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26-828: Captain Sir Charles Marsh Schomberg KCH CB (1779 – 2 January 1835) was an officer of the British Royal Navy, who served during French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , and later served as Lieutenant-Governor of Dominica . Schomberg was born in Dublin , the youngest son of the naval officer Captain Sir Alexander Schomberg and Arabella Susannah, the only child of the Reverend Henry Chalmers, and niece of Sir Edmund Aleyn . His older brother

52-586: A group captain in the Royal Air Force . There are similarly named equivalent ranks in the navies of many other countries. In the Royal Navy, the officer in command of any warship of the rank of commander and below is informally referred to as "the captain" on board, even though holding a junior rank, but formally is titled "the commanding officer" (or CO). Until the nineteenth century, Royal Navy officers who were captains by rank and in command of

78-642: A 44-gun ship armed en flûte , employed in transporting French troops from Alexandria to Malta, under the terms of the French capitulation . Following the evacuation of Egypt Schomberg was sent on a mission to Tunis , for which Sir Alexander Ball , the Governor of Malta, later presented him with a handsome piece of plate , and for his services in Egypt he was awarded the Imperial Ottoman Order of

104-451: A captain may be referred to as a "DACOS" (standing for deputy assistant chief of staff) or an "AH" (assistant head), from the usual job title of OF5-ranked individuals who work with civil servants. The rank insignia features four rings of gold braid with an executive curl in the upper ring. When in mess dress or mess undress, officers of the rank of captain and above wear gold-laced trousers (the trousers are known as "tin trousers", and

130-414: A feature of the period from 1650 to about 1780. Elites in most ancient cultures preferred to eat off precious metals ("plate") at the table; China and Japan were two major exceptions, using lacquerware and later fine pottery, especially porcelain . In Europe the elites dined off metal, usually silver for the rich and pewter or latten for the middling classes, from the ancient Greeks and Romans until

156-747: A few days later; and Clorinde escaped for good. The Battle of Tamatave marked the last French attempt to operate in the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic Wars. Nearly four decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal , awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847. In April 1813, following the unexpected death of Captain Beaver, Schomberg took command of Nisus , and sailed from

182-557: A naval vessel were referred to as post-captains ; this practice is now defunct. Captain (D) or Captain Destroyers, afloat, was an operational appointment commanding a destroyer flotilla or squadron , and there was a corresponding administrative appointment ashore, until at least a decade after the Second World War . The title was probably used informally up until the abolition of frigate and destroyer squadrons with

208-634: A squadron under the command of Captain Thomas Troubridge . They joined the squadron of Sir Horatio Nelson near Toulon, and subsequently defeated the French at the battle of the Nile in August 1798. During the battle Minotaur fought Aquilon , and after her surrender she was taken possession of by Schomberg. Between November 1798 and October 1799 Schomberg, now the first lieutenant of Minotaur ,

234-776: The Île de France (now Mauritius) under Captain Philip Beaver in Nisus . In the absence of Captain Beaver, Schomberg was in command on 20 May 1811, when Astraea , the frigates Phoebe and Galatea , and the brig-sloop Racehorse met and defeated a force of three large French frigates that were bringing reinforcements to Mauritius (unaware of its capture by the British the previous November). One French frigate, Renommée , surrendered to Schomberg's ship; Néréide escaped, only to surrender at Tamatave in Madagascar

260-683: The British Museum , in solid gold and decorated with enamel and pearls, is one of few exceptions. Silver requires a good deal of care, as it tarnishes and must be hand polished, since careless or machine polishing ruins the patina and can completely erode the silver layer in Sheffield plate . A silverman or silver butler has expertise and professional knowledge of the management, secure storage, use, and cleaning of all silverware, associated tableware, and other paraphernalia for use at military and other special functions. This expertise covers

286-669: The Egyptian Campaign . He was sent to Cairo to act as a liaison officer between Keith and the Kapudan Pasha , the commander of Turkish naval forces, during the Siege of Alexandria . Schomberg was appointed acting-commander of the sloop Termagant , though it is unclear if he ever took command of her as he was employed onshore until the surrender of the French in September 1801. He was appointed to command of Charon ,

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312-649: The Tagus after the British squadron, and so negotiations were already underway by Sir W. Sidney Smith , who he then joined aboard Foudroyant as flag captain as they transported the royal family to Brazil in November 1807. Schomberg was later made a Knight of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword . In January 1809 while at Rio de Janeiro Smith appointed Schomberg to command of President , but when

338-515: The 18th century. Another alternative was the trencher , a large flat piece of either bread or wood. In the Middle Ages this was a common way of serving food, the bread also being eaten; even in elite dining it was not fully replaced in France until the 1650s. Possession of silverware obviously depends on individual wealth; the greater the means, the higher was the quality of tableware that

364-568: The Admiralty sent out another captain for that ship, Schomberg was relieved of command, and returned to England in April 1810. In July he was appointed to the frigate Astraea , which he fitted out and sailed to the Cape of Good Hope in company with Scipion , flagship of Rear-Admiral Robert Stopford . On their arrival Stopford sent Astraea and Phoebe to reinforce the squadron stationed off

390-690: The Cape to Brazil, and from there to Portsmouth escorting a large merchant convoy, arriving at Spithead in March 1814. Schomberg was preparing his ship for service in North America, when the Admiralty ordered her to be put out of commission. Schomberg was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 4 June 1815. From April 1820 to April 1824 he commanded Rochfort as flag captain to Sir Graham Moore in

416-516: The Crescent . On 29 April 1802 his promotion to commander was confirmed. Schomberg was promoted to post-captain on 6 August 1803, and he took command of the 54-gun Madras , stationed as guard ship at Malta. Lord Collingwood nominated Schomberg for command of Athenienne , but she was wrecked on 27 October 1806. In February 1807 Schomberg took part in the failed Dardanelles Operation under John Duckworth , but on his return to Malta Madras

442-564: The Fleet FIRST reorganisation circa 2001. Ashore, the rank of captain is often verbally described as "captain RN" to distinguish it from the more junior Army and Royal Marines rank , and in naval contexts, as a "four-ring captain" (referring to the uniform lace) to avoid confusion with the title of a seagoing commanding officer. In the Ministry of Defence , and in joint service establishments,

468-535: The Mediterranean, and from September 1828 until 1832 served as Commodore and Commander-in-Chief at the Cape of Good Hope Station , with Maidstone as his flagship. On 21 September 1832 he was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order . On 7 February 1833 Schomberg was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Dominica . He died on 2 January 1835, while in that service, aboard President ,

494-633: The flagship of Sir George Cockburn , while anchored in Carlisle Bay . He was interred in St Paul's Chapel on the same day. Captain (Royal Navy) Captain ( Capt ) is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy . It ranks above commander and below commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a colonel in the British Army and Royal Marines , and to

520-404: The gold lace stripes thereon are nicknamed "lightning conductors"), and may wear the undress tailcoat (without epaulettes). Household silver Historically, silverware was divided into table silver, for eating, and dressing silver for bedrooms and dressing rooms. The grandest form of the latter was the toilet service , typically of 10-30 pieces, often silver-gilt , which was especially

546-513: The wedding of Philip the Good , Duke of Burgundy , and Isabella of Portugal in 1429, there was a dresser 20 feet long on either side of the room, each with five rows of plate. Inventories of King Charles V of France (r. 1364–1380) record that he had 2,500 pieces of plate. Plate was often melted down to finance wars or building, and hardly any of the enormous quantities recorded in the later Middle Ages survives. The French Royal Gold Cup now in

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572-612: Was Admiral Alexander Wilmot Schomberg . Schomberg entered the navy in 1788 as captain's servant on the yacht of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , Dorset , under his father's command. From 1793, at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War, he served as midshipman aboard Cumberland and the 74-gun Minotaur under Captain Thomas Louis . On 30 April 1795 he was promoted to lieutenant , and

598-615: Was employed on the coast of the Kingdom of Naples . In mid-1800 Minotaur served as the flagship of Lord Keith at the siege of Genoa . On 3 September 1800, under the command of Captain James Hillyar of Niger , Schomberg led the boats of Minotaur in the successful cutting out of the Spanish corvettes Esmeralda and Paz off Barcelona . Schomberg then served as Flag Lieutenant to Lord Keith, aboard Foudroyant , during

624-466: Was owned and the more numerous its pieces. The materials used were often controlled by sumptuary laws . In the late Middle Ages and for much of the Early Modern period much of a great person's disposable assets were often in plate, and what was not in use for a given meal was often displayed on a dressoir de parement or buffet (indeed, similar to a large Welsh dresser ) in the dining hall. At

650-412: Was put out of commission, and he returned to England, after an absence of more than ten years. On his arrival he was appointed to Hibernia and immediately sailed from Torbay to Lisbon, to announce the imminent arrival of a British squadron, sent to evacuate the royal family of Portugal, as the French were about to enter the country . Unfortunately poor weather and contrary winds meant he arrived off

676-512: Was transferred to Rattler , serving under the Commanders Willoughby Lake and John Cochet , until returning to Minotaur in August 1796. In early 1797 Minotaur was sent to reinforce the fleet off Cádiz and was engaged in several boat actions with the Spanish flotilla and shore batteries. Minotaur remained part of the inshore squadron off Cádiz until 24 May 1798, when she sailed for the Mediterranean, in company with

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