Andrew Todd (1759-1800)
One of Admiral Lord Keith’s favourite officers, Todd died tragically, displaying exemplary stoicism and leadership when the Queen Charlotte was consumed by fire off Leghorn in 1800.
Andrew Todd (also spelled Tod) was born in Carnbie, Fife, Scotland on 14 October 1759, one of ten children of Alexander Tod and Margaret Crouper.
He was commissioned lieutenant by Admiral Hugh Pigot on 22 April 1783 in the Leeward Island at the end of the American Revolutionary War, serving for just three weeks aboard the sloop Saint Lucia, Commander James Dundas, before she was paid off.
From 15 July 1790, (during the Spanish Armament) Todd was a junior lieutenant aboard the Assistance 50, Captain Lord Cranstoun, remaining with that vessel until the conclusion of the Russian Armament in September 1791.
With the French Revolutionary War imminent, he joined the Robust 74 (commanded by fellow Scot, Captain George Keith Elphinstone) which was employed in the Channel Fleet. In 1794 he followed Elphinstone (now a rear-admiral) into his flagship, the Glory 98, Captain John Elphinsone. The rear-admiral soon left the ship, but Todd remained aboard the Glory, serving as her second lieutenant at the Battle of the Glorious First of June.
Continuing under Elphinstone’s patronage, in April 1795 Todd sailed with him aboard the Monarch 74 for the Cape of Good Hope, which was the target of a British invasion force. He was soon in acting command of the sloop Echo 16, providing covering fire to the landing at Simon’s Bay in mid-August, and creating a diversion south of Cape Town to get the Dutch to reveal the position of their batteries a month later. Elphinstone spoke very highly of Todd’s skill and courage during the operations at the Cape in his subsequent reports to the Admiralty. Todd’s three years in southern waters was marked by rapid promotion (possibly even straight from lieutenant to post captain), and confusing movements from ship to ship, as the admiral juggled his officers to meet the challenges of his command.
In November 1795 Todd sailed in the Echo with Elphinstone’s squadron for Madras, and he later commanded her in Captain Alan Hyde Gardner’s expedition which took Colombo during the East Indies campaign of February – March 1796. It is likely that at this point Elphinstone made Todd an acting post captain, and he briefly commanded the Dutch prize Princess 28 in Simon’s Bay during July. Within weeks he moved to the Sphinx 24, and he was present at the Dutch squadron’s capitulation in Saldanha Bay on 17 August. Two days later he took command of the prize Braave 32, and in early December he was employed under the orders of Captain John William Spranger at the reduction of Foul Point, Madagascar.
Elphinstone (now a vice-admiral) showed his continuing support for his protegé by confirming his promotion to captain with seniority from 22 December 1796; that month Todd commissioned the Dutch prize Tromp 56 . It is also possible that he temporarily commanded the Stately 64 for a period in 1797.
In August 1797 he joined the Trusty 50 at the Cape, and a few months later captured an American merchantman laden with spices from the Dutch colonial port of Batavia (now Jakarta). Another capture, this time of a Danish ship laden with sugar, coffee and timber followed, but it is not clear if Todd received any prize money for these captures, since both owners went to court to claim that their ships were not legitimate prizes. During July 1798 he sailed for St. Helena with a homeward-bound convoy, and then after some delay returned to England with 22 ships, reaching the Downs in the second week of October. The Trusty was still in the Downs in December, but later that month she entered the Thames for a refit at Woolwich which lasted until the following spring.
In June 1799 Todd joined the Queen Charlotte 100 at Minorca as flag-captain to Vice- Admiral Lord Keith (as Sir George Keith Elphinstone was now titled), who was effectively commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet. Vice-Admiral Eustache Bruix’s fleet had sailed from Brest on 25 April, intending to reinforce the French army in Egypt, and Keith in the Queen Charlotte had the responsibility of tracking (and if possible, destroying) the enemy force. Bruix proved elusive – Keith and his ships followed the French all the way back to Brest, coming within a day’s sail of the French before they reached safety on 13 August. The Queen Charlotte joined the Channel Fleet to watch the enemy ships in Brest, but at the end of September she was ordered into Portsmouth for a refit. Towards the end of November, she sailed with a huge convoy for the Mediterranean, still bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Keith. Whilst at Gibraltar on 21 December her boats, and in particular her barge, helped recapture the cutter Lady Nelson in vicious fighting off the Rock.
In the early part of 1800 Todd commanded the Queen Charlotte at the blockade of Malta. In mid-March the ship was sent to an island off Leghorn (Livorno) to investigate reports of pirates, while Lord Keith attended to matters on shore. On 17 March a fire broke out on the ship and spread rapidly, leading to the explosion of the magazine after a few hours. Boats put out from Leghorn (about twelve miles away) to rescue survivors, but fear of the overheated guns firing and the imminent magazine explosion caused them to stand off the burning ship. Six hundred and seventy-three people died in the flames or in the sea, including Andrew Todd. Accounts from survivors stated that Todd remained on deck with loaded pistols to prevent mass panic, thus giving as many men as possible a chance to survive. At the same time with incredible coolness, he jotted down notes on the accident, hoping that seamen in the boats could carry them to Lord Keith. The admiral watched from the shore with tears rolling down his weather-beaten face as his flagship burned and hundreds of men died (including his friend Andrew Todd, with some reports claiming that the captain shot himself when there was no hope of rescue.)