Andrew Ball (Royal Navy officer)
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (January 2011) |
Andrew Ball (died 1653) was an English officer of the Royal and Commonwealth Navy.
Life
The first official mention of his name is as captain of the Adventure in 1648, when Vice-Admiral William Batten carried part of the fleet over to Holland to join Charles Stuart, Prince of Wales. Ball was one of those who stayed with Sir George Ayscue, and who afterwards, on 25 September 1648, signed the refusal to desert.
During 1649 he was employed in the
During the following summer he was engaged in fitting out the
After the severe check which Robert Blake received at the Battle of Dungeness, on 30 November, Ball was appointed to the 50-gun Lion, in the room of Captain Saltonstall, whose conduct in the battle had been called into question. He was occupied during the next two months in refitting the Lion, and then joined the fleet off Queenborough at the beginning of February 1653, when Blake promoted him to the command of his own ship, the Triumph, (a position somewhat analogous to what was later known as captain of the fleet, which confers the temporary rank of rear-admiral). The fleet, having sailed to the westward, encountered the Dutch off Portland on 18 February 1653. The fight, the Battle of Portland, lasted throughout the day, and during the whole time the enemy's chief efforts were directed against the Triumph, which suffered heavily in hull of the ship, in rigging, and in men; her captain, Andrew Ball, being one of the killed.
In acknowledgement of Ball's services, the state assigned a gratuity of £1,000 to his widow. The Andrew Ball who commanded the Orange Tree in the Mediterranean, under Sir Thomas Allin, in 1668, and was then accidentally drowned, may have been a son.
References
- . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Ball, Andrew". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.