English Captain: Charles Saltonstall

Charles Saltonstall served in the Parliamentarian and Commonwealth navies. In1648, he commanded the 5th Rate Hind in the Summer Guard. In 1650, he commanded the John, a 28-gun vessel purchased in 1646. On November 22, 1650, he was in company with Richard Badiley's squadron in Cartagena Bay. By 1652, he commanded the Lion. At the Battle of Dungeness, Robert Blake accused Charles Saltonstall of not closing with the Dutch and fighting. Michael Baumber, in General-At-Sea, says that all Charles Saltsonstall did was to think for them selves, which did not suit Robert Blake. Their ships were in poor repair, and you could argue that Robert Blake was violating orders in attacking the Dutch, who were present in overwhelming numbers. That did not matter, as at first Charles Saltonstall was removed from command and imprisoned, although he was later set free. The result was that he never again commanded a navy ship at sea. Sources:

1. R.C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
2. R.C. Anderson, Lists of Men-of-War 1650-1700, Part I English Ships 1649-1702, Second Edition, 1966.
3. Michael Baumber, General-At-Sea: Robert Blake and the Seventeenth Century Revolution in Naval Warfare, 1989.
4. J.R. Powell, Ed., The Letters of Robert Blake, 1937.
5. J.R. Powell, The Navy in the English Civil War, 1962.