John Ford (Royal Navy officer)

Promoted to post-captain on 25 June 1773, Ford was appointed to the command of the post ship Unicorn in April 1776 in which he saw action at the capture of American frigate Raleigh in September 1778 and the action in Cancale Bay in May 1779. He commissioned the sixth-rate Brilliant in July 1779 and then transferred to the command of fifth-rate Nymphe in which he saw action at the Battle of the Chesapeake in September 1781 during the American Revolutionary War and again at the Battle of the Saintes in April 1782 during the Anglo-French War.[1]

Ford went on to become Commander-in-Chief of the Jamaica Station with his flag in the fourth-rate Europa in 1793.[2]

During the Haitian Revolution, at the request of French Royalists he mounted a campaign against Saint-Domingue and Jérémie in the Caribbean.[3] Ford sent the frigates Penelope, Iphigenia, and Hermione, plus the schooner Spitfire, to the north side of the island where on 23 September 1793 the British captured four merchant vessels at L'Islet, and on the 29th seven at Flamande Bay. Also on the 23rd, the squadron directly under Ford captured Môle-Saint-Nicolas, where they captured amongst other vessels a schooner belonging to the French Navy named Convention Nationale; the British took her into service under her earlier name as HMS Marie Antoinette.[4]

Promoted to rear-admiral, Ford commanded a squadron commanded that accompanied Brigadier-General John Whyte that briefly captured Port-au-Prince in 1794. At the time some forty five vessels lay in harbour and these were all made prizes.[5]

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Clowes, Sir William (2003). The Royal Navy: Vol. 4: A History – From the Earliest Times to 1900. Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-013-2.
• Cundall, Frank (1915). Historic Jamaica. West India Committee.