English Captain: John Mildmay

John Mildmay was serving in the Parliamentarian Navy as early as 1643, when he commanded the Revenge (4 guns and a crew of 12 men). From 1644 to 1645, he commanded the Maria pinnace. In the Summer Guard list for 1644, this may be one of the "six small pinnaces with six guns apiece" mentioned, but not named. From later ini 1645 until 1647, he commanded the Kentish, a 6th Rate, said to be a purchased armed merchantman. In 1647, he commanded the Peter and then the Providence. The Peter was a 6th Rate (10 guns and 120 tons) serving in the Western Guard in the summer of 1647. With the Winter Guard, John Mildmay commanded the 4th Rate Providence, which served in the Irish Squadron. During the summer, in 1648, he still commanded the Providence in the Summer Guard. There is a mention that he might have commanded the 6th Rate Roebuck sometime in 1648, as well. During the summer, Robert Nixon commanded the Roebuck. From 1649 until 1652, John Mildmay commanded the 4th Rate Nonsuch. In early May 1649, he took an Irish ship leaving Ostend bound for Ireland with 240 men and three guns. At the Battle of the Kentish Knock, he took a Dutch warship, presumably the Maria (30 guns and a crew of 100 men), commanded by Claes Sael. Michael Baumber says that the prize was Sipke Fockes' ship, which would have been the Sint Maria (28 guns and a crew of 100 men), but we know that she survived at that the only prize was the Maria. Another vessel, the Burgh van Alkmaar, was sunk. From later in 1652 until 1653, he was flag captain on the 2nd Rate Vanguard. At the Battle of Dungeness, John Mildmay distinguished himself while aiding Blake's flagship's escape from the Dutch. In a council of war in December 1652, he was one of the signatories to a letter that asked the Council of State to better man and equip the fleet. At the Battle of Portland in mid-February 1653, John Mildmay distinguished himself as George Monck's flag captain on the Vanguard, but was killed in action. Monck was Admiral of the White at Portland. Sources:

1. R.C. Anderson, Lists of Men-of-War 1650-1700, Part I English Ships 1649-1702, 2nd Ed., 1966.
2. R.C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
3. Michael Baumber, General-At-Sea: Robert Blake and the Seventeenth Century Revolution in Naval Warfare, 1989.
4. J.C. Bender, unpublished manuscript "Battle of Portland: 28 February 1653 to 2 March 1653", 2003.
5. J.C. Bender, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Ships 1620-1700", 2004.
6. J.J. College, Ships of the Royal Navy, 2nd Ed., 1987.
7. J.R. Powell, ed., The Letters of Robert Blake, 1937.
8. J.R. Powell, The Navy in the English Civil War, 1962.