560 Sm EDWAKD SABINE. 



SIR EDWARD SABINE. 



Sir Edward Sabine was boru in Dublin, October 14, 1788. He 

 died, June 2G, 1883, at the great age of nearly ninety-tive years. His 

 grandfather and his uncle had served with distinction in the army, 

 and lie received his own education at the military colleges of Marlow 

 and Woolwich. The exigencies of the service were urgent: so that 

 he obtained his first commission in December, 1803, at the early age 

 of fifteen. He was employed for a year at Woolwich, and then sent 

 to Gibralter, where he remained until 1807. On his return, he was 

 assigned to the Horse- Artillery, and ordered to various home stations 

 until the war came with the United States, in 1813-14. In January, 

 1813, he was attached to a company in Canada. The ship in which 

 he embarked was captured by a privateer, which was in its turn re- 

 captured by a British frigate, and he reached Halifax in safety. Cap- 

 tain Sabine served with credit at Quebec, on the Niagara frontier, and 

 at the attack on Fort Erie, and received honorable notice in the de- 

 spatches of the commanding ofiicer. The remainder of his military 

 service was limited to the nine years following 1830, when the 

 troubled condition of Ireland required his presence with his company 

 or upon the staff. Though he reached the rank of Lieutenant- 

 Colonel in 1841, and of General in 1874, the periods of his active 

 professional life were only brief episodes in a career eminently scien- 

 tific. " Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war " : and 

 the government early recognized in him the qualities and tastes which 

 admirably adapted him to these peaceful conquests. 



Captain Sabine was elected a member of the Royal Society of Lon- 

 don, April 16, 1818. By the advice of the Council of this society, he 

 was selected by the Admiralty to accompany the expedition of Com- 

 mander John Ross, in 1818, in search of a Northwest Passajje. His 

 duty was to assist " in making such observations as may tend to the 

 improvement of geograj)hy and navigation, and the advancement 

 of science in general." On his return he published a description of 

 twenty-eight species of birds collected in Greenland, and an account of 

 the Esquimaux who inhabit its western coast. In 1821 the Copley 

 Medal of the Royal Society was awarded to him for his scientific ser- 

 vices, in which were included his measurements of the force of gravity 

 by the vibrations of a pendulum, published in that year. In I8l9, 

 he was chosen to go with Lieutenant-Commander Parry on a second 

 Polar Expedition. Parry has recorded his obligations to Sabine " for 

 his valuable advice and assistance during the whole course of this voy- 



