I>. Ro'ifon, of Edinburgh. 389 



ittcr; and it is not to be doubted hut that he fel* the disap- 

 pointment He acknowledges, indeed, that he felt it ieverclv ; 

 hut, :is he could not think of returning to Gla'govV, he em- 

 braced the opportunity of full going to lea as mathematical 

 tn, or to Mr. K.vnvles'eldeft Ton ofad nira'i Knowles, and the 

 in ended companion of the dake or York. 



With that gentleman he vent, in 1759, on boird the 

 Ne-ptor.e, of 9Q o;nns, bound to Quebec ; au4 Vfj\ fcnowies 

 be/tig on the vo\ ago appoin ed lieutenant on board the Royal 

 William, \1r. R ;h:f)n a '^onipanied him, and, at his own 

 re-meir, vas ruted nrdfuipman. 1 have ofieji heard him 

 fay th t n the -Krai William he fpent the three happieft 

 years of In- life. When he gave me the article Seamanihtp, 

 vnieh is published in the Encyclop cd'ia Britannica, he faid 

 it was the fuperior feamanfhip of captain Hugh Pigot which 

 fo forcibly turn- d his attention to that noble art, and gave 

 him fuel) a love for the profeffion that it is iiill a favourite 

 fubjeet of his thoughts. Indeed, I believe that, if he ever 

 forYhed a determination to devote lii> life to the improvement 

 of any art or fcience, it was at this time lo the improvement 

 of the art of feamandiip. When captain Pigot took the - 

 charge of the (hip, which during very ltormy weather he 

 generally did, the addrefs with whieh he made her do what- 

 ever he pleafed, after (lie had baffled the efforts of the officers 

 of the watch, filled the mind of Mr. R -hifon with delight 

 and wonder. It excited in him an ambition to rival fuch 

 ikill, whilft he confefTcs that he defpaired of ever furpaflmg it. 

 It was on board the Roval William, in the river St. Law- 

 rence, that Mr. Robifon nVft noticed a connection between 

 the aurora borealis and the direction of the magnetic needle. 

 Pointing out the circumftance to the gentlemen on the 

 quarterdeck, he got the remark inferted in the St. James's 

 Evening Chronicle, and afterwards in the London Chroniele, 

 with an invitation to navigators to pay attention to the fuh- 

 je&i, and communicate their obfervations to the Royal Society. 

 A reinforcement of men being wanted for the (hips lying 

 before Quebec, lieutenant Knowles and a hundred feamen, 

 with petty officers, were recei\ed from the Royal William on 

 board the Stirling Caftley where fir Charles Saunders had his 

 flag. There Mr. Robifon faw much fervice both on board 

 and afbore, and was fomctimes employed in taking furveys 

 of different parts of the river. Returning to the Roval Wil- 

 liam when Quebec was taken, he (pent the whole of next 

 year and part of the following in the bay of Bifeay, and on 

 the coalls of Spain and Portugal. 



Lieutenant Knowles beino; appointed to the command of 

 B b 3 the 



