Charles Ross

Vice Admiral Charles Bayne Hodgson Ross (July 1776 – 2 March 1849) was a Royal Navy officer who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, who later commanded the ship that took Napoleon Bonaparte into his finale exile on St Helena, and who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station. Biography Background and early career Charles Ross was the son of Lieutenant Robert Hunter Ross, RN, and a great-great grandson of William Ross, 12th Lord Ross. He entered the navy on 1 March 1788 as a captain's servant aboard the sloop , commanded by Captain Robert Carthew Reynolds. He remained in her, stationed at Newfoundland, until December. From February to April 1790 he served aboard the 74-gun , the guard ship at Portsmouth, under Captain Anthony James Pye Molloy, then moved into the (50), flagship of Vice-Admiral Mark Milbanke, Commodore-Governor at Newfoundland, before returning to the Edgar, under Captain Albemarle Bertie. French Revolutionary Wars Between March 1793 and April 1796 he served as master's mate and then midshipman, firstly in the fire-ship Conflagration and then the frigate (28), both commanded by Captain Thomas Francis Fremantle, then aboard (98) and (100), the flagships of Sir Hyde Parker, and the (100), flagship of Sir John Jervis. While attached to the Tartar and St. George he served on shore during the capture and evacuation of Toulon, and took part in the land operations connected with the capture of Saint-Florent, Bastia, and Calvi, in the island of Corsica, and fought in the battles off Genoa and the Hyères Islands in March and July 1795.