Joshua Loring

Joshua Loring (3 August 1716 – September 1781) was an 18th-century colonial American naval officer in British service. During the French and Indian War, he served as a commodore in the Great Lakes region and was active during much of the Ontario and Quebec campaigns. Biography Born in Boston, Massachusetts to parents Joshua and Hannah (Jackson) Loring, and a great-great-grandson to colonist Thomas Loring, he was apprenticed as a tanner but instead chose to enlist in the Royal Navy as a young man. He rose to command a privateer during King George's War, however he was captured by the French in 1744. Held as a prisoner in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia for several months, he was eventually released and was made a captain on 19 December 1757 on . Seven Years War During the French and Indian War, he was involved in naval operations on Lake George and Lake Champlain in 1759 and served under General James Wolfe at the capture of Quebec later that year. Transferred to Lake Ontario, he commanded the advance guard at the Battle of the Thousand Islands while accompanying Field Marshal Jeffrey Amherst with his thrust against Montreal in August 1760. During the campaign, Loring was seriously wounded at an engagement on Lake Ontario and retired at half-pay due to his injuries.