The 1805 Club uses cookies to ensure you have the best possible online experience. By continuing to use this site you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with our cookie policy.
Like Nelson, Hargood served with HRH Prince William Henry (later King William IV) in the West Indies. The connection served him better than it did Nelson.
Born on 6 May 1762, Hargood came from a modest naval background: his father was a purser. Listed in the books of hmsTriumph in 1773, he actually joined the Navy in March 1775 and made a return voyage to Newfoundland before joining hmsBristol under Sir Peter Parker, serving with him in North America and Jamaica, and being present at the bombardment of Fort Moultrie, Charleston (28 June 1776). Promoted lieutenant on 13 January 1780, Hargood transferred into the sloop Port Royal and participated in the ineffective defence of Pensacola, surrendering to the Spanish in May 1781. Service in other of HM ships followed, mostly in American and British waters, and a turning point in his career came in 1785, when he met and befriended Prince William Henry in the frigate Hebe.
The prince took Hargood with him as second lieutenant in the frigate HMS Pegasus (28) in 1786 and as first lieutenant in the frigate Andromeda (32) in 1788, and successfully recommended his promotion to commander, 24 June 1789. From December, Hargood commanded the sloop Swallow off Ireland, and was made post on 22 November 1790. Further West Indies service followed in the frigate Hyaena (24) until her capture on 27 May 1793 by the French frigate Concorde (44), distantly supported by two 74s and three more frigates.
Honourably acquitted by court martial of the loss of his ship, Hargood moved to convoy service in the North Sea, Africa and North America, then in August 1796 took command of the Leopard (50), from which he was ejected by her crew during the Spithead mutiny in 1797. Ten or so weeks’ subsequent North Sea service in hmsNassau (64) culminated in her refit after serious damage in a gale, and early in 1798, commanding hmsIntrepid (64), Hargood was sent in charge of a convoy to China. He remained in the East Indies until the spring of 1803.
Appointed to hmsBelleisle (74) in November 1803, he was unable to join his ship until the following March, but thenceforth came under Nelson’s command until Trafalgar. He served throughout the rest of the Mediterranean campaign of 1804/5 and from April to August 1805 in the chase of Villeneuve across the Atlantic and back. Briefly attached to Cornwallis’s Brest fleet, his ship was sent to Plymouth for rapid refit and returned to Nelson’s Cadiz fleet on 10 October.
Although his career hitherto had been rather more marked by setbacks than successes, there can be no doubt of Hargood’s bravery: insofar as it was possible in the light winds on 21 October, the Belleisle sped into battle and was second to enter the fray in Collingwood’s lee column, fifteen to twenty minutes after the flagship Royal Sovereign. Under fire, with his ship visibly damaged, at least one marine decapitated by a shot and himself bruised from throat to waist, Hargood nonetheless kept the deck and with superlative nerve held his fire until the Belleisle was between the French Fougueux and the Spanish Santa Ana, at which he let rip a double broadside ‘with the precision of a volley of musketry; upon seeing which Lord Nelson exclaimed, “Nobly done, Hargood.” ’
Surrounded and often fighting alone, the Belleisle lost thirty-three men killed and ninety-four wounded in the battle (nearly a quarter of her complement), was badly damaged in the hull and was the only British ship to be totally dismasted. One of her marines accepted the surrender of the Spanish Argonauta (80), bringing her second captain’s sword back to Hargood. The climactic action of his life ended dramatically with the jury-rigged Belleisle under tow by the frigate Naiad, rolling awkwardly in the rising storm after the battle, as a 24-pounder cannon broke loose and crashed uncontrollably around the midnight deck.
The ship nonetheless survived, and Hargood’s career was far from over. After further sea service he was made colonel of the Royal Marines, 28 April 1808; he was promoted rear admiral on 31 July 1810 and was second-in-command at Portsmouth until the following March, when he took command of the Channel Islands squadron. In 1811, he married Maria Cocks, daughter of a banker. They had no children. His progress continued: vice admiral, 4 June 1814; KCB, January 1815; GCH (Knight Grand Cross of the Hanoverian Order), 22 March 1831, by the special command of King William whose friendship he still maintained; admiral of the blue, 22 July 1830; GCB, 13 September 1831; commander-in-chief at Plymouth, March 1833 to April 1836; admiral of the white, 10 January 1837. He died at Bath on 12 September 1839 and was buried in Bath Abbey.