Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet - American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

Albemarle Bertie was born in 1755 and much of his childhood is undocumented. It is not even clear when he entered the Navy, although he was gazetted lieutenant in December 1777 aged 22, quite a bit older than most of his contemporaries. Within a year of promotion, Bertie had witnessed combat on a repeating frigate at the First Battle of Ushant, a brief and inconclusive action which resulted in a court martial for Admiral Hugh Palliser, a court martial at which Commander Bertie (as he by then was), was called on to give evidence in 1779. The intervening two years had been highly eventful, Bertie spending most of it as a prisoner of war in France after his frigate HMS Fox had been taken by the larger French Junon.

Following his exchange and appearance as a witness, Bertie spent two years without a ship, due to the shortage of available positions for young officers during the American Revolutionary War. In 1782, after a change of government, Bertie was reinstated and made captain of the small frigate HMS Crocodile. He remained in service throughout the 1780s, marrying Emma Heywood of Maristow in Devon. Emma predeceased him and the couple had two daughters, although nothing is known of his marriage, including the date.