Robert Hughes (Royal Navy officer, died 1729)

Having joined the navy in the late seventeenth century, he served as a lieutenant in several ships of the line during the Nine Years' War before being promoted to captain in 1697.

Hughes' early career is not well recorded, but by 1695 he was serving as the first lieutenant of the 100-gun ship of the line HMS Queen, which was the flagship of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell.

[5] Hughes captured several small but successful privateers around Dunkirk in 1702, demonstrating "great activity and diligence" according to biographer John Charnock.

[6] By September, still in the Mediterranean, Hughes had moved to command the 32-gun frigate HMS Poole, but, the fleet then returning to England, in 1704 he re-joined Winchester.

[6][8] Leake appointed Hughes to serve as a commodore within the fleet, giving him command of a small squadron to guard the entrance to the Straits of Gibraltar.

[10] Hughes was moved to command the 60-gun ship of the line HMS Plymouth in 1715, joining Admiral Sir John Norris's Mediterranean Fleet.

Hughes' subsequent service is unknown until 1726 when he was given command of the 70-gun ship of the line HMS Hampton Court, part of Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Wager's Baltic Fleet.

[11] The fleet arrived home in early January 1728; Hughes saw no further active service before on 14 March 1729 he died in London from an infection in his leg.