Francis Erskine Loch

Admiral Francis Erskine Loch (April 1788–13 February 1868) was a senior commander in the Royal Navy during the early 19th century.

[1] He entered the Royal Navy on 1 September 1799 aged eleven as a cabin boy under Captain Andrew Todd on HMS Queen Charlotte in the Mediterranean with the fleet of Lord Keith.

On 17 March 1800 Loch narrowly escaped death when the ship was destroyed by fire and blew up killing 673 men off the Italian coast near Leghorn.

He was placed on the island of Rhodes overseeing the equipping of gunboats bound for Egypt and Lake Mareotis early in 1801.

[2] From May 1803 to 1805 he served under his cousin, Captain Adam on the captured French frigate Chiffonne in the North Sea and the English Channel.

His most important action in this period was on HMS Queen Charlotte (the replacement ship to the earlier one of that name), at the blockade of Rio de la Plata.