BYRON, John.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Manuscript order book. John Byron (1723-1786), known as "Foulweather Jack" because of his persistent meteorological ill-fortunes, had been midshipman on the store ship Wager, part of Anson's squadron bound for the Pacific. Shipwrecked on the southern coast of Chile, he made his way to Valparaíso and returned to Europe by a French ship, arriving back in England in February 1746. This order book documents his naval career for the decade following that early misadventure, comprising transcripts of the orders, signals, and other official communications received by Byron and sent by him in the course of his various commands during the years 1746-56. Very little has been recorded of his activities during this period, Charnock remarking in Biographia navalis that "no mention is made of him during the war", and noting just a single "trivial altercation" during his West African voyage, and DNB merely telegraphically recording his successive commands; the present Order Book to some extent fills this lacuna, providing some detailed, if relatively sparse, documentation for his activities during the period, which in turn offers authentic insight into the nature of command in the Royal Navy during the mid-eighteenth century.During his absence Byron had been promoted lieutenant; immediately on his return to England in 1746 he was made commander, and at year's end he was made captain. "After the [Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle concluded the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748] Byron commanded

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