Early life and career He was born the
illegitimate son of
George Pigot, 1st Baron Pigot (1719–1777), and Catherine Hill, and was thus a nephew of Lieutenant-General
Robert Pigot and Admiral
Hugh Pigot, and a cousin of General
Henry Pigot and the notorious Captain
Hugh Pigot. His brothers Richard and George both had distinguished careers in the army, rising to the rank of general and major respectively. Pigot entered the Navy on 1 May 1788, first serving aboard the 50-gun
fourth-rate ship , under the command of Captain
Erasmus Gower, and the flagship of Rear-Admiral
John Elliot,
Commodore-Governor of
Newfoundland. Later in the year he moved into the sloop , Captain Edward Pakenham. He then served for three years in home waters under Captain
Andrew Snape Douglas, as a midshipman in the frigate , and in the
guard ships and . In 1792 he sailed for the Mediterranean aboard the 50-gun , flagship of Rear-Admiral
Samuel Granston Goodall, who he followed into the 98-gun ship in May 1793. Following the
evacuation of Toulon in December 1793, he was appointed acting-lieutenant of the
74-gun , Captain
Andrew Sutherland (mariner), then served for a short period as midshipman in the
Princess Royal, and in the 100-gun , flagship of Admiral
William Hotham. He was officially promoted to lieutenant on 12 November 1794 to serve aboard the sloop , under the Captains the Honourable
Henry Hotham,
Shuldham Peard, and Edwards. His next appointments were to the , Captain John Pakenham; the frigate , under Captains
Ralph Willett Miller and
Edward Hamilton; the 74-gun , flagship of Vice Admiral
Sir Richard Onslow; and the , Captain
John William Spranger. In those ships he served in the Mediterranean, Newfoundland, the North Sea, Baltic, and Jamaica stations. Promoted to commander on 29 April 1802, Pigot commanded the
brig-sloop off
Seaford from 24 August 1803, until promoted to
post-captain on 8 May 1804.
Post-captain On 27 March 1805 Pigot commissioned the sloop at
Sheerness, but remained in her only for three months. He commanded the
sixth rate , and then from 28 June 1806 the 32-gun
fifth-rate , both in the West Indies. On 5 April 1807
Circe captured the French privateer
Austerlitz of 18 guns and 125 men. On 2 March 1808, he captured the island of
Marie-Galante, and on 31 October, off
Martinique, he captured the of 16 guns and 79 men, 7 of whom were killed and 8 wounded, with a loss to the
Circe, having come under fire from a battery on the
Diamond Rock, of one man killed and one wounded. He commanded the 74-gun and then the frigate , on the same station, and commanded the blockading squadron off
Guadeloupe at the start of 1809 in the latter ship. On 10 February 1809,
Latona assisted in the
capture of French frigate Junon, of 46 guns and 323 men, whose fire wounded six of
Latonas crew. The exertions and activity Pigot displayed in erecting
jury-masts, and putting the prize into a seaworthy state, gained him the warm official thanks of the senior officer present, Captain George Scott, of the
Horatio. On 17 April 1809 Pigot witnessed (and was much praised for his spirited exertions during the chase which preceded) the surrender of the French 74-gun ship ; and on 18 June in the same year took part in the capture of the , pierced for 42 guns, but having only 14 of her main-deck armament mounted, with a complement of 174 men, and a cargo of sugar, coffee, etc. Pigot then moved into the frigate , in which he spent the next four years stationed in the West Indies and at
Halifax. In her, during the
War of 1812 against the United States, he destroyed the 8-gun
letter of marque Wampoe on 28 April 1813, and the 20-gun
privateer Holkar on 11 May 1813. On 27 March 1814 Pigot was sent on a secret reconnaissance mission to the Gulf Coast, to determine the defences of the mouth of the
Mississippi River (
Plaquemines Parish), and other routes by which New Orleans could be attacked, whilst determining the strength of available American troops. In a letter dated 13 April 1814, he recommended to Vice Admiral Cochrane that a weakly defended
New Orleans should be attacked. On 20 April 1814 he captured the , of twenty 32-pounder
carronades, two long 18-pounder guns, and 171 men. Pigot reported to Cochrane, about the mission to disembark Captain Woodbine, with a supply of arms for the Indian allies, after a meeting of various elders aboard the
Orpheus on 20 May 1814. From the end of 1814 he commanded the 50-gun , and then the frigate , on the coast of North America. The
Nymphe, accompanied by the
sloop-of-war (18 guns), the
brig-of-war (12 guns), the
schooner (10 guns), and two bomb vessels, was ordered to
create a distraction near the Mississippi. The
Nymphe was too large to proceed up river with the flotilla, so Pigot embarked the Herald on 8 January 1815, and disembarked on 18 January, to return to the
Nymphe. and was promoted to vice-admiral on 6 August 1847. and was promoted to admiral on 4 July 1853. He retired to
Chieveley in
Berkshire and died on 29 July 1857. ==References==