Hood, Samuel

Born Dec. 12, 1724; died Jan. 27, 1816, in Greenwich. British admiral (1794). Viscount of Whitley (1796).

Hood joined the navy in 1741 and began serving under G. Rodney in 1743. During the Seven Years’ War (1756–63), he commanded a frigate and captured a number of French ships in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In 1778 he became governor of the Naval Academy. In 1780, Hood was made commander of a squadron under Admiral Rodney; he was successful in a number of battles with the French Navy, including the battle near Dominica in 1782. In 1793 and 1794, during the war against revolutionary France, Hood commanded a squadron in the Mediterranean and captured Toulon and the island of Corsica. In 1796, Hood was made governor of Greenwich Hospital.