A FINE FRENCH SMALL-SWORD WITH CHISELLED AND GILT IRON HILT, CIRCA 1770, RETAILED BY CULLUM, CHARING CROSS, BY TRADITION THAT OF CAPTAIN ALEXANDER HOOD AND A PORTRAIT MINIATURE OF CAPTAIN ALEXANDER HOOD R.N., ATTRIBUTED TO RICHARD BULL (ACTIVE 1777-1809), CIRCA 1785 the first with tapering blade (not visible, seized in its scabbard), iron hilt chiselled in low relief against a gilt matted ground, comprising double shell-guard decorated with differing trophies-of-arms partially enclosed by fronds within a framework of scrolls on each side, quillon-block, knuckle-guard and ovoid pommel decorated en suite with the shell, globular quillon decorated with foliage, and a pair of arms, and original grip bound with plaited silver wire and ribband between 'Turk's heads', in its parchment-covered scabbard with iron locket, chape and middle band, all decorated en suite with the hilt, the locket and middle band each with a ring for suspension and the former signed by the retailer, together with an early paper tag inscribed in ink 'Sword of Captain Alexander Hood killed in Mars at capture of L'Hercule'; and the second with powdered hair, blue coat, white facings and white jabot, on ivory, gilt-metal frame, glass lacking the sword: 79.5 cm; 31 3/8 in (in scabbard) oval 4.8 cm; 1 7/8 in (2) Alexander Hood was born on 23 April 1758 at Netherbury, Dorset and the second son of Samuel Hood, a purser in the navy and first cousin of Samuel Hood, Viscount Hood, and of Alexander Hood, Viscount Bridport. His elder brother, Arthur, also served in the navy, and was lost in the sloop Pomona in August 1776. His younger brother was Sir Samuel Hood, baronet, and naval officer. Alexander's entry into the navy is a matter of uncertainty, as an Alexander Hood appears on the books of two ships simultaneously, namely the Romney, carrying his cousin Samuel's broad pendant on the North American station, between 15 April 1767 and 9 November 1770, and the yacht Katharine, commanded by his father, from 4 July 1768 to 4 March 1772. Although the Dictionary of National Biography places him in the Romney, it is not known by what authority, as his passing certificate for lieutenant mentions only the yacht, from which he was discharged into the Resolution (Captain James Cook) for the latter's second voyage of exploration. In 1776 Hood went to North America under the patronage of Lord Howe, by whom he was promoted lieutenant in the Raisonable on 18 July 1777. In March 1780 he was appointed to command the cutter Ranger, which in the early part of 1781 was sent to the West Indies, where Sir George Rodney gave him the rank of commander on 17 May 1781. On 27 July he was appointed to the Barfleur as flag-captain to his cousin Sir Samuel Hood, then in temporary command of the station. As captain of the Barfleur he took part in the action off Cape Henry on 5 September 1781, and again in that at St Kitts on 25-6 January 1782. A few days later he was appointed to the frigate Champion, one of the repeating ships in the actions off Dominica on 9 and 12 April, specially attached to the Red squadron under Sir Samuel Hood, with whom she was afterwards sent to the Mona passage; there she had the fortune to capture the corvette Cérès, with whose captain, the baron de Parois, a nephew of the Comte de Vaudreuil, Alexander Hood became friendly. On the arrival of the squadron at Port Royal he was moved into the Aimable, another of the prizes, which he took to England in the summer of 1783. In 1790-92 and again in 1793 he commanded the frigate Hebe in the channel, and in the following year he was appointed to the Audacious, but was compelled by ill health to leave her. He was unable to resume active service until February 1797, when he was appointed to the Mars (74 guns), attached to the Channel Fleet, then commanded by Lord Bridport. He experienced the mutinies at Spithead and St Helens, and was one of the captains sent on shore by the mutineers on 11 May. In the following spring the Mars was with the fleet off Brest, and late on the morning of 21 April 1798, in company with the other ships of the inshore squadron, the Ramillies and the Jason, discovered a French ship, the Hercule (74 guns), making for the harbour. About 9 p.m. the Mars, by herself, found the Hercule at anchor off the Pointe du Raz, waiting for the tide to turn. The darkness and the strength of the current prevented any attempt at manoeuvring. After an interchange of broadsides the Mars fell alongside the Hercule with the effect that the anchors at the bows became hooked together with the two ships touching, and the guns, which could not be run out, were fired in many cases from inboard. Such conditions led to the Hercule's losing 315 men killed or wounded and with her guns dismounted she struck her colours. Casualties on the Mars, a similarly sized but older ship, totalled no more than ninety. Early in the action Hood had been shot in the thigh by a musket-bullet which cut the femoral artery. He was carried below, and expired just as the sword of the French captain, who also died later, was placed in his hand. That sword is now preserved in the National Maritime Museum (see below). Hood's body was taken to England, and buried in the churchyard of Butleigh, Somerset, beneath a monument erected by his widow, Elizabeth, daughter of John Periam of Butleigh. Although Hood undoubtedly benefited by his family connections, and he also showed some signs of being excessively strict, which resulted in his being put ashore in 1797, examples of his consideration also exist, and he was clearly an officer of ability and good powers of leadership. His will, leaving all to his wife, was made after he received his fatal wound, and gives no indication of his financial position. He was survived by their two children, of whom Alexander (d. 1851) succeeded to the baronetcy conferred on his uncle Sir Samuel Hood; his children in turn included Sir Arthur William Acland Hood, naval officer. Abridged and taken from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Two further swords belonging to Captain Alexander Hood, including that presented to him on his death from the French Captain of the Hercule, are preserved in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. See May and Annis 1970, p. 358.
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