Hugh Palliser

Hugh Palliser was the admiral whose failure to bring his division into action at Ushant in 1778 destroyed his own reputation and split the Royal Navy along party lines. He had a long and genuinely distinguished earlier career: he served in the West Indies and at Quebec, and as governor of Newfoundland from 1764 he employed and promoted James Cook, whose survey work he recognised and whose first voyage he helped bring about - the two men were close, and Palliser wrote the inscription on Cook's monument. He became a Lord of the Admiralty and a supporter of Lord North's government. At Ushant in July 1778 he commanded the rear division under Augustus Keppel, a Rockingham Whig who opposed the American war; when Keppel signalled to renew the action Palliser did not come up, and the French escaped. The dispute became public and political rather than professional. Palliser demanded and obtained a court martial of his own commander-in-chief, which acquitted Keppel unanimously in early 1779 and produced celebrations and riots in which Palliser's London house was wrecked. He was then tried himself and acquitted on the letter of the case, but he never held a sea command again; the government gave him the governorship of Greenwich Hospital, which was widely read as payment. Whether he was disloyal or simply slow has never been settled, and the affair is still taught as what political faction does to a fleet. Palliser Bay in New Zealand and Cape Palliser are named for him by Cook. He had been Comptroller of the Navy before Ushant. He was made a baronet in 1773 and died at Greenwich in 1796.

• Lived: 1723 CE – 1796 CE
• Nationality: British
• Roles: military