Chaloner Ogle

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This article is about the English admiral, 1681–1750. For his cousin and brother-in-law, the English admiral, 1726–1816, see Sir Chaloner Ogle, 1st Baronet.

Sir Chaloner Ogle (1681-1750) was an Admiral of the Fleet in the British navy.

He was of the Kirkley Hall branch of the prominent Northumbrian Ogle family of Northumberland.

In 1721 he commanded HMS Swallow leading the fleet in action off the West African coast. In 1722 he defeated the pirate fleet of Bartholomew Roberts, for which success he was awarded a knighthood. He was the only British naval officer to be honoured specifically for his actions against pirates.

He also profited financially, taking gold dust from two of Roberts' ships, the Royal Fortune and Ranger. His crew did not receive their share until Ogle was reluctantly forced to give it to them by the legal system, three years later.

Captain Chaloner Ogle claimed to have missed out on the treasure which the pirates had left on their third ship, the Little Ranger, when they sailed to their last engagement with the Swallow. By the time Ogle and his men arrived to take the treasure in the Little Ranger it had gone, with Captain Hill of the merchant ship Neptune, who had been trading with the pirates. Several weeks after the defeat of Bartholomew Roberts, however, Captain Ogle and Captain Hill had both sailed across the Atlantic and were in Port Royal at the same time. Even if this is assumed to be a coincidence, it seems nearly inconceivable that Captain Ogle, who was already swindling his own crew, would not have then confronted Captain Hill, who in theory Ogle could easily have had hanged for trading with pirates. It therefore seems likely that the larger part of Bartholomew Robert's treasure ended up in the hands of Captain Ogle, and some part in the hands of Captain Hill.

In 1741 as Rear Admiral of the Blue he led the British attack on three forts at Cartagena, Colombia during a disastrous campaign in the War of Jenkins' Ear.

In 1742 he was accused of an alleged assault upon Edward Trelawny, Governor of Jamaica but his career survived and he was appointed Admiral of the White and in 1747 Admiral of the Fleet.

He married twice, firstly in 1726 and secondly in 1737 to his cousin Isabella Ogle, daughter of Nathaniel Ogle of Kirkley Hall. Thus he was the great uncle of his brother-in-law and namesake, Admiral Sir Chaloner Ogle.

His home was latterly at Gifford Lodge, Twickenham, Middlesex where he died in 1750 without issue.