Early service Charles Hardy was born at
Guernsey in around 1680, the son of Philip Le Hardy (died 1705), commissioner of garrisons on Guernsey, and Marie Le Filleul. His paternal grandfather, John Le Hardy, was
solicitor general of
Jersey, and he was a cousin of the future Rear-Admiral
Sir Thomas Hardy. On 30 September 1695 Charles followed Thomas into the
Royal Navy. He joined the ship commanded by Thomas, the 50-gun
fourth-rate HMS Pendennis, as a
volunteer. After serving on the 32-gun
frigates
HMS Portsmouth and
HMS Sheerness, Hardy was promoted to
lieutenant on 28 February 1701. In this rank Hardy was appointed third lieutenant of the 70-gun
ship of the line HMS Resolution, which was under the command of Captain
Basil Beaumont. In December 1702 Hardy moved to the 50-gun fourth-rate
HMS Weymouth for two years, the latter spent in the
North Sea. He transferred to the
guardship HMS Royal Ann in December 1704, serving for some time in the
English Channel, before being promoted to
commander on 27 November 1705. Hardy's first command was the 10-gun
sloop HMS Weazel on fishery protection duties in the English Channel, which he commanded until September 1706 when he was moved into the 10-gun sloop
HMS Swift by Vice-Admiral
Sir John Leake.
Captain , under whom Hardy frequently served|thumb Hardy started his command of
Swift in the
Mediterranean Sea, before moving to the North Sea in the winter of 1706. He continued in command of the sloop until 14 January 1709 when he was given command of the 20-gun frigate
HMS Dunwich, in which he was promoted to
post-captain on 28 June 1709. Stationed in the North Sea,
Dunwich operated as an escort to convoys sailing off the east coast of England. Hardy was not onboard
Dunwich on 24 August when the ship captured the French
privateer Le Chasseur, but had returned to command by February 1710 when
Dunwich captured a 10-gun privateer that had been attacking coastal shipping. Having left
Dunwich, he was appointed to command the 50-gun fourth-rate
HMS Nonsuch later in 1710, sailing to
Jamaica as part of the fleet of Commodore
James Littleton. He returned to British waters in the following year and captured the French privateer
La Trompeuse on 8 June. He left the ship before the end of 1711. Hardy was then given command of
Weymouth, in which he had previously served. He left
Weymouth, which had been undergoing a refit at
Plymouth Dockyard throughout his period in command, in 1715. Hardy was given his next ship in 1718, the newly rebuilt 50-gun fourth-rate
HMS Guernsey. In that ship he served in the
Baltic Fleet of Admiral
Sir John Norris, supporting Denmark against Sweden in the
Great Northern War. The fleet returned to England in 1719, with Hardy translated into the 60-gun fourth-rate
HMS Defiance. In 1720 the fleet returned to the Baltic, and Hardy continued in
Defiance until the end of the year when Norris' fleet returned to England again. Hardy became an Elder Brother of
Trinity House in 1722. He received his next command, the 70-gun ship of the line
HMS Grafton, in January 1726. He stayed in
Grafton only briefly, possibly because of an illness, and in May was instead given command of the 70-gun ship of the line
HMS Kent.
Kent initially joined Admiral
Sir John Jennings' fleet which sailed to the
Straits of Gibraltar in October. Hardy afterwards joined Vice-Admiral
Sir Charles Wager's fleet off the coast of Spain. With Wager he participated in the
thirteenth siege of Gibraltar in early 1727, the
Anglo-Spanish War having begun, with Wager using
Kent as his
flagship for part of this period. In November Wager moved Hardy from
Kent into the 70-gun ship of the line
HMS Stirling Castle in which he continued in the Mediterranean. The naval historian
John Charnock wrote disparagingly of this period of Hardy's service, saying that "the events of this expedition were almost too uninteresting to require any particular detail...a dull routine of cruises undistinguished by any event so memorable as to be worth relating". The author
John Campbell also noted that "the events of this expedition were unimportant". Hardy returned to England with Wager in April 1728.
Lord of the Admiralty , which served as Hardy's flagship in 1743 On 9 February 1730 Hardy was appointed to command the
royal yacht HMY Carolina and was
knighted on 26 September 1732 in reward for his long naval service. He stayed in
Carolina, which had been rebuilt as
Royal Caroline in 1733, until he was promoted to
rear-admiral on 6 April 1742. He was then promoted to
vice-admiral on 7 December 1743 and elected to serve as the
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Portsmouth on 14 December. The constituency was traditionally a naval one, controlled by the
Admiralty. On 13 December Hardy was also appointed to serve as a
Lord of the Admiralty, replacing Admiral
Philip Cavendish who had died in the previous year. It was expected that one of the Lords should always be an active
flag officer, and Hardy was brought in to fill that role.
Channel Fleet In December 1743 Hardy hoisted his flag on board the 90-gun ship of the line
HMS Duke in the
Channel Fleet. He served as second-in-command to Admiral Norris, with the fleet consisting of twenty-five ships of the line and twenty-four frigates and other craft. The fleet sailed off
the Downs looking for the French fleet of Lieutenant-General
Jacques Aymar de Roquefeuil et du Bousquet, which the English thought might attempt to sail to
Dunkirk to escort a waiting army in the
planned French invasion of Britain. The two fleets almost met off
Dungeness on 24 February 1744 but de Roquefeuil retreated and Norris was unable to chase him because of deteriorating sea conditions. Norris then sent his
three-decked ships of the line into
Spithead under the command of Hardy, so that the large ships would be protected from the weather. War was officially declared on Britain by France on 20 March, beginning
King George's War. Soon after this Hardy commanded a detached squadron of eleven ships of the line serving as an escort for
storeships sent to restock the
Mediterranean Fleet. Hardy had as his flagship the 90-gun ship of the line
HMS Saint George. Hardy sailed with his squadron in late April. At the same time the Spanish were expecting a valuable convoy from
Havana, and in order to safeguard this and possibly catch Hardy, the French
Toulon Squadron was put to sea to join with the French at
Cádiz and Spanish at
Cartagena. The French, however, only left Toulon on 20 September, and Hardy entered
Lisbon on 3 May to ensure the safety of his ships. While making his voyage, two ships of his squadron, the 60-gun fourth-rate
HMS Dreadnought and 14-gun sloop
HMS Grampus, captured the French 26-gun frigate
Médée on 27 April. At Lisbon Hardy left the convoy, which was expected to make its way to
Gibraltar in sections.
Return from Lisbon in the
action of 8 May 1744 Hardy set sail for England, and on 8 May lost one of his warships, the 70-gun ship of the line
HMS Northumberland, in the
action of 8 May 1744. Hardy had detached
Northumberland from the squadron to investigate a strange sail, but when the weather worsened he ordered the ship to return to him. Captain Thomas Watson of
Northumberland was however suffering from a fractured skull, and was drunk because of this. He continued on and discovered that the strange sail was actually two French 64-gun ships of the line and a 26-gun frigate.
Northumberland attacked all three warships, and with Watson killed early on in the action the ship was quickly captured. Hardy reached England with the rest of his squadron on 20 May. He then relinquished command of his squadron and left
Saint George later in the month, returning to his seat in the Admiralty. He died in his house there on 27 November. ==Family==