xvn 



^ Bounty'), of whom he used to speak in terms of the greatest regard, as the 

 most kind-hearted and excellent man he had ever known. He was then 

 transferred to the 'Albion,' and on his passage out from England to join Sir 

 Charles Penrose, fought at the battle of Algiers. 



During a visit to Genoa Riimker became acquainted with the Baron v. 

 Zach, to whom he submitted the results of various astronomical observations 

 in order to obtain his opinion of their value. The Baron soon discovered his 

 talent for astronomy, encouraged him to cultivate that science, and aided 

 him with his advice and the use of his astronomical library. Riimker's 

 first observations, occultations, and the determination of the latitude and 

 longitude of Malta, where he was stationed for a considerable time, were 

 published in v. Zach's * Correspondance Astronomique.' 



In 1817, when the Fleet returned to England, he quitted the Naval 

 Service and went to Hamburg, carrying with him the friendship and 

 esteem of his comrades of all ranks, which he had won by his ability and 

 energy, combined with a peculiar suavity of manner. Here he was ap- 

 pointed Principal of the School of Navigation. In the society of Schu- 

 macher, the Director of the Observatory of Altona, Repsold, and Woltmann, 

 his taste for astronomy was strengthened, and he found many opportunities 

 of extending his knowledge of the subject. As at that time Hamburg did 

 not possess an Observatory, he built one at his own expense on the Stint- 

 fang. 



In 1821 he resigned his post at the School of Navigation in order to 

 accompany Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales, to whom 

 he had been introduced by Captain Heywood, and to take charge of the 

 Observatory which Sir Thomas purposed founding in that colony. 



Riimker's labours in the Observatory of Paramatta are well known to 

 astronomers. In 1822 he observed the first calculated reappearance of 

 Encke's comet, which was invisible in Europe, and thereby first confirmed 

 the shortness of its periodic time. He afterwards observed and discovered 

 many other comets, some of which were not seen in Europe. He observed 

 the sun in the solstices, made many observations with Kater's pendulum, 

 and determined the magnetic declination and inclination. These and other 

 observations were published in a separate volume of the Transactions of 

 the Royal Society for 1830. His observations of the stars of the southern 

 hemisphere are in part contained in the * Brisbane Catalogue,' and in the 

 ' Preliminary Catalogue of Fixed Stars in the Southern Hemisphere,' pub- 

 lished by himself at Hamburg in 1832. In after years, however, he was 

 never able to find leisure for continuing the work, and the greater part of 

 the observations remain still unpublished. 



In 1829 he returned to Europe to resume his post as Principal of the 

 School of Navigation, and to undertake the Direction of the New Obser- 

 vatory built by the Senate of Hamburg. He devoted himself with the 

 most unwearied diligence to the duties of these two offices. After nights 

 passed in observing, he made his appearance at the School of Navigation at 



VOL. XTTT, C 



