English Captain: Henry Southwood

Henry Southwood served in the Parliamentarian, Commonwealth, and Restoration navies. We first hear of him in 1646, in command of the Warspite, a small vessel. In 1650, he again was recorded as commanding the Warspite. From 1650 to 1652, he commanded the 6th Rate Greyhound (20 guns). He fought in the first battle of the war, off Dover, in May 1652. In the fall, he was with Andrew Ball's abortive expedition to the Sound, where the Antelope was lost in a storm. He was also with Robert Blake at Dungeness. In 1653, he commanded the Dutch prize Violet (40 guns). Captain Southwood was in Samuel Howett's division at the Battle of the Gabbard. Samuel Howett was Rear-Admiral of the Red. In 1654, he commanded the White Raven. He also seems to have fought at the Battle of Scheveningen. The only mention of him after the Restoration is that he was promoted to captain in 1666. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, “English Fleet-Lists in the First Dutch War,” The Mariner's Mirror, Vol.XXIV No.4, October 1938.
2. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
3. David Syrett, R. L. DiNardo, The Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy 1660-1815, 1994.