Hugh Pigot (Royal Navy officer, born 1769)

Hugh Pigot (5 September 1769 – 21 September 1797) was an officer in the Royal Navy. Through his connections and their patronage, he was able to rise to the rank of captain, despite apparently poor leadership skills and a reputation for brutality. Writing in 1826 William James (naval historian) stated, "...he has been described to us by those who knew him well, as one of the most cruel and oppressive captains belonging to the British navy."^[1] While he was captain of HMS Hermione (1782), he eventually provoked his men to mutiny. This mutiny became the bloodiest in the history of the Royal Navy and left Pigot and nine other officers dead.^[2] The Navy hunted down and executed a number of the mutineers and recaptured his ship from the Spanish, to whom the mutineers had turned it over.