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John Byron — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Anson's voyage around the world

In 1740, he accompanied George Anson on his voyage around the world as a midshipman aboard one of the several ships in the squadron.

On 14 May 1741, HMS Wager was shipwrecked on the coast of Chile on what is now called Wager Island, and Byron was one of the survivors. Under the tenuous command of Captain David Cheape, who was only promoted to the position mid-voyage following the death of his predecessor, the survivors bickered amongst themselves and split into factions. A large group of sailors, including Byron, eventually defied Cheape's authority and sailed east to Portuguese Brazil, targeting Rio Grande do Sul on the Atlantic coast. Days into the journey, Byron and several others returned to the captain and his remaining small party.

Cheape's party consisted of 19 men after the deserters rejoined the camp. This included the surgeon Elliot and Lieutenant Hamilton, as well as Byron and fellow midshipman Alexander Campbell. They rowed up the coast but were punished by continuous rain, headwinds, and waves that threatened the boats. One night, while the men slept on shore, one of the boats capsized while at anchor and was swept out to sea with its two boatkeepers. One of the men got ashore, but the other drowned. As it was now impossible for them all to fit in the remaining boat, four marines were left ashore with muskets to fend for themselves. The winds prevented them from getting around the headland, so they returned to pick up the marines, only to find them gone. They returned to Wager Island in early February 1742. With one death on the journey, there were now 13 in the group.

Martín Olleta, a Chono chieftain, guided the men up the coast to the Spanish settlements on Chiloé Island, where they set out again. Two men died; after burying the bodies, the six seamen rowed off in the boat, never to be seen again, while Cheape, Hamilton, Byron, Campbell, and the dying Elliot were on shore looking for food. Olleta then agreed to take the remaining four on by canoe for their only remaining possession, a musket. The party likely travelled across Presidente Ríos Lake in the inland Taitao Peninsula, a lake that Chile officially discovered in 1945. Eventually they made it to be taken prisoner by the Spanish. The Spaniards treated them well and they were eventually taken to the inland capital of Santiago where they were released on parole. The Spaniards heard that Anson had been generous in the treatment of the prisoners he had taken, and this kindness was returned.

Byron and the other three men stayed in Santiago till late 1744 and were offered passage on a French ship bound for Spain. Three accepted the passage. Campbell elected to take a mule across the Andes and joined the Spanish Admiral Pizarro in Montevideo on the Asia only to find Isaac Morris and the two seamen who had been abandoned in Freshwater Bay on the Atlantic coast. After time in prison in Spain, Campbell reached Britain in May 1746, followed by the other three two months later.

In England, the official court martial examined only the loss of the Wager, in which Baynes, in nominal charge at the time, was acquitted of blame but reprimanded for omissions of duty. Disputes over what happened after the wreck were instead played out as Bulkeley and Cummins, Campbell, Morris, the cooper Young, and later Byron published their own accounts, the last of which was the only one that in any way defended Cheap, who had since died. Twenty-nine crew members plus seven marines made it back to England.

Byron's account of his adventures and the Wager Mutiny are recounted in The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron (1768). His book sold well enough to be printed in several editions.

Byron was appointed captain of HMS Siren in December 1746.

Commodore, governor, and vice admiral

In early 1764, the British Admiralty determined that a permanent naval settlement off the South American coast would be required to resupply naval vessels seeking to enter the Pacific via Cape Horn. Captain Byron was selected to explore the South Atlantic for a suitable island upon which to establish such a settlement. The South American mainland was controlled by Spain, which was hostile to the expansion of British interests in the region; to disguise Byron's mission, it was announced that he had been appointed the new Navy Commander-in-Chief, East Indies. Byron set sail in June 1764, ostensibly to take up the East Indies post. For the voyage he was granted command of the 24-gun frigate HMS Dolphin and the 16-gun sloop HMS Tamar.

Byron's two-vessel flotilla crossed the Atlantic over the winter of 1764 and made its way slowly down the South American coast. The Admiralty had ordered Byron first to seek Pepys Island, reputedly discovered off the Patagonian coast by the corsair Ambrose Cowley in 1683. Byron reached the co-ordinates given by Cowley in January 1765, but there was no sign of the island and the search was swiftly abandoned. On 5 February Byron reached the Patagonian settlement of Port Desire where he resupplied his vessels from the storeship HMS Florida.

Between June 1764 and May 1766, Byron completed his own circumnavigation of the globe as captain of HMS Dolphin. This was the first such circumnavigation that was accomplished in less than 2 years. His actions nearly caused a war between Great Britain and Spain, as both countries had armed fleets ready to contest the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. Later Byron encountered islands and extant residents of the Tuamotus and Tokelau Islands, and Nikunau in the southern Gilbert Islands; he also visited Tinian in the Northern Marianas Islands. A notable member of Byron's crew was Master's Mate Erasmus Gower, whom Byron chose to 'take a significant part' in the ceremony when he took possession of the Falkland Islands. Byron had examined Gower for his lieutenant's examination in 1762 and was so impressed that he chose him to accompany him on his own circumnavigation (1764–65) and ensured that he was appointed as lieutenant to Commander Philip Carteret immediately afterwards in the next circumnavigation (1766–69).

In 1769, he was appointed governor of Newfoundland off the mainland of Canada, an office he held for the next three years.

He was promoted to rear admiral on 31 March 1775. In 1779, he served as Commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands Station during the American War of Independence. After being severely injured during a storm on his way to the West Indies, Byron unsuccessfully attacked a French fleet under the Comte d'Estaing at the Battle of Grenada in July 1779. He subsequently resigned his post and returned to England, where he suffered from poor health for the rest of his life.

Byron was briefly Commander-in-Chief, North American Station from 1 October 1779. He was made vice admiral of the white in September 1780.