Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey GCB (5 December 1758 – 20 February 1830) was an eccentric and hot-tempered officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars who was as distinguished for his gambling and dueling as for his military record.

Although Harvey was a significant naval figure for over twenty years, his martial reputation was largely based on his experiences at the Battle of Trafalgar, when he took his ship HMS Temeraire into the thick of the action.

Harvey used Temeraire to force the surrender of two French ships of the line and later created his family motto from the names of his opponents in the engagement; "Redoutable et Fougueux".

[2] Until 1768, Harvey was raised at the family estate of Rolls Park in Chigwell, which had passed to his elder brother William on the death of their father.

[1] At the age of thirteen in 1771, Harvey was entered onto the books of the naval schooner HMS Mary, although he did not actually serve aboard the ship.

In 1782 Harvey again returned to the Navy just as peace was agreed and was promoted to commander on 21 March 1782, briefly taking over the sloop HMS Otter before rapidly making the jump to Post Captain less than a year later, on 20 January 1783.

Harvey gained a reputation among this crowd for playing exceptionally high stakes; one often repeated story concerns his loss, on his 21st birthday in 1779, of over £100,000 in a single game of hazard to a Mr O'Byrne.

O'Byrne, recognising that such a sum would bankrupt his opponent, refused to take more than £10,000, insisting that they roll the dice again to determine the fate of the remaining £90,000.

[4] In May 1794 Harvey returned to Britain and served in the squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren which raided the French coast with great success in 1794 and 1795.

[5] In August 1795, Harvey took command of the ship of the line HMS Valiant, initially in the Channel Fleet and later in the West Indies under Sir Hyde Parker.

As a result of this special mention, Harvey was promoted to rear-admiral on 9 November 1805,[11] and given the honour of being one of Nelson's pallbearers at the admiral's funeral despite their short acquaintance.

Serving under Lord Gambier in the Channel Fleet, Harvey was outraged not to be given command of the British ships in action at the Battle of Basque Roads.

Harvey expressed his disgust that command had been given to the more junior Lord Cochrane in no uncertain terms to Gambier, and was dismissed from the admiral's council as a result.

[1] When the operation was initially successful, Gambier refused to support Cochrane and as a result an opportunity to annihilate the French Atlantic Fleet was lost.

Returning to the Navy a year later on 21 March 1810, Harvey was never again called to active service, Gambier blocking his efforts to obtain gainful employment.