LEAKE, RICHARD, was born at Harwich in 1629, and was bred to the sea. At the Restoration, he was made master gunner of the Princess, a frigate of fifty guns, and
in the first Dutch war distinguished himself by his skill and bravery in two extraordinary actions; one against fifteen sail of Dutch men of war; and another in 1667 against two Danes in the Baltic, in which, the commanding officers of the Princess being killed or desperately wounded, the command, according to the rules of war at that time, fell to the gunner. In 1669 he was promoted to be gunner of the Royal Prince, a first-rate man of war. He was engaged, with his two sons, Henry and John, in the battle against Van Tromp, in 1673, when the Royal Prince had all her masts shot away, nearly 400 of her men killed and disabled, and most of her upper tier of guns dismounted. As she lay thus like a wreck upon the water, a great Dutch man of war came down upon her with two fire-ships, either to burn or carry her off; and Captain, afterwards Sir George Rooke, thinking it impossible to defend her, ordered the men to save their lives, and the colours to be struck. Mr Leake hearing this, ordered the lieutenant off the quarter-deck, and took the command himself, saying, "the Royal Prince shall never be given up to the enemy while I am alive to defend her." The undaunted spirit of the brave gunner inspired with resolution the small residue of the ship's company; they returned with alacrity to the fight, and, under the direction of this valiant gunner and his two sons, sunk both the fire-ships, and having obliged the man of war to sheer off, saved the Royal Prince, and brought her into Chatham. But Mr Leake's joy in obtaining this victory was damped by the loss of Henry, his eldest son, who was killed near him. Soon afterwards Mr Leake was preferred to the command of a yacht, and also made gunner of Whitehall. In 1677 he obtained a grant for life of the office of master gunner of England, and storekeeper of the ordnance at Woolwich. In this situation he had full scope for his genius. He accordingly, amongst other things, invented the cushee piece; and contrived to fire a mortar by the blast of a piece, which has been used ever since. He was also the principal contriver of what the French call infernals, used at the bombardment of St Malo in 1693. Mr Leake had a surprising genius for all inventions of this kind; and had frequent trials of skill with French and Dutch gunners and engineers in Woolwich Warren, at which Charles II. and the Duke of York were often present, and in which he never failed to excel all his competitors. Nor was he less skilled in the art of contriving compositions for fireworks, of which he likewise made frequent trials with equal success.