342 Posthumous Work of the late Col. Mark Beaufoy. 
A sister of Mr. Henry Beaufoy’s, it is believed, (but not with 
certainty,) was married to a member of the British House of Com- 
mons. 
Col. Mark Beaufoy was a younger brother of Mr. Henry Beau- 
foy ; and having had a scientific education, joined to an enthusiastic 
character, he pursued many scientific objects ; of which only one, 
however, will here be noticed. 
A particular incident having led him in his youth to attend to 
Hydraulics and Naval Architecture, he kept this object always in 
his view, from perceiving that his countrymen attended little to these 
matters, except practically. ‘The French, on the other hand, he 
knew, had recourse to theory, as laid down by their own mathema- 
ticians, with the admirable Euler and a few others to help them; 
and had modelled their navy accordingly ; also had led Spain to do 
the same ; the English on their side making no further progress in 
the art, than such as arose from observing the models of some of the 
French and Spanish prizes which they had captured. In 1791, 
however, Col. Beaufoy, with some others, strenuously labored to 
establish a society in London, for the improvement of naval archi- 
tecture, where THEORY should be formed on the basis of experiment. 
The project was adopted, and the Duke of Clarence, then an admi- 
ral, but now William IV, became President of the Society ; and it 
was hoped that useful results would arise both to the vessels of war 
and commercial shipping of the nation by means of the plan. 
In pursuance of this design, a committee was appointed to conduct 
a regular series of experiments; Greenland dock being chosen as 
the scene of their operations. This large dock was a private estab- 
lishment, and by its large dimensions was well suited to the object ; 
but it was not conveniently situated, since it lay two miles on an air- 
line to the east of the south end of Westminster bridge, and most of 
the members of the society and of the committee, resided beyond 
rest, by determining the course of the great inland river of Africa, generally un- 
derstood by the name of Niger, to be from west to east. Unfortunately a second 
journey of Mr. Park into Africa, proved this decision of Maj. Rennel to be found- 
ed in mistake; for a conclusion opposite to that of Major Rennel may be drawn 
from Mr. Park’s own later discoveries, as well as from the evidence of the Lan- 
der’s, Capt. Tuckey, and others. (See Appendix to Park’s Travels, as above, p. 
4 and 5.) 
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