John Perkins

Who was John Perkins?

Captain John Perkins, nicknamed Jack Punch, was a British Royal Navy officer. Perkins was the first black commissioned officer in the Royal Navy. He rose from obscurity to be one of the most successful ship captains of the Georgian navy. He captained a 10-gun schooner during the American War of Independence and in a two-year period captured at least 315 enemy ships.

Later in his career Perkins acted for the navy as a spy and undertook missions to Cuba and Saint Domingue. At the start of the slave revolt in Saint Domingue he was captured in Cap-François and sentenced to death for supplying the rebel slave army with weapons.

After his rescue he was promoted commander in 1797 and then to post-captain in 1800. Perkins went on to cause an international incident with the Danish when he fired on two of their ships during peacetime. Toward the end of his career he captured the islands of Saint Eustatia and Saba from the French. The islands form part of the Netherlands Antilles. Perkins also attacked a 74-gun ship-of-the-line with a 32-gun frigate.