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Sir Thomas Staines, (1776 – 13 July 1830), Captain in the Royal Navy, Knight Commander of the Bath, and of the Sicilian Order of St. Ferdinand and Merit, and Knight of the Ottoman Order of the Crescent. ==French Revolutionary Wars== Staines joined on 3 July 1796 on his promotion to Lieutenant. Commander Philip Wodehouse had taken command of ''Peterel'' by December 1796, when ''Peterel'' landed a small party under Lieutenant Thomas Staines on the coast of Corsica. The landing party attacked a Martello tower, which they captured, and threw its gun, a long 32-pounder, over the cliff.〔''The Gentleman's magazine'', (September 1830), pp.277-80.〕 ''Peterel''s next captain was Commander William Proby, Lord Proby, who took over in March 1797. In June 1797, Wodehouse authorised Staines to take 20 men in two of the ship's boats to cut out a French privateer that had been preying on merchant vessels off the coast of Tuscany. After a skirmish in which the British had five men wounded and the French lost several dead and wounded, the British took the privateer, which had a crew of 45 men and was armed with two long guns and several swivels.〔 In September 1798, Commander Henry Digby sailed ''Peterel'' from Gibraltar to Faro, Portugal, to deliver despatches from Earl St. Vincent for the Lisbon packet. Staines took the six men in ''Peterel''s jolly boat to deliver the despatches to the packet when the jolly boat overturned in heavy seas. Four men drowned, and Staines and the sixth man were only rescued after four hours.〔 ''Peterel'' participated in the Capture of Minorca (1798) by the British expedition under Commodore John Duckworth. On 12 November 1798 the Spanish 40-gun frigate ''Flora'', in company with the 40-gun ''Proserpina'' and the 34-gun ships ''Pomona'' and ''Casilda'', captured ''Peterel'' whilst she was operating off Minorca. One of the Spanish ships fired a broadside after she surrendered.〔Marshall p.81.〕 After removing the prisoners from the ship, the Spanish plundered their clothes and possessions, murdering a seaman who attempted to defend his property.〔 Duckworth detached to pursue the sloop and on 13 November she retook ''Peterel'' and her 72-man Spanish prize crew, which was under the command of Don Antonio Franco Gandrada, Second Captain of ''Flora''. Captain James Bowen of ''Argo'' put his own prize crew of 46 officers seamen and marines aboard ''Peterel''.〔 Duckworth later appointed his first lieutenant, George Jones, to command ''Peterel''.〔 Most of the clothes belonging to Captain Long and his officers, including Staines, were subsequently recovered.〔James/Chamier p.197〕 This charge of ill-usage was officially contradicted in the Madrid Gazette of 12 April, but was, nevertheless, essentially true.〔James (1837), p.197.〕 The Spanish squadron, already being chased the next day by several British ships, completely outsailed their pursuers and returned to Cartagena with the prisoners.〔Cust p.154〕 After a detention of 14 days at Cartagena, Lieutenant Staines and his fellow prisoners were embarked in a merchant brig bound to Malaga; but they did not arrive there until 24 December, a westerly wind having obliged the vessel to anchor off Almeria, where she was detained upwards of three weeks, and her passengers confined on shore during that period.〔Marshall p.82.〕 From Malaga, the British were marched to Gibraltar, under a strong escort of soldiers, who treated both officers and men with great brutality, but particularly Lieutenant Staines, who had received a sabre wound in the wrist whilst parrying a blow which one of those soldiers had aimed at his head.〔 On their arrival at the rock, a court-martial was assembled to investigate the circumstances attending their capture by the Spanish squadron; and as no blame could be attached to any individual, the whole of them were sent back to the ''Peterel'' immediately after their acquittal.〔 Captain George Long fell at Elba and on 3 February 1799 Francis Austen, the brother of author Jane Austen and future admiral of the fleet, took command of ''Peterel''.〔 ''Peterel'' and Austen shared in the proceeds of the capture on 18 June 1799 of the French frigates ''Courageuse'', ''Alceste'', and ''Junon'', and the brigs ''Alerte'' and ''Salamine''. Thereafter, ''Peterel'' captured or cut out from ports an armed galley, a transport brig carrying cannons and ammunition, and some twenty merchant vessels. Staines frequently commanded the cutting out expeditions.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thomas Staines」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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