THE NAME’S THE SAME
Captain Arthur Hood (1755–1775)
Three Hood brothers (Arthur, Alexander, and Samuel) all served in the Royal Navy in the latter half of the 18th century. They were the second generation of the Hood family to go to sea; two of them did not survive to retire from the service. Arthur Hood served aboard the 18 gun sloop of war HMS Pomona in the West Indies. When the Pomona was caught in a hurricane in the West Indies, Hood drowned in the storm. He was the first of the Hood family to die at sea.
Captain Alexander Hood (1758–1798)
Alexander Hood was the younger brother of Captain Arthur Hood. On April 21, 1798, Hood was captain of HMS , a 74-gun third class ship of off the Brittany coast. Despite the two ships being nearly evenly matched in firepower, mounting 74 guns each, the French got the worst of the fight, losing more than 300 men to British losses of 31 men killed and 60 wounded. Captain Hood did not live to savor his victory—he was mortally wounded in the final moments of the battle and died as he was being presented with the French captain’s surrendered sword.
