Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel (25 April 1725 – 2 October 1786) was an Admiral of the White of the Royal Navy of Great Britain. Keppel fought in the War of the Austrian Succession in George Anson's voyage around the world, in addition to serving in the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War.
Biography[]
Augustus Keppel was born to a Dutch family that followed King William III of England to conquer England in 1689. At the age of ten in 1735, he joined the British Royal Navy, and he served under Commodore George Anson during his voyage around the world. Keppel was nearly killed at the capture of the Peruvian town of Paita on 13 November 1741, and was made a Lieutenant the following year. During the Seven Years' War he was made Commander-in-Chief of the North American Station from 1751 to 1755, and he aided in the 1759 defeat of a French fleet at the Battle of Quiberon Bay. In 1762, he conquered Havana from the Kingdom of Spain.
In 1778, Keppel returned to command forces, against the French Navy, during the American Revolutionary War. He fought against a French fleet at the First Battle of Ushant, which was an indecisive encounter. From 1782 to 1786 he served as First Lord of the Admiralty (as a Rockinghamite Whig), and he died in 1786, unmarried.