an Indiaman, approached, with a view to seize so rich a prize, but, finding out his mistake, and notwithstanding the disparity of force, hauled his wind and made off. Even had the Blenheim been a ship to chase with, Troubridge would not have felt justified in leaving the convoy; as it was, he had also the certain knowledge that the chase would be useless. He pursued his voyage and joined Sir Edward Pellew [q. v.], till then commander-in-chief in East India and China. Pellew was strongly convinced of the inadvisability of dividing the station, when the exigencies of war might make prompt action under one commander essential to success; and as Troubridge, properly enough, maintained that they had no power, by any agreement between themselves, to alter the disposition of the admiralty, Pellew referred the matter to them, with a full statement of his reasons. The result was an order to Pellew to resume command of the whole station, and to Troubridge to take the chief command at the Cape of Good Hope.
Meantime the Blenheim had been ashore in the Straits of Malacca, and had sustained so much damage that in the opinion of many of her officers she was no longer seaworthy; and when, after much difficulty, she arrived at Madras to refit, her captain, Bissell, represented that there would be great danger in attempting to take her to the Cape. Troubridge, however, had great confidence in himself, and was probably unwilling to remain on Pellew's station longer than necessary. There had been no quarrel, but by the blunder of the admiralty the relations between them were not altogether friendly. He insisted on sailing at once in the Blenheim, and such confidence was reposed in his ability that many passengers from Madras embarked in her. She left Madras on 12 Jan. 1807, and with her the Java, an old Dutch prize frigate, and the Harrier brig. On 1 Feb., near the south-east end of Madagascar, they got into a cyclone, from which the Harrier alone emerged. When last seen by her, both the Blenheim and Java had hoisted signals of distress; but the Harrier herself was in great danger and could do nothing. She lost sight of them in a violent squall, and there can be no doubt that they both foundered. When the news reached the East Indies, Pellew sent Troubridge's son, then in command of the Greyhound, to make inquiries as to the fate of the ships. The French governor of Mauritius gave him every assistance in his power, and sent an account of pieces of wreck which had been cast ashore in different places; but nothing could be identified as belonging to either of the missing ships, nothing that could give any positive information as to their fate.
Troubridge married, about 1786, Mrs. Frances Richardson, and left issue a daughter, besides one son, Edward Thomas Troubridge, the heir to the baronetcy, who is separately noticed.
An anonymous portrait of Troubridge belonged in 1868 to Captain F. P. Egerton, R.N.
[Ralfe's Nav. Biogr. iv. 397; official letters, pay-books, and logs in the Public Record Office; Nicolas's Letters and Despatches of Viscount Nelson, passim; Clarke and McArthur's Life of Nelson; James's Naval History. Troubridge's correspondence with Nelson (1797–1800) has been recently acquired by the British Museum (Addit. MSS. 34902, 34906–17).]
TROUBRIDGE, Sir THOMAS ST. VINCENT HOPE COCHRANE (1815–1867), colonel, born on 25 May 1815, was eldest son of Admiral Sir Edward Thomas Troubridge [q. v.] (second baronet), by Anna Maria, daughter of Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane [q. v.] He was commissioned as ensign in the 73rd foot on 24 Jan. 1834. On 30 Dec. 1836 he was promoted lieutenant and exchanged into the 7th royal fusiliers. He served with this regiment at Gibraltar, the West Indies, and Canada, becoming captain on 14 Dec. 1841, and major on 9 Aug. 1850.
He went with it to the Crimea in 1854, and was in the forefront of the battle at the Alma. He was in command of the right wing of the regiment, which was on the right of the light division, and had to deal with the left wing of the Kazan regiment. On 5 Nov. (Inkerman) he was field officer of the day, and was posted with the reserve of the light division in the Lancaster battery. This battery was enfiladed by Russian guns to the east of the Careenage ravine, and Troubridge lost his right leg and left foot by a shot from one of these guns. He remained in the battery, however, till the battle was over, with his limbs propped up against a gun-carriage. Lord Raglan, in his despatch of 11 Nov., said of him that, though desperately wounded, he behaved with the utmost gallantry and composure.
He returned to England in May 1855, and was present (in a chair) at the distribution of medals by the queen on 18 May. He was made C.B., aide-de-camp to the queen, and brevet colonel from that day, having already been made brevet lieutenant-colonel on 12 Dec. 1854. He also received the Crimean medal with clasps, the Turkish medal, the Medjidie (4th class), and the Legion of Honour.
