525 



on board the * Aquilon ' frigate, and shortly afterwards sailed to the 

 Mediterranean, escorting H.R.H. Prince Augustus, since Duke of 

 Sussex and President of this Society. In 1794, the 'Aquilon' was 

 one of Lord Howe's 'repeaters' in the great battle fought on the 1st 

 of June ; an event which deeply impressed itself on the young 

 officer's mind, insomuch that he ever retained a vivid recollection of 

 its details. His next ship was the ' Phaeton,' of 38 guns, in which 

 he saw much varied and arduous service, by which he earned his 

 Lieutenant's commission. Continuing in the same frigate till October 

 1800, he won his further promotion to the rank of Commander by 

 gallantly cutting out a 14-gun Spanish polacca from under the guns 

 of Frangerola, a fortress near Malaga. 



This promotion was somewhat dearly purchased, for Mr. Beaufort 

 was severely wounded on the head, and had several slugs through 

 his left arm and body, which compelled him to lie by for a time. But 

 he had scarcely recovered, when we find him aiding his brother-in- 

 law, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, in establishing a line of telegraph 

 stations across Ireland ; an object in which he laboured successfully 

 and gratuitously during two years. A mind disciplined to accurate 

 observation acquires additional power of perception and discrimina- 

 tion ; and to this power may be assigned the admirable communica- 

 tion which he made to Dr. Wollaston, of certain physiological and 

 successive effects which he experienced under suspended animation, 

 from being all but drowned. 



In the summer of 1805 Commander Beaufort was again called 

 into active service, being appointed to the 'Woolwich,' 44; in 

 which ship he carried out naval stores to Bombay, and returned 

 with a convoy of sixteen Indiamen and some country-ships. In 

 1807 he had an opportunity, though but a hasty one, of exercising 

 his valuable talent for marine surveying by an examination of the 

 vicinity of Monte Video, in the Rio de la Plata. His next appoint- 

 ment was to the ' Blossom ' sloop-of-war, in which he was prin- 

 cipally employed in taking charge of convoys of merchantmen until 

 he obtained post-rank in May 1810, with the command of the 

 ' Frederickstein ' frigate. In 1 8 1 1 he was directed to make an exami- 

 nation of the southern shores of Asia Minor, a service truly con- 

 genial to his mind, since it developed his full capacity as a marine 

 surveyor, a classical scholar, and an inquiring geologist. He had 



VOL. ix. 2 N 



