524 



Obituary Notices of deceased Fellows. 



REAR-ADMIRAL SIR FRANCIS BEAUFORT, K.C.B. Among the 

 losses which have been occasioned by death in the lapsed year, we 

 have to deplore that of Rear- Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, K.C.B., 

 the late Hydrographer to the Admiralty, so well and so justly known 

 as a scientific, indefatigable, and amiable Fellow of this and other 

 Societies. This event occurred on the 1 7th of last December, at 

 Brighton, whither he had repaired for the benefit of change in fail- 

 ing health, but with his mental faculties clear and vigorous. This, 

 indeed, was exemplified in his discussing historical points on the very 

 evening of his death ; and in his consulting the * Sacra Privata ' of 

 Bishop Wilson, a favourite work, almost until he calmly expired at 

 l h 50 m after midnight : he was then in his 84th year. 



This valuable officer was a son of the Rev. Daniel Augustus Beau- 

 fort, Rector of Navan, and Vicar of Collon in Ireland, who attained 

 a well-merited esteem by his elaborate map of that country, excelled 

 only by the subsequent Ordnance Survey. As young Francis evinced 

 a predilection for maritime life, he had the good fortune to open his 

 nautical career with a very able seaman, Captain Lestock Wilson, of 

 the East India Company's Service, under whom he acquired a pro- 

 ficiency in navigation. At length, in 1789, when proceeding to 

 China, that officer received orders to examine the Macclesfield Strait 

 for a shoal on which an Indiaman had recently been lost. Opera- 

 tions were commenced by a survey of Pulo Leat, an isle in the Strait 

 of Gaspar, the chart of which was entirely drawn by Beaufort. 

 After an unsuccessful search for the hidden danger, from eleven dif- 

 ferent stations, and just as the attempt was about to be given up, 

 the ' Vansittart ' struck upon what proved to be the very reef for 

 which they had been seeking. The destruction of the ship advanced 

 so quickly that all hands had to take to the boats ; and they under- 

 went great hardships before reaching the Bay of Sango Boolo, where 

 relief was obtained. 



On returning to England, great excitement pervaded the public 

 mind, and armaments were under equipment in all our ports. For- 

 getting the hardships of his recent disaster, Mr. Beaufort embarked 



