page_title: Samuel Goodall
section_title: Channel Fleet
hierarchical_section_title: Samuel Goodall / American War of Independence / Channel Fleet
context_page_description: Samuel Granston Goodall was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars in a career that spanned 50 years, rising to the rank of Admiral of the White.
  Goodall rose from obscure origins to the rank of lieutenant during the Seven Years' War, and continued to rise through the ranks to command his own ships. He ended the war serving in the West Indies and North America, having seen action at the Battle of Havana, and then returned to Britain. He commanded several ships in the peace before the outbreak of the American War of Independence, when he commanded several ships of the line with the Channel Fleet. He was with Keppel at the Battle of Ushant in 1778, and with Fielding at the capture of a Dutch convoy in 1780. Goodall next took part in Darby's relief of Gibraltar and the Second Battle of Ushant in 1781, after which he sailed to the West Indies to join the fleet under Sir George Rodney.
context_section_description: The outbreak of the American War of Independence offered further opportunities for employment as the navy built and activated ships. Goodall took command of the 64-gun HMS Defiance in February 1778, and joined the fleet under Augustus Keppel in time to fight at the Battle of Ushant on 27 July. Defiance was heavily engaged in the fighting, losing eight men killed and seventeen wounded from her crew. She then joined the squadron under Molyneux Shuldham in December that year. In 1779 Goodall was appointed to the 74-gun HMS Valiant, which he would command for the next four years.
  Goodall spent the first three of these serving with the Channel Fleet, at first under Sir Charles Hardy, and then from December with Commodore Charles Fielding's squadron. He was with the squadron on 31 December 1780 when the British force intercepted a Dutch convoy, and Fielding demanded to be allowed to search the ships. Their commander, Lodewijk van Bylandt refused, and Fielding attacked. After a brief action the Dutch surrendered and the convoy was taken into Portsmouth. Goodall then served under successive commanders of the Channel Fleet, firstly Sir Francis Geary, and then Sir George Darby. On 4 January 1781, while sailing in company with the 64-gun HMS Courageux under Lord Mulgrave, a squadron of three French frigates was spotted and chased. Two of them escaped, but the third was chased down and engaged in a heavy fight by Courageux, until being forced to surrender. She was the former HMS Minerva, which had been captured by the French in 1778. She had sustained losses of 49 killed and 24 wounded, while Courageux had 10 men killed and seven wounded. Minerva was taken back into the Royal Navy under the name HMS Recovery.
caption: Combat d'Ouessant juillet 1778, by Jean Antoine Théodore de Gudin. A depiction of Keppel's  action off Ushant on 27 July 1778.
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