Saunders, Sir Charles, 1713?–1775, British admiral. He had seen 32 years of service in the British navy when he was selected in the French and Indian War to command the fleet that carried (1759) the soldiers of Gen. James Wolfe down the St. Lawrence River to Quebec. He positioned his ships so that no supplies or reinforcements could reach the French garrison there, a maneuver that was a key factor in the fall of the city (see Abraham, Plains of). Saunders was knighted in 1761; he became first lord of the admiralty in 1766 and an admiral in 1770.
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