BYRON, Hon. John, the British admiral and circumnavigator, second son of the fourth Lord Byron, and grandfather of the poet, was born November 8th, 1723. He began his naval career in the eighth year of his age, and while still very young accompanied Anson in his voyage of discovery round the world. The dreadful hardships that he endured on this voyage he has recorded in his narrative. It is of him that Campbell says in the Pleasures of Hope—
"Twas his to mourn misfortune's rudest shock,
Scourged by the winds and cradled on the rock;
To wake each joyless morn, and search again
The famish'd haunts of solitary men," &c.
On his return home he was raised to the rank of commander, and soon after to that of post-captain. During many successive years he saw a great deal of hard service, and so constantly had he to contend on his various expeditions with adverse gales and dangerous storms, that he was aptly nicknamed by the sailors "Foul-weather Jack." In 1769 he was appointed governor of Newfoundland. In 1775 he attained his flag rank, and in the following year became a vice-admiral. In 1778 he was despatched with a fleet to watch the movements of the Count d'Estaing, who was setting out from France with an armament to assist the Americans. With this commander, in the July of the following year, he fought an indecisive engagement off Grenada. He shortly after returned to England, and retired into private life. He died on the 10th of April 1786.