Robert Mends remained in service at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and in 1821 was made commodore on the West African station, on which he died in 1823.
11 Facts About Robert Mends
1.
2.
Robert Mends was born into a prominent Pembrokeshire family in the late 1760s, probably 1767.
3.
Robert Mends joined the Royal Navy in 1779, serving on HMS Culloden under Captain George Balfour during the American War of Independence.
4.
Robert Mends remained in service at the end of the war and joined HMS Grampus in 1786, under Commodore Edward Thompson off the African coast.
5.
At the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, Robert Mends was serving on the ship of the line HMS Colossus in the Mediterranean and was present at the Siege of Toulon.
6.
In 1795, Colossus joined the Channel Fleet and fought at the Battle of Groix, at which Robert Mends was caught in a large explosion that left him very badly burned.
7.
Between 1808 and 1811, Robert Mends operated extensively against French-held harbours and coastal shipping on the Northern Spanish coast.
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Between 1811 and 1814, Robert Mends was recalled to Britain and served as superintendent of the prison hulks in Portsmouth harbour.
9.
In 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Robert Mends was made a knight of the Spanish Order of Charles III, a title he was permitted to wear in British service, but which did not grant him the privileges of a British knight.
10.
In 1821, Robert Mends became commander-in-chief of the West African Station in the frigate HMS Iphigenia, later transferring to HMS Owen Glendower.
11.
Robert Mends died in September 1823, succumbing to fever on Owen Glendower off the Gold Coast.