Rear-Admiral Alexander Edgar ( – 1817) was a prominent Scottish officer of the British Royal Navy. His early career saw him fighting in the Seven Years' War, where he would participate in the Capture of Quebec. He would later take part in the American War of Independence, where he would participate in the First Battle of Ushant, The Siege of Gibraltar, and The Second Battle of Ushant. Edgar served on a variety of ships, from the fireship HMS Vesuvius to the 1st rate ship-of-the-line HMS Victory.
He was also historically significant as the final male heir and last Laird of Wedderlie, marking the end of an ancient Scottish Border lineage that appears by deeds as far back as 1170.
Early life and family background Alexander Edgar was born on 17 August 1736 in Westruther, Scotland. Alexander was the son of John Edgar of Wedderlie and Mary Home. He was a direct descendant of the ancient Edgars of Wedderlie, a historic family of Scottish Border lairds who held feudal landholdings in the Berwickshire Merse dating back to 1170. The family traced their direct ancestry to the medieval Celtic Earls of Dunbar and March.
By the time of Alexander's birth, the family's centuries-old financial security had collapsed under a mountain of compounding debts and shifting economic realities. In 1733, his father John Edgar went bankrupt and was forced to sell their ancestral home, Wedderlie House, to Robert, Lord Blantyre, ending over 470 years of continuous family ownership. His father ultimately died bankrupt, leaving Edgar without an inheritance or the familial financial backing typical for naval officers of his class. Alexander Edgar entered the Royal Navy at approximately 11 years of age on December 29, 1747.
Early career and the Seven Years War
Edgar entered the service on December 29, 1747, as a Midshipman. During his time as a Midshipman, he would serve on several vessels. He notably served aboard the HMS Vestal under Captain Sir William Trelawny.
Help from David Hume
Edgar's family's financial ruin and lack of political influence led to him having to advance his career through his connections to the Enlightenment philosopher David Hume. Hume was cousins with Alexander Edgar and would use his social and political influence to help promote Edgar to lieutenant. Hume would write several letters to Gilbert Elliot, who held positions both as a "Man of Letters" and a "Lord of the Admiralty", praising Alexander as "modest, sober, frugal, and attentive," and lobbying for Alexander Edgar's military promotion. Edgar would be promoted to Lieutenant on December 27, 1757 Hume would also secure Edgars spot aboard the HMS Hussar under Captain John Elliot where he served for a brief period in late 1758.
Capture of Quebec
Alexander Edgar would later serve as first Lieutenant aboard the HMS Vesuvius in 1759 under Commander James Chads, where he would participate in the campaign to capture Quebec. Under the overall naval command of Vice-Admiral Charles Saunders, the HMS Vesuvius was part of the massive British fleet tasked with navigating the difficult St. Lawrence River to transport and support Major-General James Wolfe's army. The ship sailed from Halifax to Cape Breton in June 1759 to gather troops before moving up the St. Lawrence River. During the summer-long siege, bomb vessels like the Vesuvius were crucial for shelling French positions and distracting the forces of the Marquis de Montcalm, helping pave the way for the decisive British victory at the Plains of Abraham in September 1759. Post-War service
From 1761 to 1763, Edgar would serve aboard the HMS Eolus under Captain Sir William Hotham in the Caribbean and home waters. From 1765 to 1766, he served as first Lieutenant on the HMS Africa in the West Indies under captains Henry Marsh and his mentor, the Honorable John Leveson Gower. 1766 to 1771 saw him serving as first Lieutenant aboard both the HMS Eolus and the HMS Dorsetshire in the Mediterranean. Before being put on shore leave in 1772, Edgar would serve as the third Lieutenant aboard the HMS Ocean under Captains James Cranston and Joseph Knight.
American War of Independence/Anglo-French War Transport agent
As the Revolutionary war began, the British prepared to mobilize troops to be sent over to the Americas. Edgar spent a brief period working as a transport agent, tasked with preparing and shipping of several thousand British troops over to North America. Edgar oversaw the departure of the main fleet of around 8000 British troops and additionally oversaw the distribution of 200 Hanoverian recruits.
In March 1776, Edgar would serve as second Lieutenant on the HMS Princess Amelia under Captain Digby Dent. The Princess Amelia was part of the Channel Fleet, participating in blockading the English Channel and home defense.
Battle of Ushant
Edgar would continue to serve on the Princess Amelia until 1778, when he would become second Lieutenant aboard the HMS Victory under Admiral Augustus Keppel. While aboard the Victory, Edgar would participate in the First Battle of Ushant. Edgar would command the lower gun deck, consisting of roughly 400 men and 30 42-pounder cast iron cannons. During this conflict, Keppel would hold his fire, allowing 6 French warships to fire upon the Victory until he could directly engage the French flagship Bretagne in a fierce duel, after which he would engage the next 6 ships in the line. While the Victory inflicted heavy damage on the French, the enemy's tactic of shooting at the British rigging left Victory and much of the fleet with shredded sails and disabled masts. When Keppel tried to reform his line to renew the attack, his politically hostile third-in-command, Sir Hugh Palliser, failed to follow the orders, allowing the French fleet to slip away undetected under the cover of darkness. Defense of New York and the Hard Winter of 1780
Edgar would be promoted to commander on August 17, 1778, and appointed the Fireship HMS Vulcan. The HMS Vulcan was a part of Admiral Keppels Channel fleet and would participate in a brief cruise to protect incoming British merchant convoys from French privateers. By May 1779, the Vulcan would sail to Torbay to join Admiral Arbuthnots fleet. From Torbay, they would sail to North America, arriving in New York by August 1779. Edgar participated in the naval defense of New York and Rhode Island against the French fleet under Admiral d'Estaing.
Later on, Edgar experienced The Hard Winter of 1780, where the entire harbor and surrounding waterways froze solid, with ice up to 11 feet thick. Edgar, alongside Captains Jaleel Brenton, Samuel Osborne, John Plummer Ardesoif, and Peter Aplin, commanded by Captain Tyringham Howe, participated in the land-based defense of New York Harbor. Their ships were stuck in the ice and could not sail. These officers volunteered themselves and their crews to serve on land to defend the city. They were put in charge of a circular redoubt near the East River. This redoubt was armed with eight 12-pounder cannons and nine 9-pounder cannons. The position was named the "Royal Navy Redoubt" in their honor. Edgar would later command the HMS Strombolo for a brief period before it was eventually hulked and turned into a prison ship. After this Edgar would return to his command aboard the Vulcan, where he would intercept an Irish merchant ship, the Helena and Mary.
Promotion to Post-Captain and dispatch mission
By November 30, 1780, Admiral Arbuthnot would promote Alexander Edgar to Post-captain. Edgar would spend a brief period on half-pay aboard Arbuthnots flagship the HMS Royal Oak. While aboard the Royal Oak, they Intercepted 14 vessels, totaling well over 1500 tons of captured cargo. By January 1781, Arbuthnot would issue Edgar the command of the HMS Clinton. Arbuthnot chose Alexander Edgar to carry the urgent dispatches of the loss report for the HMS Culloden and a court-martial report back to London. Edgar was additionally tasked to sail his ship alongside the HMS Brilliant, acting as an armed escort for a fleet of 200 transport vessels, which were carrying loyalist and British officials that were leaving the colonies as the war turned against them.
Alexander Edgar would arrive in March of 1781, and later in March he would join the crew of the HMS Ocean as Acting Captain. As Captain George Ourrys health began to decline during late 1780 to 1781, the Admirality decided to allow Edgar to serve as the Acting Captain while Ourry would recover in his cabin.
Second Relief of Gibraltar
From March 13 to May 1781, Edgar would participate in the Second Relief of Gibraltar, a mission under Admiral George Darby which saw him successfully lead a British fleet to resupply and reinforce Gibraltar, a British garrison that had been enduring a Spanish and French siege for 2 years at this point. As part of Vice-Admiral George Darby's fleet, the HMS Ocean raised anchor and sailed from St. Helens on March 13. The armada consisted of 29 ships of the line escorting a convoy of roughly 100 merchant vessels. After nearly a month of steady sailing southward while shielding the vulnerable merchantmen, HMS Ocean and the fleet officially entered the Strait of Gibraltar. The fleet had also successfully evaded French interception. On April 12th, the leading edge of the supply convoy successfully dropped anchor off Gibraltar's New Mole. Recognizing that the fortress was being saved, Spanish shore batteries opened a furious, relentless bombardment. HMS Ocean and the heavy ships of the line formed a formidable defensive line at the mouth of the bay, deterring the Spanish fleet at Cádiz from intervening.
From April 13 to April 19, the Spanish continued their relentless bombardment, with over 100 heavy mortars and cannons firing relentlessly on the bay. The Spanish also deployed a swarm of small, highly maneuverable gunboats. Under the cover of darkness and light winds, these gunboats darted out to fire heavy cannonballs and incendiary shells at the anchored British ships. While Spanish gunboats harassed the perimeter, the crew of the Ocean assisted in guarding the bay as lines of rowboats and transports offloaded immense stores of food, gunpowder, and reinforcements to the starving garrison. It was a grueling, tense standoff where the crew faced constant artillery fire, defensive skirmishing, and frequent night battles with the Gunboats. When the replenishment of Gibraltar completely finished and the wind shifting to the east, the men-of-war began maneuvering back out of the bay under parting fire from Spanish gunboats. Channel Fleet Campaign
By mid-May 1781, the fleet arrived back in home waters. HMS Ocean was immediate reassigned to routine Channel Fleet patrols, keeping the French fleet bottled up in Brest and securing the English coast for the rest of the summer. From June till December 1781, Edgar would participate in the Channel Fleet Campaign, a strategic effort by the British Royal Navy to secure the English Channel against a combined Franco-Spanish fleet.
On June 20, 1781, Orders were sent to Plymouth for the HMS Ocean and several other ships of the line to be ready to sail on the first notice to join the main fleet and protect the English Channel against the combined French and Spanish forces. The fleet was stationed to the Southward of Brest Harbour. By sitting off the coast of Brest, the British fleet was positioned specifically to prevent the French and Spanish fleets from joining forces. A sailor aboard the HMS Ocean noted that this position was so effective that the enemy fleets could not have met "without a Battle". The HMS Ocean would return to the Plymouth Sound in early July, and in late July would sail on a cruise with the Grand Fleet under Admiral Darby, alongside major vessels from the British fleet, such as the Victory, Britannia, and Royal George, along with 28 other ships of the line, to engage the French fleet.