cromWell. Unaware of Penn’s treachery, Cromwell
gave him command of a fleet sent to the West Indies
in 1655. Under Penn, this expedition captured Jamaica
in May 1655 but was heavily driven back and defeated
at San Domingo. Historians attribute this failure not to
Penn’s actions but to the panic of his troops ashore. A
dejected Penn returned to England, where he was briefly
imprisoned in the Tower of London for his performance
in the West Indies. When he was released, he retired
from the service to an estate he purchased in Munster
in Ireland.
Although out of the limelight, Penn continued
secret negotiations to return Charles II to the throne.
Charles’s restoration in 1660 led the monarch to knight
Penn and grant him the post of commissioner for the
navy. He was named captain of the fleet when the Sec-
ond Dutch War (1665–67) began, serving as second
in command under James, duke of York, who would
later become King James II. Penn led ships into battle
in the naval engagement at Lowestoft (3 June 1665)
and subsequently retired from active service. He died
in London on 16 September 1670, at the age of 49,
and was laid to rest in the crypt of the church of St.
Mary Redcliffe in Bristol. In 1681, 11 years after Penn’s
death, King Charles II granted land in the American
colonies to Penn’s son, William; this is now the state of
Pennsylvania.
The name of Sir William Penn has long been
eclipsed by that of his son. Nonetheless, he played an
important role in naval affairs during and after the
English Civil War. He was also the author of a series of
works on naval tactics, which were eventually printed as
Sailing and Fighting Instructions for His Majesty’s Fleet by
his commander, James, duke of York.
References: Penn, Granville, Memorials of the Profes-
sional Life and Times of Sir William Penn from 1644 to
1670 (London: J. Duncan, 1833); Conner, Philip Syng
Physick, Sir William Penn, Knight: Admiral, and General-
at-Sea; Great-Captain-Commander in the Fleet: A Memoir
(Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1876); Another Great Vic-
torie obtained by Vice-Admiral Penn against the Holland-
ers... (London: Printed for G. Horton, 1653); Bruce,
Anthony, and William Cogar, “Penn, Sir William,” in
An Encyclopedia of Naval History (New York: Checkmark
Books, 1999) 282; Street, Lucie, An Uncommon Sailor: A
Portrait of Admiral Sir William Penn (Bourne End, U.K.:
Kensal Press, 1986).
Perry, Oliver Hazard (1785–1819) American
naval officer
Oliver Hazard Perry was born in South Kingston, Rhode
Island, on 23 August 1785, the eldest child of eight chil-
dren of Christopher Perry, who served in the American
Revolution, and Sarah Alexander Perry, whom he had
met when returning from being held as a prisoner of
war in Ireland. All five sons of the Perrys became mili-
tary officers, including Oliver and his brother Matthew
Calbraith Perry (who led the first American military ex-
pedition to Japan, then a closed society, in 1853). Oliver
Perry received an appointment as a midshipman in 1799
and saw limited service in the Mediterranean before he
served in the “Quasi War” between the United States
and France from 1798 to 1800, and in the Tripolitan
War (1801–05). At the start of the War of 1812 with the
British, Perry was given the task of building a flotilla of
warships for the infant U.S. Navy to fight on Lake Erie
and end British superiority of the waters there. After 10
ships had been completed, Perry made his base in San-
dusky, Ohio, where he launched his fleet to battle the
British.
On 10 September 1813, Perry and a force of nine
ships sailed into Lake Erie to do battle with six British
vessels under the command of Captain Robert Heriot
Barclay. Although the two forces were of roughly equal
size—the British ships being larger—the Americans had
a superior edge in firepower, and Perry used this edge to
his advantage. His flagship, the Lawrence, was named
after his good friend James Lawrence, who had been
killed off Boston, Massachusetts, on 1 June 1813, and
on its flag were some of Lawrence’s last words: “Don’t
give up the ship.” In the battle that ensued, the British
were defeated with heavy casualties. Historian George
Bruce writes: “The whole British flotilla was destroyed,
with a loss of 134 killed and wounded. The Americans
lost 27 killed and 96 wounded. The British were obliged
to withdraw from Detroit.” Following the battle, Perry
sent a note to William Henry Harrison (later president
of the United States), the commander of American
forces waiting to march into Canada: “We have met
the enemy, and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one
schooner, one sloop.”
Although this victory made Perry one of the most
important military leaders of early American history,
never again did he participate in such an important
battle. Nonetheless, his career continued: He returned
to Newport, Rhode Island, and in 1815 he became the peRRy, oliveR hAzARD