Admiral Alexander Wilmot Schomberg (24 February 1774 – 13 January 1850) was an officer of the British Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
He entered the Navy in April 1785 as a first-class volunteer aboard Dorset, the official yacht of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, commanded by his father in the Irish Sea. He later served as a midshipman aboard Porcupine, under the command of Captain Lambert Brabazon, for about 21⁄2 years, before joining the 98-gun Impregnable, flagship of Sir Richard Bickerton at Plymouth, late in 1789. He went on to serve aboard the frigate Lowestoffe, Captain Edmund Dodd, attached to the Channel Fleet, and then in the 50-gun Trusty, flagship of Sir John Laforey on the West Indies Station. There he was promoted to lieutenant on 26 July 1793, to serve aboard the sloop Nautilus, Captain Lord Henry Paulet, and then the frigate Solebay, Captain William Hancock Kelly.
In Solebay he commanded 50 men of the Naval Brigade, part of the forces commanded by Sir Charles Grey, during the operations against Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Guadeloupe in 1794. He also took part in the unsuccessful attempt recapture Guadeloupe, which had been unexpectedly and successfully re-taken by French Republican forces under Victor Hugues. Schomberg served for a short time in Boyne, the flagship of Sir John Jervis. However, at the end of the year, having suffered a severe attack of yellow fever, he was sent home to recuperate.
On 22 June 1795 Schomberg was appointed to the 56-gun Glatton, Captain Henry Trollope, stationed in the North Sea. As an experiment, she was armed with only carronades, twenty-eight 32-pounders on the upper deck and twenty-eight 68-pounder carronades on the lower, giving her a distinct advantage in weight of metal against ships armed with standard 32- and 28-pounders in a close action. This was demonstrated on 15 July 1796 when Glatton fought a French squadron of four frigates, two ship-corvettes, a large brig-corvette and an armed cutter off the coast of Flanders. In a short but violent confrontation Glatton attacked the French squadron just before nightfall, her heavy guns doing great damage to the enemy, though she was severely cut up in her sails, rigging and masts. After spending the night making repairs, Glatton sought out the enemy, but they declined a renewal of the engagement, and sailed for Flushing. The French ships were believed to be the razee Brutus, and the frigates Incorruptible, Magicienne and Républicaine. It was reported that they had suffered considerable damage, and one sank in the harbour. During the action, Schomberg, commanding the lower deck, found that he did not have enough men to fight all the guns on both sides, so resorted to forming them into gangs, who loaded and ran the guns out, then moved on to the next gun, while two men pointed and fired. Schomberg was commended for his conduct, and on 28 July was appointed first lieutenant of the frigate Amphion. Unfortunately, the ship was destroyed by an explosion while moored at Plymouth Dock while he was travelling to join her, and it was not until January 1796 that he received command of the 14-gun brig Rambler, in which he served on the coasts of Holland and Norway, at Newfoundland, off Cherbourg, and on the Guernsey and Jersey stations. He was promoted to commander on 2 April 1798, but remained in Rambler until 1 January 1801, when he was promoted to post-captain.