George Pocock British naval commander

[Anatol]

Admiral Sir George Pocock or Pococke, KB (6 March 1706 – 3 April 1792) was a British officer of the Royal Navy.
Pocock was born in Thames Ditton in Surrey, the son of Thomas Pocock, a chaplain in the Royal Navy. His great grandfather was Rev. Dr. Laurence Pocock, Rector of Brightwalton in Berkshire
George Pocock entered the navy in 1718, serving aboard HMS Superb under the patronage of his maternal uncle, Captain Streynsham Master (1682–1724).[2] He became lieutenant in April 1725 and commander in 1733. In 1738 he was promoted to post-captain and granted command of the 20-gun HMS Aldborough. After serving in the West Indies he was sent to join the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, Rear-Admiral Charles Watson, in 1754 as captain of the 58-gun HMS Cumberland. Watson's squadron co-operated with Clive in the conquest of Bengal. In 1755 Pocock became rear-admiral, and was promoted to vice-admiral in 1756.
On the death of Watson in 1757 Pocock took the command of the naval forces in the East Indies. In 1758 he was joined by Commodore Charles Steevens (d. 1761), but the reinforcement only raised the squadron to seven small line-of-battle ships. War being now in progress between France and England the French sent a naval force from their islands in the Indian Ocean into the Bay of Bengal to the assistance of Pondicherry. To intercept the arrival of these reinforcements for the enemy now became the object of Pocock. The French force was indeed of less intrinsic strength than his own. Comte D'Aché who commanded it had to make up his line by including several Indiamen which were only armed merchant ships. Yet the number of the French was superior and Pocock was required by the practice of his time to fight by the old official fighting instructions. He had to bring his ships into action in a line with the enemy, and to preserve his formation while the engagement lasted.
All Pocock's encounters with D'Aché were indecisive. The first battle, on 29 April 1758, failed to prevent the Frenchmen from reaching Pondicherry.
The second more serious battle, called the Battle of Nagapatam, took place on August 3, 1758.
A British squadron under Vice-Admiral George Pocock fought a French squadron under Comte d'Aché off the Carnatic coast of India near Negapatam. Both squadrons suffered heavy damage during the short but fierce engagement, with d'Ache's flagship Zodiaque catching fire and d'Ache himself severely wounded. He would spend the remainder of the year recovering in Mauritius.
When the monsoon set in Pocock went round to Bombay. He was back early in spring, relieving the Siege of Madras, but the French admiral did not return to the Bay of Bengal until September. Again Pocock was unable to prevent his opponent from reaching Pondicherry, and a well-contested battle between them on 10 September 1759 proved again indecisive. One of the episodes of this battle is shown in the background of the stamp, behind the portrait of J. Pocock. The painting depicts a conflict between the English East Indiaman Pitt and French ship St Louis was a minor event which occurred off Fort St David, near Pondicherry. When Commodore Wilson, the captain of the ‘Pitt’ tried to engage the ‘St Louis’ in blowy weather he was unable to operate his lower tier of guns. So he was forced to break off the engagement after a brief exchange and escaped by out-sailing the Frenchman. The painting shows the two ships firing into each other, with the ‘Pitt’ on the left. The painting is inscribed ‘Commodore Wilson of the ‘Pitt’ engaging the ‘St Louis’ French ship of the line belonging to the Squadron of Monsieur de Ache on the 10th Septem 1759.
The French government was nearly bankrupt, and D'Aché could get no stores for his squadron. He was compelled to return to the islands, and the British were left in possession of the Coromandel and Malabar Coasts. Pocock went home in 1760, and in 1761 was made a Knight of the Bath and admiral.
In 1762 he was appointed to the command of the naval forces in the combined expedition which took Havana. The siege, which began on 7 June and lasted until 13 August, was rendered deadly by the climate. The final victory was largely attributable to the vigorous and intelligent aid which Pocock gave to the troops. His share in the prize money was no less than £122,697. On his return to England Pocock is said to have been disappointed because another officer, Sir Charles Saunders, was chosen in preference to himself as a member of the Admiralty Board, and to have resigned in consequence. It is certain that he resigned his commission in 1766. His memorial in Westminster Abbey, a statue of Britannia holding a thunderbolt, is by John Bacon and was erected in 1796.
PMR 2019; [P].
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pocock.