Sir William Hoste (26 August 1780 - 6 December 1828), Royal Navy captain, was the son of Dixon Hoste, rector of Godwick and Tittleshall in Norfolk. He was born at Ingoldisthorpe, and the family later moved to Godwick Hall, east of Tittleshall, which was leased from Thomas Coke, who later became 1st Earl of Leicester, of Holkham Hall. August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). ... 1780 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... December 6 is the 340th day (341st on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1828 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... For alternative meanings see: Norfolk (disambiguation) Norfolk (pronounced NOR-fk) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ... Thomas William Coke (6 May 1754-30 June 1842) was the celebrated Coke of Norfolk who, between 1776 and 1842, greatly improved his Holkham estate which became famous for its advanced methods of animal husbandry. ...

Childhood and education

William was educated for a time at King's Lynn and later at the Paston School in North Walsham, where Horatio Nelson himself had been to school some years previously. Dixon Hoste had arranged for William's name to be entered in the books of HMS Europa as a Captain's servant when he was just 5 years old, although he would not actually go to sea until he reached the age of 12 or 13. Map sources for Kings Lynn at grid reference TF6120 Kings Lynn is a town in Norfolk, England (population 34,564) on the River Great Ouse. ... Map sources for North Walsham at grid reference TG2830 North Walsham is a market town in Norfolk, England, south of Cromer and north of Wroxham. ... Lord Nelson Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (September 29, 1758 – October 21, 1805) was a British admiral who won fame as a leading naval commander. ...

That time coincided with the outbreak of war with France in February 1793. Lacking any influence or naval contacts himself, Dixon Hoste asked his landlord, Thomas Coke, for assistance and was introduced to Nelson, then living nearby in Burnham Thorpe, who had recently been appointed as Captain of HMS Agamemnon 64, which was being fitted out at Chatham.

Early career

Nelson accepted William to join him as a Captain's Servant on Agamemnon, which he boarded at Portsmouth at the end of April 1793. The ship joined the Mediterranean fleet under Lord Hood, and it was in the Mediterranean and Adriatic that William saw most of his naval service. Extracts from Nelson's letters to his wife mention William frequently; for example: ‘without exception one of the finest boys I ever met with’ and ‘his gallantry never can be exceeded, and each day rivets him stronger to my heart’. Another Captain's Servant on Agamamemnon was Josiah Nisbet, Nelson's stepson, but the letters suggest that William quickly became a favourite and that Josiah compared badly with him in many respects. William was promoted to Midshipman by Nelson on 1 February 1794. 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, 1724–1816 by James Northcote, painted 1784. ...

He moved with Nelson to HMS Captain in 1796 and was with him at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797). In 1797 he fought in the Battle of Tenerife, in which Nelson lost his arm. Following the death of a Lieutenant Weatherhead in the battle, Nelson promoted William to Lieutenant to fill the vacancy, his position being confirmed, thanks to his 'book time' in Europa, in February 1798. There are three Battles of Cape St Vincent The Battle of Cape St Vincent, 14 February 1797 by Robert Cleveley, painted 1798, shows the end of the battle with the captured Spanish ship Salvador del Mundo in the right foreground. ...

Later that year William was aboard HMS Theseus 74 at the Battle of the Nile, under Captain R.W. Miller. Following the battle Nelson sent his report to London, taking the precaution of sending a duplicate in the brig HMS Mutine, commanded by Thomas Capel. At Naples Captain Capel was to carry on with the dispatch, handing command of Mutine to Hoste. Upon taking command William would become an acting Captain, at the age of 18. Rejoining the fleet off Cadiz, his promotion was confirmed in December 1798.

Hoste continued in command of Mutine for the next 3 years, at first under Nelson and later under Lord Keith, who knew little of him. His career appeared to have stalled until, possibly at Nelson's prompting, he was promoted Post-Captain by Lord St Vincent, first Lord of the Admiralty, in January 1802. For the Patrick OBrian novel, see Post Captain (novel). ... John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent (9 January 1735-14 March 1823) was an admiral in the British Royal Navy. ...

At this time William was in Alexandria, where he contracted malaria and then a lung infection, which were to have a lasting efect on his health. He convalesced with Lord and Lady Elgin in Athens, where he began an education in classical antiquity, completed following his appointment to the frigate HMS Greyhound in Florence, when his ship was cruising on the Italian coast. At the end of 1804 he was given the command of HMS Eurydice, which cruised the African coast, following which he returned to England and then to the Mediterranean.

Notable actions

Nelson summoned him to Cadiz in September 1805 and gave him command of the 36-gun frigate Amphion. Sent on a diplomatic mission to Algiers, he missed the Battle of Trafalgar and only learned of Nelson's death on his return in November. He wrote to his father - 'Not to have been in it is enough to make one mad, but to have lost such a friend besides is really sufficient to almost overwhelm me’ (Hoste's letters). The Battle of Trafalgar, fought on 21 October 1805, was the most significant naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars and the pivotal naval battle of the 19th century. ...

A number of successes while engaged on active service in the Mediterranean over the following 18 months brought Hoste to the attention of Lord Collingwood, who rewarded him with a cruise in the Adriatic Sea. Here he conducted an aggressive campaign, bringing coastal trade with the enemy more or less to a halt, and by the end of 1809 capturing or sinking over 200 enemy ships. Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood (26 September 1750 – 7 March 1810) was an admiral of the Royal Navy, notable as a partner with Horatio Nelson in several of the great victories of the Napoleonic Wars. ... The Adriatic Sea Source: NASA The Adriatic Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea separating the Apennine peninsula (Italy) from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges. ...

Now commanding a small detachment of frigates, comprising Amphion, Active (36 guns) and Cerberus (32 guns), operations continued and in March and April of 1810 alone they took or destroyed 46 vessels. On 13 March 1811 a Franco-Venetian squadron, under the command of an aggressive frigate commander named Bernard Dubourdieu, attacked Hoste's small force of four frigates near the island of Lissa (now called Vis), in what became known as the Battle of Lissa. March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... 1811 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Lissa is: the old Venetian name for the Adriatic island of Vis the old Latin name for the town of Leszno in Poland when it had a Moravian college and a gymnasium This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same... Vis is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, the furthest one from the coast that is also inhabited. ... The naval Battle of Lissa was fought on 13 March 1811 just north of the Adriatic island of Lissa (now Vis) between a Franco-Venetian squadron under French commodore Bernard Dubourdieu, and a small British force under Captain (afterwards Sir) William Hoste. ...

Dubourdieu's squadron of 7 frigates and 4 smaller warships possessing a total of 276 guns and nearly 2,000 men significantly outnumbered Hoste with his 4 frigates mounting only 124 guns and manned by less than 900 men. The French officer imitated Nelson's attack at Trafalgar by sailing down on the English line from windward with his ships in two lines. However, flying the signal 'Remember Nelson' to rally his men, Hoste's superior seamanship and gunnery overcame the larger enemy force, with the loss of 50 men killed and 132 wounded. Dubourdieu was killed, one of the French frigates was driven on shore, and two of the Venetians were taken. A small island in the entrance to the bay of Vis is named Hoste Island after him, while the Sir William Hoste Cricket Club in Vis was founded by the Croatian islanders after learning that he had organised the game there during the British occupation of the island. The Battle of Trafalgar, fought on 21 October 1805, was the most significant naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars and the pivotal naval battle of the 19th century. ... Vis is a town on the island of the same name in Croatia, population 1,776 (as of 2001). ...

Amphion was so badly damaged that she was was obliged to return to England, where Hoste was given the command of HMS Bacchante (38 guns), although he did not return to the Adriatic in her until 1812. Hoste continued to demonstrate the same kind of initiative and aggression as before. Working jointly with Montenegran forces he attacked the mountain fortress of Cattaro, hauling ships' cannon and mortars to positions above the fort using block and tackle. The French garrison had no alternative but to surrender, which it did on 5 January 1814. Hoste immediately repeated these tactics at Ragusa (Dubrovnik), which also surrendered. These actions have been imortalised in fiction, where they are attributed to Captain Jack Aubrey, a principal character in Patrick O'Brian's 20 novels of the Aubrey-Maturin series. The Aubrey–Maturin series, also known as the Aubreyad, is a sequence of 20 historical novels by Patrick OBrian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ships surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also a physician...

Hoste's health, compromised by his malaria and earlier lung infection, now became worse and he was forced to return to England. In 1814 he was made a Baronet, and in 1815 he was knighted KCB. In 1817 he married Lady Harriet Walpole, with whom he had three sons and three daughters. In 1825 he was appointed to the royal yacht Royal Sovereign. In January 1828 he developed a cold which affected his already weakened lungs, and he died of tuberculosis in London on 6 December 1828. He was buried in St John's Chapel, London. Military Badge of the Order of the Bath Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-04-11, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ...

External links

• Island of Vis
• Sir William Hoste Cricket Club
• The Hoste Arms Hotel

References

• Tom Pocock, Remember Nelson: the life of Captain Sir William Hoste (1977) ISBN 1844152111
• William James, The naval history of Great Britain, from the declaration of war by France in 1793, to the accession of George IV, [3rd edn], 6 vols. (1837)
• John Marshall, Royal naval biography (1824)
• Nelson's letters to his wife and other documents, 1785–1831, ed. G. P. B. Naish, Navy RS, 100 (1958)
• Memoirs and letters of Captain Sir William Hoste, Bart, ed. H. Hoste, 2 vols. (1833)