John Byron
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- This article is about the 18th century vice-admiral. For the 17th century Royalist, see John Byron, 1st Baron Byron.
John Byron (November 8, 1723 – April 10, 1786) was a British vice-admiral. He was known as Foul-weather Jack because of his frequent bad luck with the weather.
Byron was the second son of the 4th Baron Byron. He joined the navy at a young age, accompanying Baron Anson on his circumnavigation as a midshipman. Byron's ship, HMS Wager, was shipwrecked on the coast of Patagonia, and the survivors decided to split in two teams, one to make its way by boat to Rio de Janeiro, the other, John Byron's, to sail North and meet Spaniards. He wrote of his adventures in The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron, which sold well enough to appear in several editions. These experiences form the basis of the novel The Unknown Shore by Patrick O'Brian, which closely follows Byron's own account.
In 1760 he was in command of a squadron sent to destroy the fortifications at Louisbourg.
Between June 1764 and May 1766 Byron completed his own circumnavigation as captain of HMS Dolphin. In 1765 he took possession of the Falkland Islands on the part of Britain on the ground of prior discovery, and his doing so was nearly the cause of a war between Great Britain and Spain, both countries having armed fleets to contest the sovereignty of the barren islands. On this voyage, Byron discovered islands of the Tuamotus, Tokelau and the Gilbert Islands, and visited Tinian in the Northern Marianas Islands.
In 1769 he was appointed governor of Newfoundland. He was made Commander-in-chief of the British fleet in the West Indies in 1778 and 1779 during the American War of Independence. He unsuccessfully attacked a French fleet under the Comte d'Estaing at the Battle of Grenada in July 1779.
He was the father of John Mad Jack Byron, who in turn fathered the poet Lord Byron.
[edit] See also
- Governors of Newfoundland
- List of people of Newfoundland and Labrador
- Cape Byron in Australia, named after Byron
[edit] External links
- Biography at Government House The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia - HMS Dolphin
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Commodore Governor of Newfoundland 1769-1771 |
Succeeded by Molyneux Shuldham |
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