He was the only son of James Master of
East Langdon in
Kent, by Joyce, only daughter of
Christopher Turnor, baron of the exchequer; James Master's grandfather, Sir Edward Master (died 1648), had married Audry, eldest daughter and coheiress of Robert Streynsham, by whom he had fifteen children. His uncle (younger brother of his father, James), an influential figure in the
East India Company, was also named
Streynsham Master. Master entered the navy under Captain
George Byng, who had married his sister, Margaret. He was serving with him as a midshipman of
HMS Ranelagh in 1704, was promoted to be a lieutenant of the
Ranelagh, and was severely wounded in the leg by the explosion at the
capture of Gibraltar. On 5 July 1709 he was promoted by Byng, then commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, to command HMS
Fame, and on 22 March 1710 he was posted by
Sir John Norris to HMS
Ludlow Castle. In 1712 Master was captain of
HMS Ormonde in the Mediterranean; in 1716 and 1717 of the same vessel, now called HMS
Dragon, in the Baltic Sea, with Norris and Byng. In March 1718 he was appointed to
HMS Superbe, one of the fleet which went out to the Mediterranean with Byng. In the
Battle of Cape Passaro off the southern tip of
Sicily, 31 July 1718, Master made himself prominent. The
Superbe and
HMS Kent together engaged the
Real San Felipe, the Spanish flagship, till, having beaten her to a standstill, she was boarded and taken by a party from the
Superbe, led by
Thomas Arnold, her first lieutenant. After his return to England Master had no further service, dying of a fever, 22 June 1724. He had married, only four months before, Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of Richard, son of
Sir Henry Oxenden, 1st Baronet, but left no issue. ==Notes==