Salusbury Pryce Humphreys
Royal Navy officer during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 (1778-1845)
Rear-Admiral Sir Salusbury Pryce Davenport (born Salusbury Pryce Humphreys; 24 November 1778 – 17 November 1845) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
He entered the navy during the Nootka Crisis in 1790 and served aboard a number of ships, starting at the level of able seaman and rising through the ranks, having reached midshipman on the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. A lieutenancy followed while serving in the Caribbean, where he acted in support of army operations against enemy colonies and islands, before his return to Britain. He was afterwards employed in the English Channel and North Sea, where he distinguished himself on a cutting out expedition off the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog, narrowly escaping death when a ship he tried and failed to board suddenly exploded. After again supporting land operations, this time in Holland, he was promoted to commander though he had to then wait two years for a command.
Promotion to post-captain soon followed, and he went to North America to command the flagship of the admiral in command there. Desertion from Royal Navy ships had become a pressing issue and Humphreys, by then in command of the 50-gun HMS Leopard, was ordered to intercept the USS Chesapeake, which was suspected to have several deserters as part of her crew. Humphreys did so, and requested permission to search her. Chesapeake's captain refused, so Humphreys fired upon her, the poorly prepared American ship surrendered and Humphreys took off several British deserters. The backlash from the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, as it became known as, was severe.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7406310. VIAF identifies the subject as 60558490. The Library of Congress control number is n86026823. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1778, 1845 and 1790.
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This entry incorporates text from “Salusbury Pryce Humphreys” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.