Curtis Barnett

Curtis Barnett (died 2 May 1746), was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the War of the Austrian Succession, commanding ships in the Mediterranean and in the English Channel, before being appointed a commodore in 1744 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, East Indies. He served with moderate success, but died after a short illness on board a British ship at Fort St. David, Cuddalore in 1746. Family and early life Barnett was reputedly the son of Benjamin Barnett, first lieutenant of . Benjamin was lost with his ship when she was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands on 27 November 1703, in the Great Storm of 1703. Curtis Barnett's date of birth and his early service is not recorded; but he was already a lieutenant of some standing when, in 1726, he was appointed to , Sir Charles Wager's flagship in the Baltic cruise of that year, during which he seems to have served on the personal staff of the admiral, in a capacity afterwards known as a flag-lieutenancy. In the summer of 1730 Barnett was appointed to command the sloop on the coast of Ireland, and early in the following year he was promoted to command the frigate , then fitting out for the Mediterranean as part of the fleet under Admiral Sir Charles Wager. In October he was at Leghorn and Wager sent him with despatches for the king of Spain, then at Seville. 'The despatches I brought,’ he reported to the Admiralty, 'gave great satisfaction to the king of Spain, who was pleased to present me with a diamond ring, and ordered his ministers to thank me for my diligence and despatch' (8 November 1731). On his return through the Straits on 24 November 1731, he encountered a French merchant ship, which fired at Bideford, taking her for a Sallee rover, only to be forced to apologize after a short action. Barnett continued in Bideford as part of the Mediterranean Fleet for three years, returning home in August 1734; and in the following February commissioned the 60-gun , for service as a guard ship in the Downs. Later commands On 1 August 1737 he turned over to the 60-gun , and continued in the English Channel for some time after the declaration of war with Spain, when, in October 1740, he was sent out to join Admiral Nicholas Haddock off Cadiz. In July 1741 he was detached with the 40-gun ships and to cruise in the Straits; and on the night of 25 July chased and came up with three French men-of-war homeward bound from the West Indies — the 60-gun Borée, 40-gun Aquilon, and 26-gun Flore.