Edward Griffith Colpoys

Vice Admiral Sir Edward Griffith Colpoys KCB was a senior officer of the British Royal Navy during the early nineteenth century. The nephew of a prominent admiral, John Colpoys, Edward Griffith was able to rapidly advance in the Navy, until his involvement at his uncles side in a violent confrontation aboard his ship HMS London in 1797 left a number of men dead and the Channel Fleet in a state of mutiny. Griffiths career recovered from the events of the Spithead Mutiny and he enjoyed a successful period as a frigate commander off the French coast, later becoming the captain of the ship of the line HMS Dragon during the Trafalgar campaign. Although Dragon did not fight at the climactic Battle of Trafalgar, Griffith was engaged at the preceding Battle of Cape Finisterre in July 1805.

Griffith was born in the late 1760s, possibly 1767, into a Royal Navy family. His uncle was John Colpoys, later to become a prominent admiral of the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1782, aged 15, Griffith entered the Navy under his uncles patronage, joining the new frigate HMS Phaeton. He remained in the Navy during the peace of 1783 to 1793 and by the time the French Revolutionary War broke out he was a lieutenant in HMS Boyne, the flagship of Sir John Jervis during his campaign in the West Indies. While serving in the Caribbean, Griffith was promoted to commander and took command of the ship HMS Avenger, returning to Europe in May 1794 after being promoted to post captain. He immediately became the captain of the second rate HMS London, the flagship of his uncle and joined the Channel Fleet, fighting at the Battle of Groix in 1795.

Source: Wikipedia