George Francis Lyon
George Francis Lyon (* 1795 in Chichester , † October 8, 1832 at sea between Buenos Aires and England ) was a British navigator. Atypical for its time, Lyon not only traveled to Africa and the Arctic , but also showed great interest in the language and lifestyle of the local population.
Life
Early years
Lyon, the son of a colonel, entered the Royal Navy in 1808 . He then served off the coast of Spain and France during the Napoleonic Wars . In 1815 he took part in the siege of Gaeta as a lieutenant on the Berwick , and the following year he was involved in the bombing of Algiers on board the Albion .
First expeditions to North Africa and the polar sea
In September 1818, in Malta , Lyon met Joseph Ritchie, a secretary of the British embassy in Paris . Ritchie had planned to take a trip through North Africa, across the Sahara to Lake Chad , with Frederick Marryat , the captain of the Albion , while studying the Arabic language and culture. Since Marryat was unable to attend, Lyon, who already had a basic knowledge of Arabic, took his place. In March 1819 both set out and after 39 days reached Murzuk in what is now Libya . Soon after their arrival, both Lyon and a little later Ritchie fell ill with dysentery , which Ritchie succumbed to on November 20, 1819. Although he had hardly any financial means, Lyon traveled to southern Fessan after his recovery , but returned to Tripoli in March 1820 . On May 18, he returned to England and reached London on July 29. In the following year he published his travelogue along with extensive sketches.
In January 1821 he was promoted to commander. First he was to take part in another expedition to North Africa, under WH Smith, but later the Admiralty changed its plans. Lyon was assigned to the expedition under William Edward Parry , which set out on March 3, 1821 with the ships Fury and Hecla in northern Hudson Bay . After exploring the Hudson Strait , Repulse Bay and the coast of the Melville Peninsula , the expedition wintered on a small island in Frozen Strait . During the spring and summer months, the group waited for the thick ice sheet to break up over Fury and Hecla Straits . Lyon used the time to intensively study the language and customs of the Inuit and learned, among other things, how to get around the Arctic by kayaking and dog sledding . He bought a kayak from the Inuit himself, which he later took to England. After another winter on Iglulik Island , the expedition started its return trip in late summer 1823. In his travelogue, which he published in 1825, he added detailed sketches of the Inuit.
Expedition to Repulse Bay
On November 13, 1823, Lyon was promoted to the rank of captain and was to lead another expedition to the Arctic. On June 6, 1824, he set sail on board the HMS Griper . The aim of the expedition was to cross the Melville Peninsula from Repulse Bay and advance to Point Turnaround , which John Franklin had reached in his expedition between 1819 and 1822, on the Kent Peninsula .
The expedition was unfavorable from the start. While at least two ships were usually parked for such expeditions, Lyon had to make do with a single one. In order to be able to manage the crossing across the Atlantic with equipment and supplies for 30 months at all, he was provided with a transport ship, the Snap . The fundamental weaknesses of the Griper had already come to light during the previous expedition under Parry: It was an extremely sluggish, unwieldy ship, for which lee coasts in particular represented a constant danger, as it could hardly be maneuvered out of them. During the Atlantic crossing, the Griper , which was already deep in the water, even had to be pulled by the Snap due to its slowness . Before parting with the Snap shortly before the Hudson Strait , the rest of the equipment was brought onto the Griper , which meant that the ship was now completely overloaded and the supplies piled up on the entire deck up to Lyon's cabin.
The first Inuit were met on August 12 near the Savage Islands in the Hudson Strait . Since Lyon knew their dialect, he was able to communicate with them and bought four puppies. At a further meeting with Inuit from the Sallirmiut tribe on August 27th off Coats Island , Lyon was particularly struck by the Inuit boat sails sewn from walrus intestines. The Inuit also used fur balloons filled with air, with the help of which they could cross narrow gullies in the ice. When it seemed impossible to get through in the northern area of Hudson Bay through thick pack ice, Lyon decided to circle Southampton Island on a southern course - in contrast to Parry who had circled the island to the north. The Roes Welcome Sound was reached on September 1, but the weather conditions worsened and the navigation difficulties were great, as the considerable deviation of the compass for this area near the pole was not known at the time. Eventually the Griper ran into an underwater reef when the tide was starting . A little later, a storm also hit, which caused the ship to slide across the seabed and severely damaged the hull. Lyon had already lost all hope of rescue and advised his team to prepare for the early arrival in the afterlife when the water level rose and they managed to get the Griper afloat again.
Eleven days later, the ship had passed Wager Bay and was already in the vicinity of Repulse Bay , the Griper got caught in another storm. Heavy blocks of ice were washed onto the ship, which was deep in the water, and posed a threat to the masts. The bowsprit , which plunged deep into the water with every wave, threatened to get trapped under the ice and break. When the crew was completely exhausted after two days of uninterrupted work, and Lyon feared that they would be driven to the coast of Southampton Island , he dropped all the anchors. The next morning, however, the storm, which had meanwhile grown to hurricane strength, tore the anchors and the ship drifted directly towards the coast. Fortunately, the wind turned in time and the Griper was moving back toward the open sea; a little later the storm subsided. Since the Griper was badly damaged and a large part of the supplies had gone overboard during the two storms, a continuation of the voyage was out of the question. On September 15, Lyon gave the order to return, almost two months later the Griper arrived in Portsmouth on November 10 .
Follow-up time
Lyons was blamed for the failure of the expedition. Not only had he allowed his ship to lose all anchor - a disgrace for a captain at the time - but above all, he had allowed too large quantities of supplies and too thick, heavy clothing to be taken with him from the outset, thus causing misfortune. Although Lyon vehemently denied the allegations, he was never again given command of a ship, and shortly afterwards he retired from the Navy. In September 1825 he married Lucy Louisa , the daughter of Lord Edward Fitzgerald , an Irish freedom fighter. A little later he traveled to Mexico on behalf of the Real del Monte Mining Company . On the way back to England via New York , he was shipwrecked at Holyhead on January 14, 1827 , and many of his records were lost. Upon arrival, he learned of his wife's death four months earlier. Later, his work for the mining company took him to South Africa , where he began to suffer from impaired vision, possibly as a result of an eye infection that he had contracted years earlier in Africa. He returned to England to seek treatment. After a stopover in Buenos Aires , he died on the journey on October 8, 1832.
Works
Drawings (selection)
Camel Conveying a Bride to Her Husband (1821)
The Castle of Morzouk (1821)
Tuarick in a Shirt of Leather, Tuarick of Aghades (1821)
Escimaux Children Dancing (1824)
Sledges of the Escimaux (1824)
literature
- A Narrative of Travels in North Africa in the years 1818, 1819, and 1820, accompanied by Geographical Notices of Soudan and of the Course of the Niger. John Murray, London 1821. ( online )
- The Private Journal of Captain GF Lyon of HMS Hecla during the recent Voyage of Discovery under Captain Parry. John Murray, London 1824. ( online )
- A Brief Narrative of an Unsuccessful Attempt to reach Repulse Bay through Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome, in HM Ship Griper, in the year 1824. John Murray, London 1825. ( online )
- Journal of a Residence and Tour in the Republic of Mexico in the year 1826, with some Account of the Mines of that Country John Murray, London 1828. ( online )
Sources and web links
- John Knox Laughton: Lyon, George Francis. From the Oxford Dictionary of Biography (1885-1900), Vol. 34 ( online )
- William J. Mills: Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara 2003, pp. 387f. ISBN 978-1576074220
Remarks
- ↑ The use of dog sleds did not spread among European polar drivers until the late 1840s.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lyon, George Francis |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lyon, George |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British navigator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1795 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chichester |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 8, 1832 |
| Place of death | at sea between Buenos Aires and England |