Charles Wager
Royal Navy admiral
Died when: 77 years 89 days (927 months)Star Sign: Pisces
Admiral Sir Charles Wager PC (24 February 1666 – 24 May 1743) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who served as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1733 to 1742.
Despite heroic active service and steadfast administration and diplomatic service, Wager can be criticized for his failure to deal with an acute manning problem.
However, in reality the Royal Navy's numerical preponderance over other navies was greater than at any other time in the century, and its dockyard facilities, overseas bases (Wager was much involved in the development of new bases in the Caribbean), victualling organization, and central co-ordination were by far the most elaborate and advanced.
Although British warship design was inferior to French in some respects, the real problem was an insufficiency of the versatile and seaworthy 60-gun ships, a class that Wager's Admiralty had chosen to augment during the 1730s but, as wartime experience would show, not aggressively enough.
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Royal Navy admiral
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Royal Navy admiral