Robert Carkett (1719-80)
Posted captain after taking command of his ship when his captain was killed in the celebrated capture of a larger French vessel, Carkett later faced criticism from Admiral Rodney for tactical failings in battle and lost his life in a hurricane shortly afterwards.
He was born on 17 June 1719 at Plymouth, the son of John Carkett and Sarah Edgecombe.
Carkett entered the peacetime navy in 1734 as an able seaman aboard the Exeter 60, Captain John Yeo, and after serving for the next four years aboard the sloop Grampus 6, Commander George Cundett, and the bomb Alderney 8, Commander James Scott, he was promoted midshipman of the Plymouth 60, Captain Sir Roger Butler. On this vessel he served a further five years in the Mediterranean, when (during the War of Austrian Succession) the command of the Plymouth was held successively by Captains Charles Watson and George Brydges Rodney.
On 18 July 1743, now 24 years old, he passed for lieutenant. He received his commission in February 1745, serving in the East Indies aboard the Deptford 60, Commodore Curtis Barnett and Captain John Moore. This vessel returned home earlier in the spring of 1746 and was paid off in September. For the rest of the war, which ended in October 1748, Carkett served in home waters with the frigate Surprise 24, Captain James Webb.
Carkett took advantage of the extended period of peace that followed to marry 26-year-old Sarah Darracott, the daughter of a mayor of Plymouth. They had at least three children, but apparently only one daughter lived to adulthood.
In March 1755 Carkett joined the Monmouth 70. During the early stages of the Seven Years War, she served in the Channel under a succession of captains: Washington Shirley, Henry Harrison, and Alexander Innes. In 1757 the Monmouth moved to the Mediterranean under the command of Captain Arthur Gardiner. On 28 February 1758 the Monmouth chased and engaged the larger French sail of the line Foudroyant 80 off Toulon for over four hours in a battle than became famous. One hour into the action Gardner fell mortally wounded, and Carkett assumed command of the ship. When the Swiftsure 70, Captain Thomas Stanhope, finally arrived on the scene to force the French ship’s surrender, the enemy captain insisted on giving his sword to Carkett. The capture of the Foudroyant became a much-celebrated victory, and (apparently bypassing the rank of master and commander), the 38-year-old Carkett was posted captain with effect from 12 March 1758. Although nominally appointed to the Royal Caroline 8, he was given temporary command of the as-yet-uncommissioned Foudroyant, on her voyage from the Mediterranean to Portsmouth with Rear-Admiral Charles Saunders’ squadron. Within days of coming home it was announced that he would take temporary command of the Revenge 70, and at the end of the month she escorted three regiments to the Downs where she remained for the rest of the year.
At the end of 1758 Carkett was appointed to the frigate Hussar 28, and in July 1759 he set off in an unsuccessful search for a 22-gun French privateer that had fired on a merchantman off Tynemouth. In October the Hussar was at Leith, the port of Edinburgh, when she was ordered to sea in search of Commodore François Thurot’s squadron of six frigates and corvettes, which was known to have left Dunkirk, heading for Scotland or Ireland. January 1760 saw the Hussar sail from the Downs escorting an East Indiaman, and by March she was at Cork, departing towards the end of the month for the Leeward Islands with a convoy of 42 merchantmen.
While employed on the Jamaican station, the Hussar captured the privateer Fourmi on 14 December 1760, and in the autumn of 1761 she took two Dutch vessels from a group of five which had mistakenly attacked her. On 3 April 1762, after an engagement near Cape Tiburon on Saint-Domingue that lasted all night and into the next morning, she cut out two ships of 16 and 12 guns respectively and destroyed another two of 16 and 14 guns. The action cost her 56 barrels of gunpowder and the loss of one man killed and twelve wounded, as opposed to enemy losses of 17 killed and 35 wounded.
Continuing on the Jamaican station, the Hussar ran aground on a reef off Cap François, Saint-Domingue on 23 May 1762, and when attempts to free her by cutting away her foremast, jettisoning stores, and kedging failed, a boat was dispatched to seek assistance from the French, which was promptly provided. Her officers and men became prisoners of war, but the pilot and master both absconded to avoid the inevitable blame for the wreck at a future court martial. The French later salvaged the Hussar and commissioned her for their service. In June Carkett and the other officers sailed under parole to England, meaning they could not serve until officially exchanged, which happened in December 1762. The Seven Years War was almost over, so Carkett remained temporarily on the beach.
In August 1763 he commissioned the Active 36 at Portsmouth, and two months later sailed for Jamaica. His ship continued on that station for the next four years without incident, and in mid-1767 she returned from the Caribbean (carrying 200,000 dollars in cash being shipped home by local merchants) and was soon paid off at Chatham. Further peacetime employment came in June 1769 when Carkett was appointed to the frigate Lowestoft 32 at Sheerness. In October he returned to the Jamaica station where he spent most of his time at Pensacola, protecting the colony of West Florida, and acting as temporary commander-in-chief in 1770. Generally, this proved a quiet posting, allowing him to garden ashore to his heart’s content. After returning to England in April 1773, the Lowestoft was immediately paid off in the Thames, and Carkett remained ashore for the next five years.
On 30 October 1778, by which time France had become an opponent in the American Revolutionary War, Carkett took command of the Stirling Castle 64, acting as senior officer in the Hamoaze for a month while his ship was being repaired and stored. In early December she sailed to the West Indies with Commodore Joshua Rowley ‘s squadron and fought at the inconclusive Battle of Grenada on 6 July 1779. Five months later she assisted the newly promoted Rear-Admiral Rowley to capture the French frigates Blanche 32, Fortunée 32 and Elise 28 after Rear-Admiral Hyde Parker’s engagement with the French on 18 December.
The Stirling Castle subsequently led the line at the Battle of Martinique on 17 April 1780, losing four men killed and thirty-four wounded. On this occasion, Carkett failed to understand Admiral Sir George Rodney’s confused instructions and forged ahead to attack the enemy’s van, a move that was contrary to the commander-in-chief’s intention, which had been for the Stirling Castle to concentrate on her immediate opponent in the enemy centre. Initially, Rodney vented his wrath for the failure of his plans on his subordinate admirals but then made severe criticisms of the Stirling Castle’s actions in the battle in his dispatch to the Admiralty, parts of which were suppressed before publication. When Carkett received a letter from the commander-in-chief advising him that he had informed the Admiralty of his failure to properly obey his signals, the aggrieved captain wrote to the Admiralty giving his account of the affair. Rodney responded with a direct letter confirming his criticism, embellishing it with the opinion that the 60-year-old Carkett had proved to be the second worst captain in the fleet, and accusing him, as the oldest captain present, of having set a bad example to his juniors.
Carkett never lived to obtain vindication of his conduct at the Battle of Martinique. Rodney indicated that he would not remove Carkett from his ship for what he considered an error of judgement, and he remained with the fleet and fought in the skirmishes with the French in May. The Stirling Castle was wrecked in the Great Hurricanes of 1780, for at midnight on the 6 October while cruising off the island of Hispaniola, she was overwhelmed by a hurricane, drove ashore off the Silver Keys to the north of Cap François, and broke up. The only survivors of the wreck were a midshipman and three seamen, part of a group of some twenty men who had managed to cling to a portion of the wreckage. Most of these men died from hunger, exposure or delirium over the next eight days. The four who survived suffered terrible hardships , but after being rescued they were humanely treated by the French at Port-au-Prince and released on the basis that they were not considered to be prisoners of war.
Robert Carkett was described as a rugged and brave officer, but one who had little knowledge of fleet actions, nor any great imagination.