EOC 



370 



KOD 



Rochon, 

 Alexis- 

 Marie. 



way above the ordnance wharf, round an oblong plot 

 of ground about a mile broad and half a mile wide, and 

 extending beyond the extremity of the dock-yard, 

 where they again join the river. This area includes, 

 besides the naval establishments, the upper and lower 

 barracks, the church of Chatham, and the hamlet of 

 Brompton, containing nearly 500 houses. The Lines 

 are strengthened by ramparts, pallisadoes, and a deep 

 broad ditch, and are also defended by a strong redoubt 

 on the summit of the hill to the south-east. 



The church of Chatham, rebuilt in 1788, is a neat 

 building of brick. The west wall formed part of the 

 ancient Norman church. There are at Chatham two 

 hospitals, one founded in 1078 for poor leprous per- 

 sons ; and another in 1592, for decayed mariners and 

 ship- wrights. 



The victualling house stands near the entrance of 

 the town, near Rochester, and consists of various ex- 

 tensive ranges of building, suited to the various pur- 

 poses of victualling the shipping of Chatham, Sheer- 

 ness, and the Nore. 



The following was the population, &c. of the town 

 of Chatham and the city of Rochester in the year 

 1821: 



Inhabited houses - - 



Families . - 



Do. employed in agriculture 



Do. do. trade, &c. 



Males 



Females 



Total population in 1821 



4135 

 5336 



385 



2701 



11,245 



12,818 



24,063 



See the Beauties of England and Wales, p. 611, 666, 

 and Hasted's History, fyc. oj Kent. 



ROCHON, ALEXIS-MARIE, member of the Royal 

 Academy of Sciences, was born at Brest on the 21st 

 Feb. 1741. From his residence at Brest, in the midst 

 of ships and sailors, he acquired an early taste for the 

 objects of naval science. In 1765, he was named cor- 

 responding member of the Academy of Sciences. Some 

 time afterwards he was appointed astronomer to the 

 navy, and in that capacity he performed a voyage to 

 Morocco, in 176?; and immediately upon his return 

 to Europe, he set out for the East Indies, in a vessel 

 commanded by his friend and relation M. de Fromelin ; 

 and during that voyage, in 1769, he determined the 

 position of the islands and rocks between the Mauri- 

 tius and the Indian coast. 



Upon his return from the Mauritius, in 1772, with 

 M. de Poivre, M. Rochon brought from Madagascar 

 the finest crystals of quartz that had at that time been 

 seen. This accidental circumstance led him to ascer- 



and caused the light to be extinguished. These panes 

 were immediately replaced by Rochon with squares of 

 mica. 



M. Rochon had the merit of proposing the canal 

 from Brest to Nantes across Brittany. He was made 

 a member of the legion of honour by Bonaparte ; and 

 he died in the 77th year of his age at Paris, and was 

 buried on the 7th April 1817. In 1783, Rochon pub- 

 lished a work, entitled Recueil de Memoires sur la Me- 

 chantque et la Physique. See Dr. Brewster's Treatise 

 on New Philosophical Instruments, p. 188, 189, note. 

 See also our articles MICROMETER, Vol. XIV. p. 213, 

 and OPTICS, Vol. XV. p. 654. 



ROCKS. See MINERALOGY, Vol. XIV; ORGANIC 

 REMAINS, Vol. XV 7 "; and THEORIES OF THE EARTH, 

 Vol. XVIII. 



ROCKETS. See PVROTECHNY, Vol. XVII. p. 278. 



RODNEY, GEORGE BRYDGES, a celebrated British 

 admiral, the second son of Henry Rodney, Esq. of 

 Walton-upon-Thames, was born in 1718. In 1742 he 

 was appointed Lieutenant of the Namur, and after- 

 wards to other ships, in which he rose to considerable 

 distinction in his profession. In 1759 he accompanied 

 Admirals Hawke and Boscawen in their attempt upon 

 the French coast ; and in 1759 he was appointed Rear- 

 Admiral of the Blue. In the same year he was sent 

 to bombard Havre-de-Grace, and he succeeded in burn- 

 ing the town, and the magazines of stores and ammu- 

 nition. In 1761 he assisted at the capture of the 

 French West India Islands ; and at the conclusion of 

 the war he was raised to the dignity of a baronet. la 

 consequence of a contested election for Northampton, 

 in which he was successful against Mr. Howe, Sir 

 George Rodney injured his affairs to such a degree, 

 that he retired to France. Through the Duke de Bi- 

 ron, the French king endeavoured to allure him into 

 the French service by high pecuniary offers. " My 

 distresses, he replied, have exiled me from my country, 

 but no temptation can estrange me from her service. 

 Had this offer been voluntary on your part, I should 

 have deemed it an insult ; but I am glad to learn that 

 it proceeds from a source that can do no wrong." The 

 Duke de Biron ever afterwards entertained the warmest 

 friendship for the British Admiral. 



About the end of 1779> he obtained the chief com- 

 mand of the Leeward islands, and such was his suc- 

 cess on this station, that he received a vote of thanks 

 from the House of Lords, and the freedom of the cities 

 of London and Edinburgh. 



His great victory orer the French fleet, of which 

 we have already given a short account, under BRITAIN, 



tain its double refraction, and by the combination of Vol. IV. p. 651, was gained on the 12th April 1782. 



two prisms, cut in a particular manner, he measured 

 the double refraction, so as to apply it to the purpose 

 of a double image micrometer. This idea he first ap- 

 plied to a coming-up glass, for ascertaining whether a 

 ship was approaching to, or receding from the obser- 

 ver. A full account of the invention was published at 



tances et des grandeurs. 



fore the Institute an account of an improvement upon 

 the micrometer ; and in the same year he read a me- 

 moir, recommending the substitution of mica in place 

 of glass, in the different light-houses of France. He 

 was led to this idea, from the circumstance of a flock of 

 wild ducks having, in a dreadful tempest, thrown them- 

 selves against the glass frame, broke the panes of glass, 



RocJcs 



I! 



Rodney, 

 George 

 Brydges. 



This victoVy was gained by putting in practice 

 the method of breaking the enemy's line, invented 

 by the late Mr. Clerk of Eldin. Admiral Rodney's 

 own ship, the Formidable, kept close to the wind, and 

 an opening being observed near the enemy's centre, 

 it broke through at the head of the rear division, and 



Paris in 1807, in a pamphlet entitled, Memoire sur le the enemy's line was for the first time cut in two. 

 Micrometre de Cristal de Roche, pour la mesure des dis- " This action," says Professor Playfair, in his Memoir 

 In the year 1812, he laid be- 



of Mr. Clerk, " introduced a new system, gave a turn, 

 to our affairs at sea, and delivered our country from 

 that state of depression into which it had been thrown, 

 not by the defeat of its fleets, but by their entire want 

 of success." 



" It was in the beginning of that year that the Na- 

 val Tactics appeared in print, though for more than 

 a year before, copies of the book had been in circular 



