Saumarez combined deterrence and diplomacy in the Baltic

After years defending the Channel Islands against the area judged most vulnerable to French invasion, Saumarez took HMS Victory as his flagship in the Baltic in 1808. He judged that Sweden, though pressured by France into declaring war on Britain, was likely to become an ally and therefore applied enough naval pressure to contain it without provoking a needless rupture. His fleet protected British commerce, watched Denmark, and helped prevent reinforcement of Napoleon through the Baltic during the 1812 invasion of Russia. Sweden later awarded him the Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword, reflecting the success of a policy that combined coercive power with restraint. Saumarez eventually reached Admiral of the Red in 1830, entered the peerage as Baron de Saumarez in 1831, and died in Guernsey in 1836.