High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Rear-Admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds (bap. 30 July 1745 24 December 1811) was a long serving and widely respected officer of the British Royal Navy who served in four separate major wars in a 52 year career. During this time he saw only one major battle, although was engaged in one of the most noted frigate actions of the French Revolutionary Wars, the destruction of the Droits de l'Homme, in which his own frigate was driven ashore and wrecked. Reynolds died in 1811 during a great storm in late December, which scattered his convoy and wrecked three ships of the line including his own flagship HMS St George. Over 2,000 British sailors, including Reynolds, were drowned. Reynolds was born in the village of Lamorran in Cornwall in 1745. His exact date of birth is unknown, but he was baptised on 30 July to parents John and Elizabeth Reynolds.