Robert Hoffman

   Has 3 ancestors and one descendant in this family tree.

• Name	Robert Hoffman
  Gender	Male
  Siblings	1 Sibling
  + 1. Robert Hoffman ▻ Ami + 2. Elizabeth Hoffman   d. 1783 ▻ Richard Holt
  Person ID	I721192	Geneagraphie
  Last Modified	4 Aug 2017

  
  

  Father	NN Hoffman
  Mother	Mary
  Family ID	F314476	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Ami
  Children	1. Mary Ann Hoffman
  Family ID	F314477	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	4 Aug 2017

  
  

• Notes

  Captain Fredrick Hoffman served in the Royal Navy from 1793-1815 Cape of Good Hope Government gazette jan 1831 -- d. 22 april (1830) on the bark Lowther Robert Hoffman aged 16-- The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign ..., Volume 13 Jan 7 1834 in Germany Liet F Hoffman Madras infantry in his 27th year F Hoffman eldest son of capt Hoffman Royal Navy "When Frederick Hoffman started writing this memoir in 1838, he was a bewildered and, to some extent, a bitter man. A veteran of numerous actions during the Great War against France (1793-1815), he had been three times wounded and twice captured and imprisoned. Although he had lost his ship, HMS Apelles, to the French in May 1812, a court martial two years later had honourably acquitted him? Yet after 1814, no further offers of employment had come his way and he had been forced to support his family on his half-pay as a commander. In 1835, he wrote a despairing memorial to the Admiralty detailing his many services and, when this produced no result, decided to turn his memorial into a memoir and publish a full account of his deeds. The result is a straightforward, and often vivid, picture of everyday life in the Royal Navy during one of the key periods in its history. There are great events, such as Jervis' capture of Martinique in 1794 and Trafalgar, viewed from the lower gun deck of one of the ships of Collingwood's division. There is humor: an alligator hunt, for example or some runaway sailors who dressed themselves as rather unconvincing women to escape the press gang in Kingston, Jamaica. And there are polemics: on the inequities of prize money and the half-pay system." When Hoffman surrendered the Apelles, he felt the ship was hopelessly wreaked on the coast of France. However in a classic cutting-out operation, another British commander boarded the ship and sailed it home. This fact tainted Hoffman?s career after the court martial and resulted in him being offered no further assignments in the Navy. White relates an interesting story to explain the why this memoir was not published until 1901. After writing it, Hoffman, and 49 other senior officers on half-pay were offered an increase in half-pay in 1840. Hoffman probably did not feel that publishing an account that was critical of the half-pay system would be gladly received by the Navy.