Sir John Narborough | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1640 |
| Died | 1688 (aged ~48) |
| Buried | 51°14′1″N1°16′1″E / 51.23361°N 1.26694°E /51.23361; 1.26694 |
| Service |  Royal Navy |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Battles / wars | Battle of Sole Bay Actions against the Barbary pirates |
| Other work | Commissioner of the Navy |
AdmiralSir John Narborough (or Narbrough, c. 1640–1688) was an Englishnavalcommander. He served with distinction in theAnglo-Dutch Wars and against the pirates of theBarbary Coast. He is also known for leading a poorly understood expedition toValdivia andPatagonia in 1670–1671. In the 1680s he was involved in the scavenging of wrecked Spanish treasure ships.
Narborough was descended from an oldNorfolk family. He married and had two surviving sons and a daughter[citation needed] by Elizabeth Hill, whose father was John Hill, aCommissioner of the Navy.[1] After her husband's death, Lady Narborough married AdmiralSir Cloudesley Shovell.[2]
Narborough served as cabin boy toChristopher Myngs and his later cabin boy wasCloudesley Shovell.[3] Narborough was promoted to lieutenant in 1664 and in 1666 to Captain,[citation needed] for gallantry in an action against the Dutch fleet off the Downs in June of that year.
After the peace, he was chosen to conduct a secretive voyage in theSouth Seas. He set sail fromDeptford on 26 September 1669, and entered theStraits of Magellan in October of the following year.[4] In 1670 he visitedPort Desire inArgentina and claimed the territory for theKingdom of England. Having made landings at various points the expedition finally arrived to theheavily fortifiedCorral Bay on late December 1670.[5] There the expedition established contact with the Spanish garrison whose commanders were highly suspicious of Narborough's intentions despite England being at peace with Spain.[5] The Spanish demanded and received four English hostages in exchange for allowing Narborough's ship into the bay.[5] Despite claiming to be in distress and in need of provisions the Spanish refused to give provisions given that the crews seemed to be in healthy condition and Narborough's true intentions being unclear to them.[5] Narborough then unexpectedly made the decision to leave, and his ship departed Corral Bay on 31 December.[5] The four English hostages and a man known asCarlos Enriques were left behind and ended up in the prisons ofLima where they were subject to lengthy interrogations, as the Spanish struggled to find out the goal of Narborough's expedition.[5] Narborough returned home in June 1671 without achieving his original purpose. A narrative of the expedition was published at London in 1694 under the titleAn Account of several late Voyages and Discoveries to the South and North.[4]
During theThird Anglo-Dutch War Narborough was second captain of theLord High Admiral's ship,HMS Prince. He conducted himself with conspicuous valour at theBattle of Sole Bay in May 1672,[6] after the death in action of his superior, SirJohn Cox, and won approbation. Shortly after he was promoted to rear-admiral andknighted.
In 1675 he was sent to suppress theBarbary piracies, and by despatching gun-boats into the harbour ofTripoli at midnight and burning the ships, he induced theDey to agree to a treaty.[7] An account of the raid appears in the diary of a naval chaplain,Henry Teonge.[8] The lieutenant responsible for the harbour burnings was Cloudesley Shovell, who later married Narborough's widow.[9] Shortly after returning, Narborough undertook a similar expedition against theAlgerines.[7]
In 1680 Narborough was appointed Commissioner of the Navy, an office he held until his death in 1688.[7] During those years he was a patron to a treasure hunter fromNew England, invested in an expedition byWilliam Phips to find wrecked Spanish treasure ships in the Caribbean, and sought for the support ofCharles II and others in the venture. Phips's first expedition, made in 1682 and funded by New England investors, was marginally successful. His second, in 1683–1685, was less successful, but gained valuable leads, and Narborough helped him to raise funds for a third expedition. Departing in September 1686, Phips located a valuable wreck in February 1687 and returned to England with treasure valued at over £200,000, which gained him approbation and a knighthood. After this success, Narborough decided to lead a follow-up expedition in the following year. Returning to the wreck, the English found it had been discovered by others. They recovered only about £10,000 of treasure before Narborough fell ill and died at sea in May 1688.
Narborough had bought theKnowlton Court estate, near Dover, from the executors ofSir Thomas Peyton, and so was buried inSt Clement's Church.[nb 1][10] His eldest son John was created abaronet in November 1688 (seeNarborough Baronets) in honour of his father. Sir John died with his brother James and their stepfather Admiral SirCloudesley Shovell aboardHMS Association during theScilly naval disaster of 1707.[2] Narborough's widow is buried in St Paulinius's Church,Crayford, where there is a memorial to her and her second husband.[11] Narborough's two sons were buried in theOld Town Church onSt Mary's, Isles of Scilly.[1]
Knowlton Court passed to Narborough's daughter Elizabeth, who had marriedSir Thomas D'Aeth in 1701.[12]
Knowlton church has monuments to Sir John[10] and to his sons. The latter depicts the grounding of theAssociation.[11]Fernandina Island, westernmost in the Galapagos archipelago, was long named Narbrough or Narborough Island in his honour by the 17th-century buccaneerWilliam Ambrosia Cowley.[13]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Narborough, Sir John".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 237–238.
Media related toJohn Narborough at Wikimedia Commons
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