English Captain: Robert Moulton, Jr.

Robert Moulton, Jr.'s father, Robert Moulton, Sr., also served in the Parliamentarian and Commonwealth Navies. Robert Moulton, Jr., also served after the Restoration. From 1646 to 1647, Robert Moulton, Jr., commanded the 6th Rate Increase at Chatham, on the Summer Guard in 1646. This seems to have been a prize taken about 1645 (12 guns and 133 tons). In 1647, he also commanded the Satisfaction in the Irish Guard in 1647. This was a prize taken from the Dutch in 1646. From 1649 to 1650, he commanded the frigate Constant Warwick (32 guns). He was with Blake's squadron off of Portugal in the Spring of 1650. His father commanded the Leopard with the squadron. From 1651 to 1652, Robert Moulton, Jr. commanded the 4th Rate Sapphire (38 guns). He fought at Dover in May 1652, in the opening action of the First Anglo-Dutch War. He was in Blake's squadron, originally lying in Rye Bay. He also fought in the Battle of the Kentish Knock. He disappears after the Kentish Knock. The next time we see him mentioned is after the Restoration. He fought at the Battle of Lowestoft, in 1665, in command of the 4th Rate Centurion (46 guns). He was in the Earl of Sandwich's division (the Earl of Sandwich was Admiral of the Blue). At the Four Days' Battle, he was in John Harman's squadron (Rear-Admiral of the White). In this battle, Robert Moulton, Jr. distinguished himself in command of the 3rd Rate Anne (58 guns). The Anne seems to have been disabled on the second day, and left the fleet. Robert Moulton was one of a small number of captains who were praised by the Duke of Albermarle. Sources:

1. R.C. Anderson, Lists of Men-of-War 1650-1700, Part I English Ships 1649-1702, 2nd Ed., 1966.
2. R.C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
3. Michael Baumber, General-At-Sea: Robert Blake and the Seventeenth Century Revolution in Naval Warfare, 1989.
4. J.J. College, Ships of the Royal Navy, 2nd Ed., 1987.
5. Frank Fox, A Distant Storm: the Four Days' Battle of 1666, 1996.
6. Frank Fox, Great Ships: the Battlefleet of King Charles II, 1980.
7. S.R. Gardiner, The First Dutch War, Vol.II, 1900.
8. J.R. Powell, ed., The Letters of Robert Blake, 1937.
9. J.R. Powell, The Navy in the English Civil War, 1962.