleet in August 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars and went on to be First Naval Lord during the closing stages of the Napoleonic Wars. Family and early life Yorke was born in Great Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire, on 6 June 1768, the second son, by his second marriage, of the politician Charles Yorke. He joined the navy at the age of 11, becoming a midshipman aboard , then under the command of Sir Charles Douglas, on 15 February 1780. He followed Douglas to his next command, , which flew the flag of Admiral George Rodney. Yorke was then present at Rodney's victory over François Joseph Paul de Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes from 9 to 12 April 1782. The end of the American Revolutionary War led to the Formidable returning to Britain to be paid off. Yorke remained in employment however, transferring with Douglas to , and then moving to , under the command of Sir Erasmus Gower, filling the post of master's mate. Yorke spent three years in total serving on the Newfoundland Station. Promotions Yorke was promoted to lieutenant on 16 June 1789, and moved aboard the 50-gun to serve under Admiral Sir Richard Hughes. He later served as lieutenant aboard and and in February 1791 he was appointed master and commander of the sloop . He remained aboard her, carrying out cruises into the English Channel until the outbreak of war with France in 1793. He was promoted to Post-Captain on 4 February 1793 and given command of the frigate , then part of a squadron under Admiral Richard Howe. He patrolled off the French port of Brest, and captured the corvette L'Espiegle. Yorke moved to in July 1794, and continued to serve in the Channel, occasionally ranging into the North Sea. On 22 August 1795 the Stag and a small British squadron chased two large ships and a cutter, eventually bringing the sternmost one to battle. An hour-long fight ensued, after which the enemy, subsequently found to be the Batavian frigate Alliance, was forced to surrender. Yorke moved to command the newly built in March 1800, and by 1801 was in command of the 74-gun third rate . He commanded her until the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 brought a period of temporary peace.