248 SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS. [May 23, 1859. 



Lieutenant Henry Eaper,* eldest son of the late Admiral Eaper, 

 so well known for his improvements in maritime signals, was born 

 in the year 1799, and entered the navy at the early age of twelve, 

 on board the Mars, of 74 guns, commanded by his father. Shortly 

 afterwards he went to the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, 

 where he won the silver medal for his acquirements in mathe- 

 matics. 



Having passed a distinguished examination at the College, 

 Mr. Eaper returned to service afloat, and was some months in the 

 Nymphen frigate. In October, 1816, he joined the Alceste, of 

 38 guns ; which ship, after conveying Lord Amherst as ambassador 

 to China, was lost on her homeward voyage, by striking on a sunken 

 rock in the Strait of Caspar, on the 18th of February, 1817. Here 

 he participated in all the hardships experienced on the rocky islet, 

 Pulo Leat, to which the crew escaped ; there they were in danger 

 of death from thirst, and constantly threatened by ferocious Malay 

 pirates, whose proas, to the number of sixty, completely blockaded 

 them. After being relieved from this critical situation by vessels 

 despatched from Batavia, Mr. Eaper served successively on various 

 stations in the Tyne and Seringapatam, till, at his father's express 

 wish, he joined the Adventure, sloop of war, commanded by Captain 

 W. H. Smyth. The service which this ship was then employed 

 upon in the Mediterranean gave him an opportunity of improving 

 his talents in navigation, surveying, and nautical astronomy ; and 

 he was placed in charge of the chronometers, in conjunction with 

 his former college-associate the late unfortunate Captain Graves, 

 who was murdered at Malta in August, 1856. Having been pro- 

 moted to the rank of Lieutenant on board the Eurydlus, from which 

 frigate he was shortly afterwards removed into the Dispatch, Eaper 

 remained in that brig until she was paid off, in 1824. When the late 

 Admiral Beechey, who had been one of the Adventurers officers, was 

 commissioned to the Blossom in January, 1825, for his interesting 

 voyage to Behring Strait xdd Cape Horn, he placed the filling 

 up* of three vacancies in the hands of his former commander, 

 Captain (now Admiral) Smyth. One of these being the post of First 

 Lieutenant, the Captain pressed its acceptance upon Eaper, and had 

 nearly prevailed ; but an erroneous notion that a slight which the 

 Admiralty had shown to his father might be visited on him, made 

 him at last decline. 



* This sketch of the career of Lieut. Raper is contributed by my eminent friend Adminil 

 Smyth. 



