Admiral of the White Sir John Balchen (2 February 1670 – 4 October 1744) was a Royal Navy officer with a long and distinguished career during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

Balchen died in the shipwreck of the 100-gun first-rate HMS Victory off the Casquets in the Channel Islands during operations to deter French blockading of Spanish and Portuguese ports during the War of the Austrian Succession.

[1] The high death rate led to rapid promotion for those who survived, and Balchen was made Post Captain at the relatively young age of 27 during the Nine Years' War.

[1] Briefly a prisoner in France, Balchen, as an officer, was allowed to return to England on parole, where a court martial exonerated him for the loss of his ship and commended him for a brave defence.

In 1709, he was formally exchanged for a French officer and returned to naval service, receiving command of the newly built 60-gun HMS Gloucester in August.

With the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1715, Balchen was returned to sea in the 40-gun frigate HMS Diamond, which he used in the suppression of piracy in the West Indies until 1716.

[1] In 1718, war once again broke out and experienced officers were immediately given sea postings, Balchen in the 80-gun HMS Shrewsbury in the fleet of Sir George Byng.

Arriving in the Mediterranean, Vice-Admiral Charles Cornewall made Shrewsbury his flagship and Balchen his flag captain, a position which remained until December of that year.

In July 1718, Shrewsbury had been engaged at the Battle of Cape Passaro, at which a Spanish fleet had been comprehensively defeated; Balchen's first great naval action and his first major victory.

[1] During the next two years, Balchen spent most of his time on convoy duty and came to resent younger and more active officers who made substantial fortunes from prize money, like Edward Vernon.

Due to a shortage of officers of sufficient experience and seniority to command a fleet of this kind, Balchen was called up at short notice and rewarded with a knighthood.

Other wreckage was washed up on Jersey and Alderney, whose inhabitants had heard distress guns the night before the wreck but were unable to provide aid in the severe storm.

[8] Balchen's death was met with national mourning in Britain, where he was regarded as an expert and veteran commander of great talent in seamanship, tactics and ship construction.

[1] His widow was allowed a pension of £500 a year following her husband's death and the consequent end of his income whilst his son George received a promotion to post captain.

His daughter, Frances, married British naval officer Temple West, best known for his role as second-in-command to Admiral John Byng in the Battle of Minorca (1756).

[10] Balchen is remembered in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as "a hard-working, thoroughgoing professional, recognised for his readiness to accept duty whenever and wherever required.