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 1681 - 1708

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• Birth	1681
  Gender	Male
  Died	17 Nov 1708	Deptford, County Kent, England
  Buried	St. Nicholas, Deptford, County Kent, England
  	"Here lyeth ye body of Mr John Benbow, eldest son of Admiral John Benbow, viz Admiral of ye White, by Martha his wife. He died November ye 17 1708 in the 27th year of his age." http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/MIsDeptford/MIsDeptford.htm
  Person ID	I1230	Benbow Family and Allied Lines
  Last Modified	19 Sep 2008 21:35:44
  Father	John Benbow, b. 1650 - 1653, England
  Mother	Martha
  Family ID	F477	Group Sheet

• Photos		Admiral Benbow's son John Benbow -- "Shipwreck of the Degrave" engraving for Drury's Adventures, an account of the shipwreck by another sailor aboard the ship, who escaped after John Benbow returned home to England

• Notes

  John joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in 1695, and served on the Northumberland. He was recommissioned as a Volunteer in 1697. In April of that year, he joined the crew of the Shrewsbury, which had been his father's flagship the preceding winter. In 1700, John was commissioned as a lieutenant. He chose to be employed on an East Indies merchant ship. In 1702, the same year his father died in the West Indies, John was shipwrecked on the coast of Madagascar, where he had to live with the natives for quite some time. He was finally picked up and returned to England by a Dutch captain. He wrote an account of the series of events, but apparently this has been lost. Defoe's "Madagascar", published in 1729, may have been based in part on Benbow's account. John's health and spirits seem to have been broken by the ordeal, and he died unmarried in 1708, and is buried at Deptford in the family tomb at St. Nicholas. His will, dated 10 November 1708, left 1700 pounds to his sister Martha, her husband Thomas Stringer, their daughter Martha Stringer, his sister Katherine Benbow, and his brothers William Benbow and Richard Benbow. Katherine, William, and Richard were all under 21 at the time the will was drawn up, as demonstrated by its content. He left the residue of his estate to his mother, who proved the will on 10 November 1709. The family tomb in the Church of St. Nicholas Deptford is next to the altar, and John's tombstone inscription reads: Here lyeth ye Body of / John Benbow Elder Son / of Adm. John Benbow / viz. Admiral of Ye White / By Martha His wife / He died November ye 17, 1708 / In ye 27th Year of His Age.

• Sources

  [S2] "Brave Benbow", William A. Benbow, (Bredah Press, Victoria, B.C., Canada), 0-9692991-0-9., pp. 186-87.