Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Boteler, Nathaniel
BOTELER, NATHANIEL (fl. 1625–1627), captain in the royal navy, is named in different lists of this date as ‘an able and experienced sea-captain’ (State Papers, Charles I, Dom. xxxii. 75, lxv. 70). He took part in the expeditions to Cadiz (Glanville, Journal of the Voyage to Cadiz, Camden Society, 1883) and the Isle of Ré; and at some later period claimed to have ‘been a commander in all our late actions abroad.' As he at the same time maintained that ‘all such as are to command as captains in any man-of-war serving in his majesty’s pay ought to be of noble birth and education,' it must he resumed that he, in his own person, fulfilled these conditions, though his relationship to Lord Boteler cannot now be traced. At the present day, however, his best claim to distinction is his having been the author of ‘Six Dialogues about Sea Services between an High Admiral and a Captain at Sea’ (1685, fcp. 8vo). This book contains a quaint and interesting account of naval rules, customs, and discipline existing in the time of Charles I, and has a very real value to the student of naval archæology. The exact date to which it refers does not appear, but lies probably between 1630–40; the publisher, Moses Pitt, gives no further account of it than, ‘Meeting with this book in manuscript, and liking well the contents thereof, I was encouraged to undertake the printing of it.’
[Authorities cited above.]