During 1811, and for some time previous, British cruisers hovering about the American coast had captured many American vessels bound for France, and had made a number of impressments. In May, 1811, Commodore John Rodgers, commanding the American frigate USS President, was ordered to put to sea from Chesapeake Bay and protect American commerce. When thirty miles off Cape Charles, on May the 16th, Rodgers descried a vessel, which he supposed to be the British man-of-war HMS Guerriere. He decided to approach her and make inquiries regarding impressment.
This vessel was HMS Little Belt, a small British frigate. She allegedly showed no colours and sailed away, the USS President pursuing. Overhauling her at about eight o'clock, Rodgers declared she ran up colours which could not be recognized for the darkness, and fired upon the USS President. The fire was immediately returned and HMS Little Belt was disabled in about eighteen minutes. The dispute as to which ship was in fault was never settled. When Foster, the British Minister arrived, however, it was mutually agreed to drop the affair. Research Little Belt Affair
Alistair MacLean was a Scottish writer. He was born in 1922 at Glasgow and died in 1987. Educated at Glasgow university, he served in the Royal Navy from 1941 until 1946 before becoming a school teacher. In 1954 he won a competition in the Glasgow Herald for writing a short story about an adventure at sea. After which, he was encouraged by the publishers William Collins to write a novel, HMS Ulysses, which became an international hit. In 1957 he wrote his second adventure novel, The Guns of Navarone and followed it by several more adventure novels all of which have proved very popular and many of which have been made into successful films. Research Alistair MacLean
Charles Egbertt Darwin was an English naturalist. He was born in Shrewsbury in 1809 and died in 1882. The son of Dr.Robert Darwin and grandson of Dr. Erasmus Darwin, he was
educated at Shrewsbury School, and at the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge. He early devoted himself to the study of natural history, and in 1831 he was appointed naturalist to the surveying voyage of HMS Beagle, commanded by Captain (afterwards Admiral) Fitzroy. The vessel sailed in December 1831, and did not return until October 1836, after having circumnavigated the globe.
Charles Darwin returned home with rich stores of knowledge, part of which he soon gave to the public in various works. In 1839 he married his cousin Emma Wedgwood, and henceforth spent the life of a quiet country gentleman, engrossed in scientific pursuits - experimenting, observing, recording, reflecting, and generalizing. In 1839 he published his Journal of Researches during a Voyage round the World; in 1842 Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs; in 1844 Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands, etc; in 1846 Geological Observations in South America; in 1851 and 1854 his Monograph of the Cirrhipedia, and soon after the Fossil Lepadridae and Balsenidae of Great Britain. In 1859 his name attained its great celebrity by the publication of The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. This work, scouted and derided though it was at first in certain quarters, maybe said to have worked nothing less than a revolution in biological science. In it for the first time was given a full exposition of the theory of evolution as applied to plants and animals, the origin of species being explained on the hypothesis of natural selection.
The rest of his works are largely based on the material he had accumulated for the elaboration of this great theory. The principal are a treatise on the Fertilization of Orchids published in 1862; Domesticated Animals and Cultivated Plants; or The Principle of Variation, etc, under Domestication published in 1867; Descent of Man and Variation in Relation to Sex published in 1871; The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals published in 1872; Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants; Insectivorous Plants published in 1875; Cross and Self Fertilisation published in 1876; The Power of Movement in Plants published in 1880; The Formation of Vegetable Mould published in 1881; the last containing a vast amount of information in regard to the common earth-worm. Research Charles Darwin
David Porter was an American sailor. He was born in 1780 and died in 1843. He came from a seafaring family, and fought in the wars with France and Tripoli. In 1812 he was appointed a captain, and with the Essex and captured a number of British prizes and the man-of-war HMS Alert. In 1813 he started on a cruise in the Pacific with the Essex, in the course of which he nearly destroyed the British whale-fishery in that ocean. In the harbour of Valparaiso on March the 28th, 1814, the Essex and the Phoebe fought a desperate battle, in which the former, completely disabled, was compelled to surrender. Porter fought against the West India pirates in 1824, and from 1826 to 1829 directed the Mexican navy. He was then US Consul to the Barbary States, and from 1831 until his death he was US Minister resident to Turkey. Research David Porter
Sir Hyde Parker was a British naval officer. He was born in 1739 and died in 1807. He served on HMS Phoenix on the American station, and in 1776 engaged in the attack on New York. He conveyed the troops which captured Savannah in 1778. Research Hyde Parker
John Manley was an English-born American sailor. He was born in 1733 and died in 1793. He moved from England to America and settled in Marblehead, Massachusetts. He was commissioned by George Washington to cruise off Boston and intercept Gage's supplies, on October the 24th, 1775. He opened the naval operations of the American War of Independence by capturing HMS Nancy, laden with military supplies, on November the 29th. In 1776 he was made the second captain in the US navy, and commanded the Hancock in 1776 and 1777, and privateers subsequently. He was twice made a prisoner. In 1782 he commanded the ship Hague. Research John Manley
Sir Peter Parker was a British sailor. He was born in 1721 and died in 1811. He left England in 1775 as post-captain in HMS Bristol to co-operate with Sir Henry Clinton in an attack on Charleston, South Carolina. He made a gallant but unsuccessful assault on Fort Moultrie in 1776. He aided LordHowe in the capture of New York, and commanded the squadron that took possession of Rhode Island. In 1782 he took De Grasse prisoner.
Sir Peter Parker was a British sailor. He was born in 1786 and died in 1814. He was sent in command of HMS Menelaus to patrol Chesapeake Bay and blockadeBaltimore harbour in 1814. He wantonly destroyed and plundered public and private property, and completely destroyed all domestic commerce during the month of his blockade. His conduct was exceedingly exasperating to the Americans. He was killed during one of his skirmishing frolics. Research Peter Parker
Samuel Tucker was an American sailor. He was born in 1747 at Massachusetts and died in 1833. While commander of the Franklin and the Hancock in 1776, he captured more than thirty vessels. From 1777 to 1780 he commanded the Boston, and captured many prizes, including the sloop-of-war Thorn. He commanded the Thorn from 1780 to 1781, when he was captured by the British frigate HMS Hind. He was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature from 1814 to 1818. Research Samuel Tucker
Thomas Henry Huxley was an English naturalist. He was born in 1825 at Ealing and died in 1895. He graduated MB at the University of London in 1845, and entered the royal navy as assistant-surgeon in 1846. He sailed with HMS Rattlesnake on a surveying expedition to Australasia, during which he sent a number of valuable papers to the Royal Society. After being professor of natural history in the School of Mines, Eullerian professor of physiology to the Royal Institution, Hunterian professor in the Royal College of Surgeons, president of the British Association meeting held at Liverpool in 1870, lord-rector of Aberdeen University in 1872, secretary of the Royal Society, substitute professor of natural history for Professor Wyville Thompson at Edinburgh in 1875 and 1876, a member of various royal commissions on fisheries, vivisection, universities, etc, and inspector of salmon fisheries, he resigned this and almost all his other offices in 1885 on account of ill health.
Amongst his works are The Oceanic Hydrozoa (1857), On the Theory of the Vertebrate Skull, Man's Place in Nature (1863), On our Knowledge of the Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature, a series of lectures to working-men delivered in 1862, Elements of Comparative Anatomy (1864), Elementary Physiology (1866), Introduction to the Classification of Animals (1869),
Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews (1870), Critiques and Addresses (1873), American Addresses (1877), Physiography (1877), Anatomy of Invertebrate Animals (1877), The Crayfish (1879), Science and Culture (1882), etc. Research Thomas Huxley
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Little Belt Affair
