John Elphinstone

Together with the Scottish-born Samuel Greig, or Samuil Karlovich Greig (Самуил Карлович Грейг), as he was known in Russia, and Admiral Sir Charles Knowles, Elphinstone was a member of the naval staff, headed by Count Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov, which, although it lacked naval experience, was able to defeat the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Chesma Bay, near Chios Island, off the far western coast of Turkey.

[1] He was born at Lopness, near Sanday in the Orkney Islands, the son of John Elphinstone and his wife Anne Williams and joined the Royal Navy.

[citation needed] Elphinstone was one of a small number of British officers who joined the Catherine's Russian service in the summer of 1769, and was given the rank of rear-admiral.

In 1770 he led a squadron from the Baltic to the Mediterranean to take part in the war against the Turks and participated in the defeat of a Turkish fleet in Battle of Chesma Bay.

John Elphinstone later held several further commands in the British Royal Navy, including that of the 74-gun HMS Magnificent during Admiral Sir George Rodney's West Indian Campaign of 1779–80.