{{Short description|English naval officer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = Rear-Admiral |name= Thomas Ball Sulivan |honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CB}} |birth_date= 5 January 1781 |death_date= {{death-date and age|17 November 1857|5 January 1781}} |birth_place= Cawsand, Cornwall |death_place=Flushing, Cornwall |image= |caption= |nickname= |allegiance= Great Britain <br /> United Kingdom |service_years=1786–1846 |rank= Rear admiral |commands= South East Coast of America Station |branch= Royal Navy |unit= |battles=Napoleonic Wars<br />War of 1812 |awards=Companion of the Order of the Bath |other_work= }}
Rear-Admiral '''Thomas Ball Sulivan''' CB (5 January 1781 – 17 November 1857) was a Royal Navy officer who became Senior Officer, South East Coast of America Station.
==Life== [[File:Curacao, 1807 RCIN 735132 (cropped).jpg|thumb|The capture of Curaçao, depicted by Thomas Whitcombe]]
Sulivan was born in Cawsand, Cornwall on 5 January 1780. By 1786, he was recorded on board ''HMS Triumph'' in Portsmouth, then under the command of Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood.<ref name=loney>{{cite web|url=http://www.pdavis.nl/ShowBiog.php?id=251|title=Thomas Ball Sulivan|publisher=William Loney|accessdate=18 January 2015}}</ref> He served on several different naval ships until 1793, when he was sent to Mediterranean to take part in French Revolutionary Wars, including being part of the crew of ''HMS Southampton'' that captured ''Utile'' in 1796, and was promoted to lieutenant the following year.<ref name=ODNB/>
Sulivan took part in the expedition to Ostend to destroy the Bruges Canal in May 1798 and was present at the bombardment of the Port of Granville in September 1803.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB |last1=Laughton |first1=K. |last2=Lambert |first2=Andrew |title=Sulivan, Thomas Ball (1780–1857) |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-26770 |accessdate=5 May 2020 |date=23 September 2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/26770 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref> In 1807, he took part in the capture of Curaçao, and was promoted to commander for his efforts. in 1813, after a few commands, his ship ''HMS Woolwich'' was wrecked in a hurricane, although the crew was saved and Sulivan was acquitted by the subsequent court martial.<ref name=ODNB />
He commanded a naval brigade at the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814 during the War of 1812.<ref name=ODNB/> He went on to be commanding officer of the third-rate {{HMS|Talavera|1818|6}} at Plymouth in March 1836 and, having been promoted to Commodore, he became Senior Officer, South East Coast of America Station in 1838.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJAtAQAAMAAJ&q=Commander-in-chief+Brazils+Squadron+1838&pg=PA390|title=General Report of the Emigration Commissioners, Volume 6|year=1839|publisher=Emigration Commission|page=390}}</ref>
On 19 March 1808, Sulivan married Henrietta, daughter of Rear-Admiral Bartholomew James. They had fourteen children, four of whom entered the navy.<ref>Laughton (1898)</ref> His son, Bartholomew Sulivan, was a naval officer and hydrographer.<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26769|title=Bartholomew Sulivan|last=Laughton|first=J. K.|author2=Lambert, Andrew|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/26769 |accessdate=18 June 2015}}</ref> He received a CB on 5 June 1815.<ref name=ODNB/>
Sulivan died at his home in Flushing, Cornwall on 17 November 1857.<ref name=ODNB/>
==See also== {{Portal|Cornwall}} * {{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Sulivan, Thomas Ball |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=John Murray}} * {{cite DNB|wstitle=Sulivan, Thomas Ball|last=Laughton|first=John Knox|volume=55}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=New Post}} {{s-ttl|title=Commander-in-Chief, South East Coast of America Station|years=1838–1841}} {{s-aft|after=John Purvis}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulivan, Thomas Ball}} Category:1781 births Category:1857 deaths Category:Royal Navy rear admirals Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath Category:Sailors from Cornwall