MORESBY. 133 



42. FAIRFAX MORESBY. 



FAIRFAX MORESBY was born at Calcutta, India, in 1787. He was reared 

 as a child at Lichfield, England. It was said of him: 



" Far inland as his home was, all his predilections were for the seafaring life, 

 and in the long summer his delight was to lie concealed in the waving grass, watching 

 its billowing with half-shut eyes, until, seeing only the blue sky and undulating 

 green, he could imagine himself on the lonely ocean, far out of sight of land in the 

 centre of circling horizons. . . . The realization of his dream came with the offer 

 from a neighbor and friend, Captain William Parker, of a berth on board, and 

 acceptance was a foregone conclusion. There was never a moment's hesitation." 



When a midshipman on the Amazon the severity of the captain made young 

 Moresby desert; he left the ship at Portsmouth and "set out on a hopeless tramp 

 to Coshan," but on the way he met a kindly captain who returned him to his ship 

 and arranged matters for him. As a midshipman he was constantly in charge of 

 prizes and was captured on one of them and taken prisoner to Malaga. Exchanged, 

 he served for a time under Nelson. He formed one of Napoleon's sea-guard at St. 

 Helena. Under his superintendence the first settlement was made at Port Elizabeth, 

 on the east coast of Africa, to stop the slave traffic; he had many adventures. 

 His health failed prematurely. In later years he was intrusted with diplomatic 

 missions. He became rear admiral (1849) and later vice admiral. 



Fairfax Moresby had a compound of high idealism and almost romantic 

 gallantry, subdued by a devotion to the practical side of duty. He was always 

 ready to accept responsibility and was prompt in decision, tactful, and prudent. 



A brother of Fairfax was Robert Moresby, a surveyor and explorer, the first to 

 survey the northern half of the Red Sea. His next great survey was that of the coral 

 islands, and this work was of great assistance to Charles Darwin in preparing his 

 work on the structure and distribution of coral reefs. (Markham, 1909, p. 336.) 



John Moresby (born 1830), son of the preceding, spent his childhood in Aller- 

 ford, England, where his father rented a farm and was living on half pay. Auto- 

 biographically, he says: "The magnet which chiefly drew our restless feet was the 

 mill, with its dripping water-wheel and mighty grinding-stones. "At the age 

 of 12 he was appointed volunteer on H. M. S. Victor in the West Indies. After 

 sundry cruises he sailed (1850) on the Amphitrite for the Pacific and delighted in 

 the hunting at Falkland Islands and in the vicinity of Valparaiso. At Vancouver 

 he gained leave of the captain to explore the mountains. He also made a success- 

 ful trip to a distant tribe of Indians to capture the murderer of a white man. After 

 some further years of miscellaneous service he was given (1871) command of the 

 Basilisk and explored some 600 miles of the until then unvisited coast of New 

 Guinea, adding to the chart some 140 islands and islets, and surveying many 

 excellent harbors, including Port Moresby, now the capital of British New Guinea. 

 From 1872 to 1875 he cruised and explored in Melanesia and New Zealand. He 

 published two books on New Guinea and a life of himself and his father. 



Comparing father and son, we see that both have a taste for adventures. The 

 former is more a diplomat; the latter, an explorer. As an explorer his tastes were 

 almost exactly like his father's brother's. Both father and son readily accepted 

 responsibility. The father's father was a lieutenant colonel in the militia. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



MARKHAM, C. R. 1909. Review of Two Admirals, etc. Geogr. Journal, xxxiv. pp. 336-338. 

 MORESBY, JOHN. 1909. Two Admirals: Admiral of the Fleet Sir Fairfax Moresby and his 

 son, John Moresby. London: J. Murray, xii + 419 pp. 



