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then made in his health, obliged him to return home from Valparaiso 

 in 1836. 



After an interval of leisure passed with his family, his ardent 

 desire of active employment induced him, in 1837, to accept an 

 appointment to conduct various surveys of the Irish Sea and the 

 Western Coasts of England and Wales. Among the important 

 results of these surveys was a series of observations on the Tides 

 around the British Islands, which formed the subject of a paper read 

 before the Royal Society, and published in the ' Philosophical Trans- 

 actions ;' and the estimation of Captain Beechey's labours by the 

 Society may be judged of by the fact, that the Council requested the 

 Admiralty to afford him the means of continuing his inquiries. 



For some years subsequently, Captain Beechey was chiefly em- 

 ployed in continuing these services, and in reporting to Government 

 on harbours, stations for marine postal communication, and other 

 public undertakings of a like description. In 1848 and 1849 he 

 attended Her Majesty in her visits to Scotland and Ireland, in charge 

 of the pilotage of the Royal Squadron ; and in 1851 he was 

 appointed Aide-de-camp to the Queen. 



The Government having resolved to establish the Marine Depart- 

 ment of the Board of Trade, Captain Beechey was chosen to assist 

 in its organization, and in this important and very onerous duty, to 

 which he was appointed in 1850, he laboured incessantly, day and 

 night, to the great detriment of his health. In 1853 he was selected 

 to take part in the " Meteorological Conference" held at Brussels, 

 for the purpose of devising a great scheme of international co-opera- 

 tion in obtaining meteorological observations at sea, which was to be 

 promoted and superintended on the part of England, by the Marine 

 Department of the Board of Trade. In the following year he 

 obtained his Flag as Rear-Admiral on the active list. 



Admiral Beechey had long been Fellow of the Astronomical, Geo- 

 logical, and Geographical Societies, and had contributed valuable 

 communications to these bodies. He was elected into the Royal 

 Society in 1824, and in 1854 was nominated a Vice-President ; at the 

 time of his decease he was President of the Royal Geographical 

 Society. 



A short time before Admiral Beechey's acceptance of the Presi- 

 dency of the Geographical Society, he was attacked by severe illness, 



