1. Rear-Admiral Sir William Whetstone was a Royal Navy officer who served during the War of the Spanish Succession.
19 Facts About William Whetstone
1. 2.
Whetstone appears to have been born into a naval family, his father John Whetstone had probably been a naval officer.
3.
William Whetstone established himself in Bristol, becoming a member of Bristol corporation and commanding a merchant ship, the Mary of Bristol, with which he carried out trading with Virginia and Barbados.
4.
William Whetstone's trading appears to have been in a wide variety of goods, including serge.
5.
William Whetstone appears to have married a woman named Sarah by 1677, and that year he took an apprenticeship that would last until 1684.
6.
William Whetstone did not however exert himself on Whetstone's behalf, and William spent 1692 unemployed.
7.
William Whetstone returned to active duty in 1693, at first as the part owner of the privateer Delavall, and later receiving a commission to command HMS Norfolk which was then being built at Southampton.
8.
William Whetstone attempted to set sail, but was twice forced to return to Plymouth for repairs.
9.
William Whetstone then made better progress, but soon had to put into Cork.
10.
William Whetstone was then surveyed and pronounced unfit for the journey to the West Indies.
11.
William Whetstone was president of the courts martial, Benbow being too ill to take the role himself.
12.
William Whetstone went on to engage and destroy a number of privateers off San Domingo but an attempt on the French colony at Placentia had to be abandoned because of the weather, the island's defences, and sickness in the fleet.
13.
Wishart was then made a rear-admiral of the blue as well, and made senior to William Whetstone through antedating his commission.
14.
William Whetstone hoped to convince the governor of Cartagena to declare in favour of King Charles, but received the reply that the governor 'knew no sovereign but King Philip'.
15.
William Whetstone continued to persist though, and in 1706, he and Governor Handyside attempted to persuade the Spanish colonies at Cuba and Cartagena to declare in favour of Charles.
16.
William Whetstone sailed with them until they were well past Shetland, before returning home.
17.
The Admiralty defended him, but eventually William Whetstone was made the scapegoat.
18.
William Whetstone was dismissed from his command and received no further employment.
19.
William Whetstone had been remarried by this time to Mary, with whom he had a daughter, named Mary.