Andrew Leake

Notes on Officer

LEAKE, Sir ANDREW (d. 1704), captain in the navy, son of Aidrew Leake, merchant, of Lowestoft, was, by the marriage of his sister Margaret, closely connected with Admiral Sir John Ashby [q. v.] and with Vice-admiral James Mighells, comptroller of the navy (Gillingwater, Hist. of Lowestoft, pp. 401, 410). On 7 Aug. 1690 he was promoted to be commander of the Roebuck fireship. He took post from 9 Jan. 1690-1, though during the following spring and summer he was in command of the Fox fireship. During the rest of the war he successively commanded the Greenwich, the Lancaster, and the Canterbury, all in the Channel, without any opportunity of distinction. Through 1698 he was unemployed, and is said to have busied himself in collecting funds for rebuilding the church at Lowestoft. In 1699 and 1/00 he was commodore of the squadron on the Newfoundland station for the protection of the fishery and the convoy of the trade thence to Cadiz, and the Mediterranean. In January 1701-2 he was appointed to the Torbay, as flag-captain to Vice-admiral Thomas Hopsonn [q. v.], with whom he served during the campaign of 1702, in the abortive attempt on Cadiz, and the capture or destruction of the Franco-Spanish fleet at Vigo in October. For his service on this occasion he was knighted. From February to May 1703 he commanded the Ranelagh at the Nore, and in May was appointed to the Grafton, one of the fleet sent to the Mediterranean under Sir Clowdisley Shovell {q. v.], and again in 1704 under Sir George Kooke [q. v.] The Grafton was one of the ships placed under the orders of Sir George Byng [q. v.] for the attack on Gibraltar, 22 July 1704, in which service she expended so much ammunition that in the battle of Malaga, where she was the leading ship of the red squadron, she ran short, and was obliged to quit the line. Before this Leake had been mortally wounded. After his wound had been dressed he had himself carried on the quarter-deck and placed in an armchair, where he died. 'From the grace and comeliness of his person,' he is said to have been called 'Queen Anne's handsome captain.'