John Acton

During the reign of king Ferdinand IV, thanks mainly to his wife the queen Mary Caroline, Naples pursued a foreign policy that aimed to break the secular borders of the Neapolitan Kingdom and expand its influence. The new, modern Navy Acton was building was of course the pivot of this new Neapolitan power policy. To have a fleet that was a valid tool for the expansion of the Kingdom of Naples in the Mediterranean, the Kingdom sought out to impose itself as a maritime power on a double plan, both military and commercial. Part of this long-term strategy was also the Black Sea, which had been recently opened to trade with some European powers after the repeated defeats suffered by the Ottoman Empire by the hands of Russia. At that moment there was a convergence of interests between Naples and St. Petersburg: Naples wanted access to the Black Sea for its trades, thus allowing to gain a market not reached by the great powers, and Russia was looking for a good ally and a sure naval base for the Russian fleet in Mediterranean waters. At the end of the eighteenth century, therefore, there were three capitals playing their game in the waters of that sea: Istanbul, St. Petersburg and, to a lesser extent, Naples. Understanding what its role was is the goal of my proposal.

John Acton was certainly one of the most important and influential figures in Naples during the 18th century.  Born in Besançcon on June 3 1736, he was sent by his uncle to serve in the Navy of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.  He embarked a successful career there, by committing himself to several military actions against the Barbary pirates.  In 1750 he went to Britain in order to improve his  nautical skills, but after 6 years he returned to serve in the grand-ducal military navy because of his catholic faith.  As his successful mission in Vienna showed in 1770,  he was also a clever diplomat.  As a consequence of his mission in Wien, he obtained two frigates from Joseph II, in accordance with the Grand Duke of intensively using them in the fight against piracy.  Between 1773 and 1775 he proved his worth performing heroic actions against the Barbary regencies.  In fact, he was called to serve in the French military navy as Counter admiral, which he refused:  he destroyed several ships in the port of Tunis, he wrecked a Barbary fleet by means of one frigate and proved an extraordinary worth during the siege of Alger led by the Spanish troops .  He eventually arrived in Naples in 1778, where he first became Secretary of the Navy, then Prime Minister by the will of Queen Carolina.  He died on August 12 1811 in Palermo. 
With such a curriculum, it’s evident why Queen Maria Carolina of Naples insisted to include Acton in the reorganization of the Neapolitan military navy.  Yet opinions on him have been very harsh over the course of time, both from his contemporaries and from historians. The autograph text by Nicola Battista, concurrent to the events, is a summa of all the charges brought against Acton: “He started extensive and grand projects to organize the Navy. A large sum was lavished on the building of tall vessels, frigates, gunboats, and all that tools and arms kit, which was necessary for a  great and warlike navy.”; “what’s the use of such an expensive navy, since we do not own  far colonies to defend, neither a war to face, nor the ambition of undertaking some conquests?  Our enemies were the Barbarians, who damaged our trade, while constantly overrunning our seas.  A good and simple pirate  flotilla would have been enough to curb those enemies.”
But the most infamous charge against Acton was that he “favoured the British government during the war against France, sacrificing the Reign and the very sovereigns”.  This is a serious charges, but the writer added: “The expensive fleet  which cost a fortune” was needed to “strengthen the British army in the Mediterranean ”. In particular, this last judgment appears undamaged in the course of historiography, even the recent one. However, it is the one I find the least plausible, because Acton was an extraordinary reformist and the real father of the Neapolitan Military Navy.
Throughout this essay I expect to dispel the charges that were brought against Acton, especially the charge of having create a navy “which had also the secret purpose of supporting the British policy, deploying the great ships, wanted by Acton, in pro-British actions and against the timeless enemy of Great Britain, France. ”