John Byron
John Byron (born November 8, 1723 in Newstead Abbey , † April 10, 1786 in London ) was an English navigator , explorer and admiral . He was also called Foul-weather Jack because of his bad luck with the weather.
Life
In 1731 John Byron joined the Royal Navy . In 1740 he participated as a midshipman in the circumnavigation of George Anson . However, his ship, the Wager , sank on the Chilean south coast. The few survivors of the Wager were able to make their way to Rio de Janeiro during an adventurous crossing of South America. Byron returned to England around 1745/46. Promoted to captain, he commanded the frigate Siren (24 cannons) until the end of the War of the Austrian Succession .
During the Seven Years' War he was sent on the ship of the line Fame (74 cannons) with a small squadron to Louisbourg in Nova Scotia to destroy the French fortifications there. These had already been conquered by the British in 1758, but were not to fall into the hands of the French again. He arrived on May 24, 1760, but received new orders on June 19 that led him to the Restigouche River. In the battle taking place there on the Restigouche River on July 8, 1760, he prevented the last attempt by the French to regain a foothold in Canada.
On the circumnavigation of the world, which he directed from 1764–1766 with the two British expedition ships Dolphin and Tamar , he discovered the island of Atafu ( Tokelau ) in the South Pacific , which he called Duke of York's Island , as well as some Gilbert Islands . In 1765 he set sail from the Patagonian port of Puerto Deseado , landed on Saunders Island near West Falkland , founded Port Egmont and took possession of the entire group of islands in the Falkland Islands for the British Crown. The dangerous strait between Neumecklenburg and Lavongai is named after him.
From 1769 to 1772 he was governor of the colony of Newfoundland - but was unable to reach an agreement in the smoldering dispute between British and French fishermen over the fishing areas agreed in the Peace of Paris .
In 1775, at the outbreak of the American War of Independence , Byron was made Rear Admiral and in 1778 Vice Admiral. In the same year he was commissioned to intercept a French convoy with a squadron. With his flagship Princess Royal (90 cannons), foul-weather Jack was the only one to reach New York harbor on August 18th - the rest of the squadron was scattered by storms to the winds. On September 26th, the fleet was able to reunite in Halifax. Bad weather prevented any further action, and it was not until July 6, 1779 that the battle of Grenada broke out . However, the superior French fleet under Comte d'Estaing managed to repel Byron's attack. He returned to England in August of the same year.
He is the grandfather of the poet Lord Byron .
The easternmost point of mainland Australia Cape Byron and the nearby Byron Bay were named after John Byron .
literature
- Werner P. Lange: South Sea Horizons. A Maritime Discovery Story of Oceania . 1983 and 1990
- Helmut Pemsel : World history of seafaring . Volume 6: Command of the Sea II . Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7083-0026-2 , ISBN 3-7822-0838-2 .
- Byron, the Hon. John . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 4 : Bishārīn - Calgary . London 1910, p. 906 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
Web links
- John Byron . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Hugh Palliser |
Commodore Governor of the Colony of Newfoundland 1769–1771 |
Molyneux Shuldham |
| Samuel Barrington | Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands Station 1779 |
Hyde Parker |
| James Gambier | Commander-in-Chief, North American Station 1779 |
Mariot Arbuthnot |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Byron, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English South Seas explorer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 8, 1723 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Newstead Abbey , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 10, 1786 |
| Place of death | London , England |