John Perkins (Royal Navy officer)
John Perkins (died 27 January 1812), nicknamed Jack Punch, was a British Royal Navy officer. Perkins was perhaps the first mixed race commissioned officer in the Royal Navy. He rose from obscurity to be a successful ship's captain in the Georgian Royal Navy. He captained a 10-gun schooner during the American War of Independence and in a two-year period captured at least 315 enemy ships.
John Perkins | |
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Signature of Captain John Perkins from the Logbook of HMS Arab 1800, held at The National Archives, Kew, London | |
| Nickname(s) | Jack Punch |
| Born | Kingston, Jamaica |
| Died | 27 January 1812 Kingston, Jamaica |
| Allegiance | Great Britain |
| Service/ | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1775–1804 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Commands held | HM Schooner Punch HMS Endeavour HMS Spitfire HMS Marie Antoinette HMS Drake HMS Meleager HMS Arab HMS Tartar |
| Battles/wars | American Revolution Fourth Anglo-Dutch War French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic War |
Later in his career Perkins acted for the navy as a spy and undertook missions to Cuba and Saint-Domingue (modern day Haiti). At the start of the slave revolt in Saint-Domingue he was captured in Cap-Français and sentenced to death for supplying the rebel slaves with weapons.
After his rescue he was promoted commander in 1797 and then post-captain in 1800. Perkins went on to cause an international incident with Denmark when he fired on two of their ships during peacetime. Toward the end of his career he participated in the capture of the islands of Saint Eustatia and Saba from the French. Perkins also attacked a 74-gun ship-of-the-line with a 32-gun frigate.