46 Death of Captain Foster. 



Esq. F. R. S., &c. &c. was elected President for the next 

 two years, in the place of the Rev. Adam Sedgewick, whose 

 term of office expired on this day. 



Death of Capt, Foster, of the Chanticleer, — We had the pleasure 

 of knowing this distinguished navigator, and can feel the extent 

 of the loss science has sustained by his premature death. He 

 was one of those untiring and judicious minds appointed to ac- 

 company Sir Edward Parry in his adventurous expeditions into 

 the Arctic Circle ; and, had he lived, would have ranked as one 

 of the most distinguished individuals of this very scientific age. 



At the close of the year 1827, the Royal Society's Copley 

 Medal was awarded to him for his observations at Port Bowen. 

 In presenting the medal, the President expressed a hope, that so 

 distinguished a mark of the approbation of the Royal Society 

 might induce the government to bring forward a man of such 

 bright promise as Lieut. Foster. On the very same evening he re- 

 ceived a letter from the Admiralty, with his brevet, appointing him 

 commander of the Chanticleer, with instructions to explore the 

 high southern latitudes, and with liberty to sail round the world, 

 without restraint as to time. He had been out about three years 

 at the time of his death. This event will occasion a great sensa- 

 tion amongst his numerous friends, who were looking for his re- 

 turn with much anxiety. 



The accessions to physical knowledge, that the scientific world 

 will owe to the energy and genius of this lamented commander, 

 will be perused with a melancholy interest by all who had the 

 satisfaction of knowing him. Editor. 



From the Literary Gazette, April 1831. 



" It is with much regret we learn, by letters received on 

 Thursday, the untimely fate of Capt. Foster, of his majesty's ship 

 Chanticleer, who had been employed the last three years on a 

 scientific expedition, in various parts of the globe, and was about 

 to return to this country. Capt. F. had left his ship for the pur- 

 pose of making a series of rocket observations on the Isthmus of 

 Panama, and on his return down a small and shallow river in a 

 canoe, he is said to have fallen overboard, and to have been 

 drowned. But strong suspicions exist for believing, that this young, 

 gifted and meritorous officer was most treacherously murdered." 



