Capel became one of Nelson’s protégés in 1798 when he was made signal lieutenant of hms Vanguard, Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of the Nile (1798). His ability and aristocratic pedigree caught Nelson’s eye and, although junior to many of the Vanguard’s other lieutenants, Capel was given the honour of taking a copy of the Nile dispatches to London, firstly as commander of hms Mutine and then overland across Europe. The original dispatches were captured by the French, and so it was Capel who brought the official news of the victory to the Admiralty. This ensured that the Admiralty would approve Nelson’s promotion of Capel to commander, and in his remarks to their Lordships Nelson stated that Capel was ‘a most excellent officer’.

The youngest son of William, fourth Earl of Esex, Capel was born on 25 August 1776 in Hanover Square, London. In order to gain sea time Capel ‘officially’ entered the Royal Navy on the books of hms Phaeton in 1782, although he actually joined the Navy in 1792 on board hms Assistance off Newfoundland as captain’s servant. He was soon made midshipman of hms Syren and Captain Graham Moore wrote of him that he was a ‘remarkable fine young man and one whom I am convinced will turn out a meritorious officer’ and when Capel was transferred to another ship that ‘I shall regret Capel [leaving]’. After serving as a midshipman in a number of ships, he saw his first major fleet action in hms Sans Pareil when Lord Bridport’s fleet took three French men-of-war off L’Orient on 23 July 1795. On 16 May 1796, Capel was made acting lieutenant and this promotion was confirmed in April of the following year. After delivering the Nile dispatches, Capel was confirmed in his rank of commander and was shortly after given post rank as captain of HM Sloop Alecto.

Capel then started his career as one of the Navy’s star frigate captains for the next eight and a half years, particularly distinguishing himself in operations with Spanish irregular forces off the coast of Spain. However, in June 1800, he had the misfortune to run his ship, hms Meleager, onto rocks off the Gulf of Mexico. After burning the ship to stop it falling into Spanish hands, he transferred the crew onto a nearby island where they were subsequently rescued. In 1803, he was appointed to the frigate hms Phoebe and served with Nelson throughout the Mediterranean campaign, becoming one of the admiral’s favourite young captains, who was often given special tasks of reconnaissance and information gathering.

When Nelson left the Mediterranean in May 1805 to pursue Villeneuve to the West Indies and back, he left Capel in the Mediterranean, in command of a small squadron of five frigates and two bomb vessels, with orders to cover Sardinia, Sicily and the approaches to Egypt. During the Battle of Trafalgar, as a frigate, the Phoebe’s task was to repeat signals and to stand by to assist in any way that she could and took no part in the fighting. During the gale that followed the battle, the Phoebe ‘by extraordinary exertions’ helped save the French prize Swiftsure (not to be confused with the British ship of the same name) from destruction.

Following the Trafalgar campaign, Capel was made captain of the man-of-war hms La Hogue in 1811 and commanded a small squadron of ships blockading US frigates off the coast of New London during the War of 1812. At the end of the war, Capel commanded one of the royal yachts, became rear admiral in 1825 and hoisted his flag as commander in chief of the East India station from 1834 to 1837. He was made KCB in 1832 and GCB in 1852. Towards the end of his life, he sat on the committee that organised the issue of the Naval General Service Medal, which included a clasp for Trafalgar. He died in London on 4 March 1853.

NS