Commander Samuel Sparshott was an English officer of the Royal Navy, serving in the Napoleonic Wars. As signal-mate on HMS Caledonia, he was called to testify at the court-martial of James, Lord Gambier. As commander, his last ship was HMS Nimrod, which was driven by a gale onto rocks in Holyhead Bay. Although he and his crew refloated the ship and brought her to dry dock for repair, she was too damaged for naval use, and was sold. His final office was Deputy Inspector-General of the Coast Guard, a position that he held for over twenty years. After he died, it was suggested that he might be called, "Father of the Coast Guard".

The Court-martial of James, Lord Gambier, was a notorious British naval legal case during the summer of 1809, in which Admiral Lord Gambier requested a court-martial to examine his behaviour during the Battle of Basque Roads in April of the same year. Noted for the acrimony and corruption of proceedings, it has been described as "one of the ugliest episodes in the internal history of the Royal Navy".