760 



KOE 



was christened George Brydges. He received his 

 early education at Harrow, which he quitted at the 

 age of twelve to enter the navy na a king's letter 

 IMIV.' After serving chielh on tin- Newfoundland 

 station lie was made a lieutenant in 1739 in tli<> 

 Mcditeriancaii : ill 174*2 he was promote<l by 

 Ailinir.il Mathews to In- |Mist captain, and was sent 

 home in command of the I'/ifinuiit/i, a 64-gun -lii|i. 

 He afterwards successively commanded tin- Sheer- 

 nets, Ludlow Gittle, and Centurion, and in 1747 

 the l-'.'i'ili, in which he had a brilliant share in 

 Hawke victory over L'Etenduere on 14th October. 

 In 1748 Kodney went out in the Itninlnno as 

 governor of Newfoundland and commanjer-in chief 

 on that station, where he remained till 1752 ; in 

 17.VJ lie commanded the F<ni<inri<s. und from 1754 

 to 1757 the Prince George. He was then appointed 

 to the Dublin, one of the fleet under Sir Edward 

 Hawke in the futile expedition against Kochefort, 

 and in 1758 under Itoscawen at the capture of 

 l.ouisbiirg. In May 1759 Kodney was promoted 

 to be rear-admiral, and in July commanded the 

 small squadron which liomltarded Havre and 

 destroyed the flotilla of flat-bottomed boats col- 

 lected for the proposed invasion of England. In 

 October 1761 he was appointed commandei in chief 

 on the Leeward Islands station, where in the early 

 part of 176*2, in co-operation with the land fon-e-. 

 lie captured Martinique, St Lucia, and Grenada. 

 In Octolicr he was promoted to be vice-admiral, 

 and returning to England in August 1763 was 

 created a baronet, 21st January 1764. In Novem- 

 ber 1765 he was appointed governor of Greenwich 

 Hospital, hut in 1771 was recalled to active service, 

 was promoted to he admiral, nominated rear- 

 admiral of Great Britain, and sent out as com- 

 inander-in-chief at Jamaica. He Imped that he 

 might succeed to the office of governor, which 

 became vacant in 1773; but in his command lie 

 had shown an independence which was distasteful 

 to Lord Sandwich, and his application was un- 

 successful. In 1774 he returned to England, and 

 for the next five years was left on half-pay, in very 

 embarrassed circumstances, which compelled him 

 to retire to France. It was not till October 1779 

 that he was again appointed commander-in-chicf 

 at the Leeward Islands, and on 29th Decemlier he 

 put to sea with, in addition to the West Indian 

 ships, a powerful squadron and a large convoy of 

 store-ships for the relief of Gibraltar, then besieged 

 by the Spaniards. On !lth January 1780, when 

 broad off Cape Finisterre. he fell in with a convoy 

 of Spanish store ships under the escort of a 64-gun 

 sliip, all of which he captured. Passing Cape St 

 Vincent on the 16th he met the Spanish squadron 

 under Don Juan de Langara, which he attacked 

 with a dash and vigour that carried everything 

 before him. Seven ships out of eleven were taken 

 or destroyed ; the others managed to esca*>e into 

 < 'adi/. Gibraltar was thus relieved without further 

 dillieulty than was caused by the weather ; and on 

 13th February Kodney sailed for the West Indies. 

 He had scarcely reached St Lucia, which he made 

 hi- headquarters, when he had intelligence that the 

 French fleet under the Count de Giiichen had put 

 to sea from Martinique. He immediately followed, 

 ami overtaking it on the 17th April fought an 

 action in which, in despite ot the fight ing 

 inMnicti. in-. In- at tempted to concentrate his force 

 on the rear of the enemy's line. Unfortunately 

 liii signals were not snliiciently clear, the flag- 

 iillicers and captains did not understand what was 

 pn>|Mised. mid the clever attempt resulted in com- 

 parative failure. During the following May he 

 again twice met De Gnichen, but without being 

 able to bring him to a decisive engagement. In 

 November he was nominated a K.B. : and in 

 January 1781, in obedience to special orders from 



home, he seized on St Eustatia and the other 

 Dutch settlements ; but Ilia health having broken 

 dow ii he was compelled to return to England a few 

 months later. In IteceniU-r I7S1 he again sailed 

 for the West Indies; and, as Iwfore, shortly after 

 arriving at Si Lucia he had intelligence "of the 

 French fleet, under Count deGrasse. having sailed, 

 with some 5000 troops on hoard, for Cape Fran 

 where it was to join a strong Spanish fleet for an 

 attack on Jamaica. Abreast of Dominica Kodney 

 came in sight of it, and, after an indecisive skir- 

 mish on the 9th April, had the good fortune, on 

 the l'2th April I7H-J. to bring it to close action : 

 and Ix'ing enabled, by the varying nature of the 

 wind, to pass through the enemy's line, he gained a 

 brilliant victory, rendered still more crushing by 1 lie 

 success of a small squadron detached to look out 

 for stragglers in the Mona Passage. The French 

 loss in killed and wounded was extremely severe, 

 and seven of their ships were captured, one of them 

 being the Ville de Pitrix. with the Count de Grasne- 

 himself on Ixuird. The victory placed the Knglish 

 on a very dillerent footing in the negotiations 

 which had been already commenced ; and the 

 terms finally agreed on were much more favourable 

 than might otherwise, have lieen expected. But 

 before the news reached England Admiral Pigot 

 had been sent out by the new administration to 

 supersede R<xlney, who was looked on as a partisan 

 of Lord Sandwich ; and though an express was- 

 sent to stop Pigot on the way it failed to overtake 

 him. Rodney returned to England, where 

 though raised to the peerage as Baron Rodney, 

 with a -tension of 2000 he was but coldly 

 received iiy the government. He had no further 

 employment, and was allowed to live in compara- 

 tive obscurity, which his shattered health perhaps 

 rendered necessary. He died in London on '24th 

 May 1792. 



See his Life by General O. B. Mundy (2 veils. IfWO), 

 and Mammy's Rodney ( ' Men of Action ' series, 1891 ). 



Rodosto (anc. Hlnnlestos), a town of Turkey, 

 stands on the north shore of the Sea of Marmora, 60 

 miles W. of Constantinople. It is the seat of a 

 Greek archbishop, contains many mosques, and 

 sends large quantities of fruits and vegetables to 

 the capital. Pop. 18,600, about one-half Greeks. 



Rodriguez, or RODRIGUES, a hilly volcanic 

 island ( 1760 feet), 18 miles long by seven broad, 

 lies .'{HO miles E. by N. of Mauritius, of which it is 

 a dependency, being one of the Mascarene group. 

 The soil is fertile, and agriculture is the chief occu- 

 pation. The exports (agricultural produce and 

 fruits ) are valued at 0500 annually, the imports at 

 t'.'iKK). Hurricanes often cause great damage to the 

 island, which is encircled by a coral-reef. It wa 

 discovered by the Portuguese in l(il."i. and has been 

 a British colony since 1814. The chief port is Port. 

 Mathiirin. Owing to its isolation this island is 

 particularly interesting to the botanist and the 

 /unionist. I'ntil near the close of the 17th century 

 it was the home of the Solitaire (q.v.), now an 

 extinct bird. Pop. ( IS". MM 1!I7S. See Legnat's voy- 

 age thither (Hakluyt Soejetv. 1- 



Roe (Citiirrolns rii/wii), a small species of deer 

 inhabiting Europe and some parts of westein Asia, 

 chiefly in hilly or mountainous regions which are 

 covered with forests or with scattered bushes and 



heath. It is scld found in the higher and more 



naked mountain tracts, the haunt of the stag or 

 red deer. It was once plentiful in Wales ami in 

 the hilly parts of England, as well as in the south 

 of Scotland, but is now very rare south of Perth- 

 shire. The roe is about 2 feet 3 inches in height 

 at the shoulder. Its weight is about 50 or 60 Ib. 

 It* colour is a shining tawny-brown in summer, 

 more dull and grizzled in winter; on the under 



