Sir Clowdisley Shovell

Sir Clowdisley Shovell or Sir Cloudesley Shovel , 1650-1707, English admiral. In the War of the Grand Alliance he burned enemy ships at the battle of La Hogue in 1692 and was joint commander of the English fleet in 1693. In the War of the Spanish Succession he brought home the silver captured by Sir George Rooke at Vigo (1702), helped him capture Gibraltar (1704), and assisted at the capture of Barcelona (1705). Returning from an abortive attack on Toulon in 1707, he was lost with 800 or 900 men when his ship was wrecked off the Scilly Islands.

Shovel, or Shovell, Sir Clowdisley (1659–1707), talented English admiral, who was involved in one of the most famous shipwrecks in English history. He first went to sea in 1664 as a cabin boy and probably took part in the Third Dutch War (1672–4). He served in the Mediterranean from 1673, and in 1676 commanded the boats of the fleet which burnt the ships belonging to the Barbary pirates in their stronghold of Tripoli. Promoted post-captain in 1677 he spent the next nine years serving in various ships in continuous operations against the Barbary pirates with notable success. He returned to England in November 1686, was knighted and promoted, and took part in several encounters against the French before commanding a squadron which played a prominent part in capturing Gibraltar in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–13). Other victories followed when he commanded the fleet in the Mediterranean, and it was October 1707 before he sailed for home with the fleet, and it was then that disaster struck.

Nearing the English Channel, Shovel's flagship, the Association, a 2nd-rate ship of the line with 90 guns, and three other ships, were swept in heavy weather onto the Bishop and Clerk rocks off the Scilly Isles by an unsuspected northerly current. All four were wrecked and almost everyone aboard them perished. Shovel, who was very fat, was washed overboard and reached the shore alive, but was murdered by a local woman for his emerald ring. He is buried in Westminster Abbey, and the emerald ring was subsequently recovered and returned to his heirs.

In 1967 the remains of the Association were discovered and a considerable quantity of bullion, guns, and silver plate was recovered by amateur and professional divers who came from all over the world. So thoroughly did they plunder the wreck, and damage it, that when the 1973 Protection of Wrecks Act came into being it was decided the site was no longer worth protecting. See also wreckers.

Shovell, Sir Clowdesley (1650–1707). Naval commander. Entering the service in 1664 as a cabin boy, Shovell achieved a reputation for unflinching courage and skill during his Mediterranean commands in the 1680s, and was promoted rear‐admiralin 1690. In the naval war against the French during the 1690s he proved an effective operational commander, with an important share in the victories at Beachy Head (1690) and Barfleur (1692). In the early years of Anne's reign he commanded in several Mediterranean actions including the capture of Gibraltar and the battle off Malaga in 1704. Returning from the unsuccessful Toulon mission in 1707, his flagship was wrecked off the Scilly Isles, and Shovell drowned.