George Augustus Westphal

Sir George Augustus Alexander Westphal (27 March 1785 – 12 January 1875) was a Nova Scotian admiral in the Royal Navy who served in more than 100 actions.

In March 1803 Westphal joined the 32 gun fifth rate frigate HMS Amphion as a midshipman whilst transporting Horatio Nelson to the Mediterranean to take command.

When the battle was over, and an attempt was made to remove the coat, several of the bullions of the epaulet were found to be so firmly glued, unto my hair, by the coagulated blood from my wound, that the bullions four or five of them, were cut off and left in my hair; one of which I still have in my possession.Many years after the battle, the Admiralty asked Westphal to identify Nelson's coat after Prince Albert had bought it for the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

Westphal went on to serve as a midshipman on HMS Caledonia, a 120-gun first-rate ship of the line and flagship of John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent.

He was captured when the French privateer Alerte took Highlander, the merchant ship he was returning to England on, during which action he was again severely wounded while leading her resistance.

However, the revenue cutter escaped up the Neuse River to New Bern, where she gave warning of the British forces, permitting the preparation of defences that forestalled the Royal Navy from any further advance.

The Anaconda was refitted at Halifax, and Westphal received a crew of 60 men, most of whom were the dregs of the fleet, offered by their captains when Admiral John Borlase Warren asked for drafts.

Captain Thomas Hardy of Ramillies wrote in a letter that Anaconda's protection surely saved many of the boats from capture by the Americans.

[4] Westphal later landed with the greater part of Anaconda's crew, who then fought in the naval brigade under Captain Edward Troubridge.

Westphal was knighted on his return to England and served as flag captain to Sir George Cockburn in 1832 but was invalided out of active service in 1834.

When Westphal died on 12 January 1875, he was the last surviving Royal Navy officer to have fought at Trafalgar on board HMS Victory.