Thomas Ball Sulivan

The capture of Curaçao, depicted by Thomas Whitcombe

Sulivan was born in Cawsand, Cornwall on 5 January 1780. By 1786, he was recorded on board HMS Triumph in Portsmouth, then under the command of Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood.[1] He moved different navel ships until 1793, when he was sent to Mediterranean to take part in French Revolutionary Wars, including being part of the crew of HMS Southampton that captured Utile in 1796, and was promoted to lieutenant the following year.[2]

Sulivan took part in the expedition to Ostend to destroy the Bruges Canal in May 1798 and was present at the bombardment of the Port of Granville in September 1803.[2] In 1807, he took part in the capture of Curaçao, and was promoted to commander for his efforts. in 1813, after a few commands, his ship HMS Woolwich was wrecked in a hurricane, although the crew was saved and Sulivan was acquitted by the subsequent court martial.[2]

He commanded a naval brigade at the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814 during the War of 1812.[2] He went on to be commanding officer of the third-rate HMS Talavera at Plymouth in March 1836 and, having been promoted to Commodore, he became Senior Officer, South East Coast of America Station in 1838.[3]

On 19 March 1808 Sulivan married Henrietta, daughter of Rear-Admiral Bartholomew James. They had fourteen children, four of whom entered the navy.[4] His son, Bartholomew Sulivan, was a naval officer and hydrographer.[5] He received a CB on 5 June 1815.[2]

Sulivan died at his home in Flushing, Cornwall on 17 November 1857.[2]

• O'Byrne, William Richard (1849). "Sulivan, Thomas Ball" . A Naval Biographical Dictionary . John Murray – via Wikisource.
• Laughton, John Knox (1898). "Sulivan, Thomas Ball" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 55. London: Smith, Elder & Co.