John Toup Nicolas

Rear Admiral John Toup Nicolas RN CB KH (1788–1851) was a Royal Navy officer.

Nicolas commanded several successful attacks while in charge of HMS Pilot, earning praise from the British press.

In September 1799 he was promoted to midshipman and transferred to the 74-gun HMS Edgar under Captain Edward Butler serving in the English Channel.

He and Captain Butler left the ship together (indicating that Nicolas was perhaps his valet) and together moved to HMS Achille.

Consequently, Lt Nicolas used Pilot in several successful attacks: On 4 June 1815 he was awarded a Commander of the Order of the Bath by the Prince Regent.

[3] As a result of the previous years' success, which received much praise in the British press, Nicolas was promoted to Captain on 26 August 1815, but retained notional charge of HMS Pilot, which had been returned to Plymouth Dockyard for major repairs in July 1815.

[10] He was given a period of extended shore leave before being given command of 20-gun HMS Egeria and her crew of 121 men on 5 January 1820 in place of Captain Henry Shiffner.

[citation needed] In August 1837 he was made Captain and Commander of the 74-gun HMS Hercules, one of the many huge ships commissioned during the Napoleonic Wars and ending as largely redundant when a prolonged peace was achieved.