Henry Dawes (Royal Navy officer)

Captain Henry Dawes was an officer in the English Royal Navy.

In 1665, he was appointed captain of the John and Thomas of forty-eight guns, and in the following year was promoted to command the Princess.

After taking several rich prizes, in April 1667 he sailed for Gottenburgh, and on 20 April fell in with a Dutch squadron of ships of war off the Dogger. Surrounded by such an host of foes, destruction appeared inevitable, yet he managed to fight his way through them all and escape. He reached Gottenburgh in safety; and having refitted his ship was on his return home, when he was attacked, on the coast of Norway, by two Danish men of war. He fell in the action. Thus Dawes, who had proved himself against the avowed and declared enemies of his country, perished in a contest with the ships of a nation with whom England was not at war.