John Elphinstone

John Elphinstone, also known as John Elphinston (1722 – 1785, aged 63), was a senior British naval officer who worked closely with the Russian Navy after 1770, with approval from the Admiralty, during the period of naval reform under Russian Empress Catherine II. Together with the Scottish-born Samuel Greig, or Samuil Karlovich Greig (Самуил Карлович Грейг), as he was known in Russia, and Admiral Sir Charles Knowles, Elphinstone was a member of the naval staff, headed by Count Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov, which, though it lacked naval experience, was able to defeat the Turkish fleet in Chesma Bay, near Chios Island, off the far western coast of Izmir, Turkey on 6 July 1770, at the Battle of Chesma.

Catherine II of Russia drew on the experience of British naval personnel through the networking in London of the British Ambassador in St. Petersburg from 1769 to 1771, Lieutenant-General Charles Cathcart, 9th Lord Cathcart. He was married to Jane Hamilton, but Jane's death in Saint Petersburg during an outbreak of the plague, prompted his return to Britain.

The vanity of Count Orlov who, having no experience at naval warfare, tried to minimise the importance of the support of the British admirals led Elphinstone to resign his post, and he returned home at the end of the war against the Turks. Russian naval history, however, tells that he did not resign by his own choice, but was rather relieved of command after his ship-of-the-line, Svyatoslav, ran onto a reef and was subsequently burned after an unsuccessful effort to move her lasting six days. The pilot for this disastrous raid (which was not approved by Orlov) was British and the protege of Elphinstone. The pilot was subsequently court-martialled and sentenced to death, but somehow managed to escape and flee. Elphinstone himself was never sentenced, but was dismissed from the service and had to return home. His memoirs were understandably biased after that and met with harsh reprimand from Catherine the Great, who went so far as to call him a madman.

John Elphinstone later held several further commands in the British Royal Navy, including that of the 74-gun HMS Magnificent during Admiral Sir George Rodney's West Indian Campaign of 1779-80. There is no mention of his role in the capture of Havana in 1762.