John Eliot (Royal Navy officer)

In 1757 he transferred to HMS Marlborough (flagship of Admiral Thomas Cotes), which cruised to Jamaica but saw no action due to her poor sailing characteristics.His brother Edward, serving in Parliament, worked to advance his career, and his sister Elizabeth married Charles Cocks, who was connected by marriage to Admiral George Anson.On the return leg of his second voyage, Eliot used tactics learned from Captain Forrest to capture a French privateer, recovering two of its British prizes in the process.With his next command, HMS Thames, Eliot saw duty in home waters and on the blockade of the French coast, landing a rich prize ship loaded with coffee.In April 1762 Eliot received secret orders to cruise in search of French privateers between the Canary Islands and the Azores, an area where British warships were not normally active.While transporting Henry Grenville, the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, back to England in late 1765, Thames was found to be leaking badly, and Eliot was forced to put in at Toulon for repairs.The influence of his brother and uncle with Parliament was also significant, and their work resulted in the appointment of Eliot, a 24-year-old officer who had never commanded a ship of the line, as governor in March 1767.The only major action begun during his brief time in office was to institute legal proceedings against Lieutenant Governor Browne on charges that he had misappropriated colonial funds.