Shovell, Sir Clowdisley

Shovell, Sir Clowdisley, or Sir Cloudesley Shovel (kloudz`lē shŭv`əl), 1650–1707, English admiral. In the War of the Grand Alliance he burned enemy ships at the battle of La Hogue in 1692 and was joint commander of the English fleet in 1693. In the War of the Spanish Succession he brought home the silver captured by Sir George Rooke at Vigo (1702), helped him capture Gibraltar (1704), and assisted at the capture of Barcelona (1705). Returning from an abortive attack on Toulon in 1707, he was lost with 800 or 900 men when his ship was wrecked off the Scilly Islands.