Captain William Nugent Glascock
Born	c. 1787
Died	9 October 1847 Baltinglass,Ireland
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Service years	1800–1855
Rank	Captain
Commands	HMS Carnation HMS Drake HMS Orestes HMS Tyne
Conflicts	French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars Battle of Cape Finisterre Walcheren Campaign

William Nugent Glascock (c. 1787– 9 October 1847) was an Irish officer in theRoyal Navy and a novelist. He saw service during theFrench Revolutionary andNapoleonic Wars, and later in the years of relative peace.

Glascock was born about 1787 inBaltinglass,County Wicklow, and joined the navy in January 1800, serving aboard the frigateHMS Glenmore under CaptainGeorge Duff. In January 1801 Duff transferred to the 74-gunthird rateship of the lineHMS Courageaux and took Glascock with him. Glascock spent the next few years with Duff seeing service in the Baltic, off the coast of Ireland and in the West Indies. In 1803 he was appointed to the newly built 74-gunHMS Colossus and afterwards to the 90-gunHMS Barfleur, in which he took part in theBattle of Cape Finisterre on 22 July 1805, and later in the blockade ofBrest under AdmiralWilliam Cornwallis. In November 1808 he was promoted to lieutenant ofHMS Dannemark, and served in her at the reduction ofFlushing in August 1809. In 1812 he was a lieutenant of the 74-gunHMS Clarence in theBay of Biscay.^{[citation needed]}

Glascock afterwards served in a number of frigates on the home station, successivelyHMS Tiber,HMS Madagascar, andHMS Maeander, and in the 32-gunHMSSir Francis Drake,flagship ofSir Charles Hamilton on theNewfoundland Station. He was promoted from her to the command of thesloopHMS Carnation in November 1818. In 1819 he commanded the brigHMS Drake, from which he was obliged to resign as an invalid. In 1830 Glascock was appointed to the sloopHMS Orestes, which he commanded on the home station during 1831, but in 1832 he was sent to the coast of Portugal, and during the latter months of the year was stationed in theDouro, for the protection of British interests in the disturbed state of the country during theLiberal Wars.^{[citation needed]}

Glascock continued in the Douro, as senior officer, for nearly a year, during which time his conduct under troublesome and often difficult circumstances won for him the approval of theAdmiralty and promotion to post-rank, on 3 June 1833, accompanied by a special and complimentary letter fromSir James Graham, thefirst lord. He did not, however, leave the Douro until the following September, and on 1 October he paid off theOrestes. From April 1843 to January 1847 he commanded the frigateHMS Tyne on the Mediterranean station, and during the following months was employed in Ireland as an inspector under thePoor Relief Act. He died suddenly on 8 October 1847 atBaltinglass. He was married and left children.^{[citation needed]}

Glascock devoted the long intervals ofhalf-pay, both as commander and captain, to writing, and produced several volumes of naval novels, anecdotes, reminiscences, and reflections. His biographer in theDictionary of National Biography,J. K. Laughton remarked that "as novels, [they] are stupid enough, and in their historical parts have little value, but are occasionally interesting as social sketches of naval life in the early part of the century."

Glascock wrote a two-volume work,The Naval Sketch Book, or The Service Afloat and Ashore, published in 1826. This was followed by the three-volumeSailors and Saints, or Matrimonial Manœuvres in 1829,Tales of a Tar, with Characteristic Anecdotes in 1836, and the three-volumeLand Sharks and Sea Gulls in 1838. He also wrote a two-volume work entitledNaval Service, or Officers' Manual, published in 1836. This useful manual for young officers passed through four editions in England. The last, published in 1859, had a short advertisement by Glascock's daughter, stating that "the work has been translated into French, Russian, Swedish, and Turkish, and adopted by the navies of those powers, as well as by that of the United States." Laughton remarked that the work was "of course, quite obsolete, though still interesting to the student of naval history and customs."

• O'Byrne, William Richard (1849)."Glascock, William Nugent" .A Naval Biographical Dictionary .John Murray – viaWikisource.
• William Richard O'Byrne (1830)Tales of a Tar full text

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: "Glascock, William Nugent".Dictionary of National Biography. London:Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Cousin, John William (1910).A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – viaWikisource.

• 1780s births
• 1847 deaths
• 19th-century British novelists
• Royal Navy captains
• Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars
• Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
• British male novelists
• 19th-century British male writers

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