13 Facts About Thomas Louis

Thomas Louis was one of Horatio Nelson's "Band of Brothers" in the Mediterranean in 1798, commanding a ship at the Battle of the Nile.

Thomas Louis was born in 1758 to John and Elizabeth Louis.

Thomas Louis joined the Navy in 1769 aged eleven, and first went to sea aboard the sloop HMS Fly.

In 1776, at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Thomas Louis returned to Europe aboard HMS Thetis and joined the ship of the line HMS Bienfaisant.

In 1781, Thomas Louis moved to the frigate HMS Artois and was given his first independent command, the small hired armed ship Mackworth, which together with the ship Lady Mackworth, escorted coastal shipping between Plymouth and the ports on the Bristol Channel.

Thomas Louis married Jacquetta Belfield in early 1784 and the couple had seven children.

In 1800, Minotaur was Lord Keith's flagship at the Siege of Genoa and the following year Thomas Louis commanded her at the invasion of Egypt.

In reward of his service at this action, Thomas Louis was presented with a gold medal and made a baronet.

Thomas Louis returned to the Mediterranean later in the year, but had contracted an illness and spent sometime convalescing.

Three months later Thomas Louis led a division of Duckworth's force in a major attempt to force passage of the channel in what later became known as the Dardanelles Operation.

Thomas Louis returned with the fleet to rejoin British forces in Alexandria, Egypt, but the unidentified sickness that had plagued him in the West Indies returned and he became gravely ill.

Thomas Louis died in May 1807 and his body was transferred to Malta for burial, being interred at Manoel Island.

Thomas Louis's death was widely mourned in the fleet, particularly among the common sailors, with whom he had always been popular.