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76-793: Edward Riou FRS (20 November 1762 – 2 April 1801) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary Wars under several of the most distinguished naval officers of his age and won fame and honour for two incidents in particular. Riou entered the navy at 12 years of age, and after a period spent in British and North American waters, served as a midshipman on Captain James Cook 's third and final voyage of discovery . Prior to this voyage he had his portrait painted by popular artist Daniel Gardner . Rising through

152-735: A Chair (all of whom are Fellows of the Royal Society ). Members of the 10 Sectional Committees change every three years to mitigate in-group bias . Each Sectional Committee covers different specialist areas including: New Fellows are admitted to the Society at a formal admissions day ceremony held annually in July, when they sign the Charter Book and the Obligation which reads: "We who have hereunto subscribed, do hereby promise, that we will endeavour to promote

228-407: A dangerous situation. Somewhere to leeward lay a large mass of ice, concealed in the darkness and fog. He posted lookouts in the bows and rigging, and began to edge slowly forward. After sometime the danger seemed to be past, and the iceberg left behind, when at 9 o'clock a strange pale glow was reported by the lookout in the bows. Riou ordered the helm to turn hard a starboard, turning into the wind as

304-416: A daughter of one of the superintendents, thirty seamen and boys and twenty-one convicts. The Guardian was nearly awash by now with 16 feet of water in the hold, but a bumping noise on the deck attracted attention, and on investigation was found to be a number of casks that had broken free and were floating in the hold, trapped under the lower gundeck. Realising that this was providing extra buoyancy, Riou had

380-865: A high percentage of persons of African descent as was found in most of the rest of the Caribbean. From the 17th through the 19th century, the European colonial territories of the West Indies were the French West Indies , British West Indies , the Danish West Indies , the Netherlands Antilles (Dutch West Indies), and the Spanish West Indies . In 1916, Denmark sold the Danish West Indies to

456-529: A joint memorial (shared with Cpt. James Robert Mosse ) in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral . The poet Thomas Campbell wrote The Battle of the Baltic , with the lines Brave hearts! To Britain's pride, Once so faithful and so true, On the deck of fame that died With the gallant, good Riou Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society ( FRS , ForMemRS and HonFRS )

532-533: A period of ill-health forced his temporary retirement from active service. Recovering quickly, he was given command of the new 38-gun HMS  Amazon , and was assigned in 1801 to Sir Hyde Parker's expedition to the Baltic . Riou worked closely with Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson during the approach to the Battle of Copenhagen , earning Nelson's trust and admiration. Nelson appointed Riou to command his frigate squadron during

608-427: A single, independent nation. The Federation had limited powers, numerous practical problems, and a lack of popular support; consequently, it was dissolved by the British in 1963, with nine provinces eventually becoming independent sovereign states and four becoming current British Overseas Territories . "West Indies" or "West India" was a part of the names of several companies of the 17th and 18th centuries, including

684-507: A voyage to the Pacific under Captain James Cook aboard HMS  Resolution . The expedition was Cook's third voyage of discovery, and after his death at Hawaii Clerke took command, transferring to Resolution and bringing Midshipman Riou with him. Riou took and passed his lieutenant's examination on 19 October 1780, shortly after the expedition's return to Britain, and received his promotion on 28 October. His first appointment as lieutenant

760-453: A wall of ice higher than the ship's masts slid by along the side. It briefly appeared that the danger had been avoided, but as she passed by, the Guardian struck an underwater projection with a crash. Caught in a sudden gust of wind, the ship reared up and swung about, driving the stern into the ice, smashing away the rudder, shattering her stern frame and tearing a large gash in the hull. Despite

836-427: A widowed mother. I am Sir remaining with great respect Your ever Obedt & humble servt, E. Riou Riou gave the note to Mr Clements, the master of the Guardian , who was given command of the launch. A total of 259 people chose to join the five boats, leaving Riou with sixty-two people; himself, three midshipmen, including Thomas Pitt, the surgeon's mate, the boatswain, carpenter, three superintendents of convicts,

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912-825: Is a volcanic island arc rising along the leading edge of the Caribbean Plate due to the subduction of the Atlantic seafloor of the North American and South American plates . Major islands of the Lesser Antilles likely emerged less than 20 Ma, during the Miocene . The volcanic activity that formed these islands began in the Paleogene, after a period of volcanism in the Greater Antilles ended, and continues today. The main arc of

988-1759: Is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge , including mathematics , engineering science , and medical science ". Fellowship of the Society, the oldest known scientific academy in continuous existence, is a significant honour. It has been awarded to many eminent scientists throughout history, including Isaac Newton (1672), Benjamin Franklin (1756), Charles Babbage (1816), Michael Faraday (1824), Charles Darwin (1839), Ernest Rutherford (1903), Srinivasa Ramanujan (1918), Jagadish Chandra Bose (1920), Albert Einstein (1921), Paul Dirac (1930), Winston Churchill (1941), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1944), Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (1945), Dorothy Hodgkin (1947), Alan Turing (1951), Lise Meitner (1955), Satyendra Nath Bose (1958), and Francis Crick (1959). More recently, fellowship has been awarded to Stephen Hawking (1974), David Attenborough (1983), Tim Hunt (1991), Elizabeth Blackburn (1992), Raghunath Mashelkar (1998), Tim Berners-Lee (2001), Venki Ramakrishnan (2003), Atta-ur-Rahman (2006), Andre Geim (2007), Bai Chunli (2014), James Dyson (2015), Ajay Kumar Sood (2015), Subhash Khot (2017), Elon Musk (2018), Elaine Fuchs (2019) and around 8,000 others in total, including over 280 Nobel Laureates since 1900. As of October 2018 , there are approximately 1,689 living Fellows, Foreign and Honorary Members, of whom 85 are Nobel Laureates. Fellowship of

1064-725: Is confirmed by the Council in April, and a secret ballot of Fellows is held at a meeting in May. A candidate is elected if they secure two-thirds of votes of those Fellows voting. An indicative allocation of 18 Fellowships can be allocated to candidates from Physical Sciences and Biological Sciences; and up to 10 from Applied Sciences, Human Sciences and Joint Physical and Biological Sciences. A further maximum of six can be 'Honorary', 'General' or 'Royal' Fellows. Nominations for Fellowship are peer reviewed by Sectional Committees, each with at least 12 members and

1140-693: Is estimated that nearly 70% of Cuba consists of karst limestone . The Blue Mountains of Jamaica are a granite outcrop rising over 2,000 meters (6000'), while the rest of the island to the west consists mainly of karst limestone. Much of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands were formed by the collision of the Caribbean Plate with the North American Plate and consist of 12 island arc terranes . These terranes consist of oceanic crust , volcanic and plutonic rock . The Lesser Antilles

1216-628: Is geologically the oldest of the three archipelagos and includes both the largest islands ( Cuba , Jamaica , Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico ) and the tallest mountains ( Pico Duarte , Blue Mountain , Pic la Selle , Pico Turquino ) in the Caribbean. The islands of the Greater Antilles are composed of strata of different geological ages including Precambrian fragmented remains of the North American Plate (older than 539 million years), Jurassic aged limestone (201.3-145 million years ago), as well as island arc deposits and oceanic crust from

1292-421: Is nominated by two Fellows of the Royal Society (a proposer and a seconder), who sign a certificate of proposal. Previously, nominations required at least five fellows to support each nomination by the proposer, which was criticised for supposedly establishing an old boy network and elitist gentlemen's club . The certificate of election (see for example ) includes a statement of the principal grounds on which

1368-474: The Amazon devolved to her first lieutenant, Lieutenant John Quilliam , who completed the withdrawal. Nelson, who had not known him before this expedition, had conceived a great affection for Riou, and wrote 'In poor dear Riou the country has sustained an irreparable loss.' The naval historian Sir Jahleel Brenton declared that he had all the qualities of a perfect officer. Parliament commemorated his memory with

1444-764: The Classical Latin India , a reference to the territories in South Asia adjacent and east to the Indus River . India itself derived successively from Hellenistic Greek India ( Ἰνδία ), ancient Greek Indos ( Ἰνδός ), Old Persian Hindush (an eastern province of the Achaemenid Empire ), and ultimately its cognate , the Sanskrit Sindhu , or "river", specifically the Indus River and its well-settled southern basin. The ancient Greeks referred to

1520-709: The Cretaceous (145-66 million years ago). The Greater Antilles originated near the Isthmian region of present-day Central America in the Late Cretaceous (commonly referred to as the Proto-Antilles), then drifted eastward arriving in their current location when colliding with the Bahama Platform of the North American Plate ca. 56 million years ago in the late Paleocene . This collision caused subduction and volcanism in

1596-897: The Danish West India Company , the Dutch West India Company , the French West India Company , and the Swedish West India Company . West Indian is the official term used by the U.S. government to refer to people of the West Indies. The term survives today mainly through the West Indies cricket team , representing all of the nations in the West Indian islands. The West Indies are a geologically complex island system consisting of 7,000 islands and islets stretching over 3,000 km (2000 miles) from

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1672-448: The Florida peninsula of North America south-southeast to the northern coast of Venezuela . These islands include active volcanoes , low-lying atolls , raised limestone islands, and large fragments of continental crust containing tall mountains and insular rivers. Each of the three archipelagos of the West Indies has a unique origin and geologic composition. The Greater Antilles

1748-572: The Grenadier Guards , and his wife Dorothy. He embarked on a naval career at the age of 12, joining Sir Thomas Pye's flagship , the 90-gun HMS  Barfleur at Portsmouth . His next ship was the 50-gun HMS  Romney , flagship of Vice-Admiral John Montagu on the Newfoundland station. Riou was rated midshipman by 1776 and joined Captain Charles Clerke 's HMS  Discovery for

1824-446: The Guardian were among the few survivors of the accident. Of the boats sent out on 25 December, only the launch with 15 people survived, having been rescued by a French merchant. The launch had witnessed the sinking of the jolly-boat , before losing contact with the two cutters and the long-boat. Riou arranged for the surviving convicts who had helped to save the ship to be pardoned for their good service. Riou returned to Britain and

1900-827: The Indias (Indies) . Thinking he had landed on the easternmost part of the Indies in the Eastern world when he came upon the New World , Columbus used the term Indias to refer to the Americas , calling its native people Indios (Indians) . To avoid confusion between the known Indies of the Eastern Hemisphere and the newly discovered Indies of the Western Hemisphere , the Spanish named

1976-605: The Orinoco , and the Atlantic Coast of Central America. In the Lesser Antilles, they managed to establish a foothold following the colonisation of Saint Kitts in 1624 and Barbados in 1626, and when the Sugar Revolution took off in the mid-17th century, they brought in thousands of enslaved Africans to work the fields and mills as labourers. These enslaved Africans wrought a demographic revolution, replacing or joining with either

2052-618: The Portsmouth guardship HMS  Ganges . Discharging from the Ganges in June 1784, he went on to half-pay , which lasted for two years until he received another appointment, this time to the 50-gun HMS  Salisbury in March 1786. The Salisbury was the flagship of Rear-Admiral John Elliot , who sailed to Newfoundland take up his post as Commodore-Governor there. During this period in his life, Riou

2128-519: The West Indies with Sir John Jervis and was active in the operations against Guadeloupe and Martinique in 1794. He was moved to the 40-gun HMS  Beaulieu in November 1794, capturing a number of small French vessels before ill-health forced him to be invalided home. In the meantime, he was appointed to the yacht HMS Princess Augusta , but his health improved and he was able to return to active service in June 1799 with an appointment to command

2204-426: The post-nominal letters FRS . Every year, fellows elect up to ten new foreign members. Like fellows, foreign members are elected for life through peer review on the basis of excellence in science. As of 2016 , there are around 165 foreign members, who are entitled to use the post-nominal ForMemRS . Honorary Fellowship is an honorary academic title awarded to candidates who have given distinguished service to

2280-667: The 38-gun HMS  Amazon . He was active against French privateers , before being assigned to Sir Hyde Parker's expedition to the Baltic in 1801 to compel the Danes to abandon the League of Armed Neutrality . In May 1796 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society After the British force had surveyed the Danish positions around Copenhagen , a council of war was held between Parker, his second in command Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson , and

2356-497: The Cape from Timor , where he had landed after a 3,618 mile voyage in an open boat following a mutiny aboard his ship, HMS  Bounty . After completing his re-provisioning, Riou sailed from the Cape in mid-December, and picking up the Westerlies , began the second leg of his voyage to New South Wales . On Christmas Eve , twelve days after his departure from the Cape, a large iceberg

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2432-486: The Cape of Good Hope. The Cape of Good Hope was sighted on 21 February 1790, and whalers were despatched from Table Bay to help the battered ship to safety. Riou ran her aground to prevent her sinking, but a gale struck the coast shortly afterwards, completing the wreck of the Guardian . The voyage was described by J. K. Laughton in the Dictionary of National Biography as 'almost without parallel'. Those who remained with

2508-523: The Danish batteries. Riou was encouraging his men to the end when he was cut down by a round shot . Nelson, on learning of Riou's death, called the loss 'irreparable'. A monument was erected to his memory in St Paul's Cathedral , while a poem commemorated the loss of the 'gallant, good Riou'. Riou was born at Mount Ephraim, near Faversham , Kent , on 20 November 1762, the second son of Captain Stephen Riou of

2584-640: The Indians as Indoi ( Ἰνδοί ), which translates as "The people of the Indus". In 1492, Christopher Columbus and his Spanish fleet left Spain seeking a western sea passage to the Eastern world , hoping to profit from the lucrative spice trade emanating from Hindustan , Indochina , and Insulindia , the regions currently found within the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia , which were first simply referred to by Spanish and Portuguese explorers as

2660-516: The Lesser Antilles runs north from the coast of Venezuela to the Anegada Passage , a strait separating them from the Greater Antilles, and includes 19 active volcanoes. The Lucayan Archipelago includes The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands , a chain of barrier reefs and low islands atop the Bahama Platform. The Bahama Platform is a carbonate block formed of marine sediments and fixed to

2736-549: The North American Plate. The emergent islands of the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos likely formed from accumulated deposits of wind-blown sediments during Pleistocene glacial periods of lower sea level. N.B.: Territories in italics are parts of transregional sovereign states or non-sovereign dependencies. These three Dutch Caribbean territories form the BES islands . Physiographically , these are continental islands not part of

2812-707: The Orinoco valley, which fell to the Spanish. The Dutch, allied with the Caribs of the Orinoco, would eventually carry the struggles deep into South America, first along the Orinoco and then along the northern reaches of the Amazon . Since no European country had occupied much of Central America, gradually, the English of Jamaica established alliances with the Miskito Kingdom of modern-day Nicaragua and Honduras and then began logging on

2888-768: The Proto-Antillean area and likely resulted in continental uplift of the Bahama Platform and changes in sea level. The Greater Antilles have continuously been exposed since the start of the Paleocene or at least since the Middle Eocene (66-40 million years ago), but which areas were above sea level throughout the history of the islands remains unresolved. The oldest rocks in the Greater Antilles are located in Cuba. They consist of metamorphosed graywacke , argillite , tuff , mafic igneous extrusive flows, and carbonate rock . It

2964-439: The Royal Society has been described by The Guardian as "the equivalent of a lifetime achievement Oscar " with several institutions celebrating their announcement each year. Up to 60 new Fellows (FRS), honorary (HonFRS) and foreign members (ForMemRS) are elected annually in late April or early May, from a pool of around 700 proposed candidates each year. New Fellows can only be nominated by existing Fellows for one of

3040-596: The Society, we shall be free from this Obligation for the future". Since 2014, portraits of Fellows at the admissions ceremony have been published without copyright restrictions in Wikimedia Commons under a more permissive Creative Commons license which allows wider re-use. In addition to the main fellowships of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS & HonFRS), other fellowships are available which are applied for by individuals, rather than through election. These fellowships are research grant awards and holders are known as Royal Society Research Fellows . In addition to

3116-433: The United States for US$ 25 million in gold, per the Treaty of the Danish West Indies . The Danish West Indies became an insular area of the U.S., called the United States Virgin Islands . Between 1958 and 1962, the United Kingdom re-organised all their West Indies island territories (except the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas ) into the West Indies Federation . They hoped that the Federation would coalesce into

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3192-475: The West Indies, the Spanish West Indies , the Dutch West Indies , the French West Indies , the British West Indies , and the Danish West Indies . The term was used to name the Spanish Council of the Indies , the British East India Company , the Dutch East India and West India companies, the French East India Company , and the Danish East India Company . Many cultures were indigenous to these islands, with evidence dating some of them back to

3268-431: The award of Fellowship (FRS, HonFRS & ForMemRS) and the Research Fellowships described above, several other awards, lectures and medals of the Royal Society are also given. West Indies The subregion includes all the islands in the Antilles , in addition to The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands , which are in the North Atlantic Ocean . The term is often interchangeable with "Caribbean", although

3344-399: The battle, but when the engagement began badly for the British, Riou used his initiative to attack the Danish forts, despite being heavily outgunned. When Parker sent the signal to withdraw, Nelson ignored it and Riou felt he had no choice but to obey his commanding officer, despite his despair at what Nelson would think of retreat. As the Amazon swung away, she exposed her vulnerable stern to

3420-476: The boats. Riou at last agreed to this, well aware that there were not enough boats for everyone, and announced 'As for me, I have determined to remain in the ship, and shall endeavour to make my presence useful as long as there is any occasion for it.' While the boats were prepared, Riou wrote a letter to the Secretary to the Admiralty ; Sir, If any part of the officers or crew of the Guardian should ever survive to get home, I have only to say their conduct after

3496-481: The cause of science, but do not have the kind of scientific achievements required of Fellows or Foreign Members. Honorary Fellows include the World Health Organization's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (2022), Bill Bryson (2013), Melvyn Bragg (2010), Robin Saxby (2015), David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville (2008), Onora O'Neill (2007), John Maddox (2000), Patrick Moore (2001) and Lisa Jardine (2015). Honorary Fellows are entitled to use

3572-454: The coast of modern-day Belize . These interconnected commercial and diplomatic relations comprised the Western Caribbean Zone in place in the early-18th century. In the Miskito Kingdom, the rise to power of the Miskito-Zambos , who originated in the survivors of a rebellion aboard a slave ship in the 1640s and the introduction of enslaved Africans by British settlers within the Miskito area and in Belize, also transformed this area into one with

3648-506: The damaged hull, most of the crew abandoned ship. Despite fully anticipating his death, Riou refused to leave his ship, and he and a few others were left to attempt the nearly impossible task of navigating the sinking ship several hundred leagues to land. After nine weeks at sea, and with continued labour and endurance, Riou successfully navigated his half-sunk ship back to port, saving the lives of those who had elected to remain with him. His feat earned him promotions and finally commands, but

3724-435: The fatal stroke against an island of ice was admirable and wonderful in everything that related to their duties considered either as private men or on his Majesty's Service. As there seems no possibility of my remaining many hours in this world, I beg leave to recommend to the consideration of the Admiralty a sister who if my conduct or service should be found deserving any memory their favour might be shown to her together with

3800-404: The fellowships described below: Every year, up to 52 new fellows are elected from the United Kingdom, the rest of the Commonwealth of Nations , and Ireland, which make up around 90% of the society. Each candidate is considered on their merits and can be proposed from any sector of the scientific community. Fellows are elected for life on the basis of excellence in science and are entitled to use

3876-427: The good of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, and to pursue the ends for which the same was founded; that we will carry out, as far as we are able, those actions requested of us in the name of the Council; and that we will observe the Statutes and Standing Orders of the said Society. Provided that, whensoever any of us shall signify to the President under our hands, that we desire to withdraw from

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3952-410: The gun deck hatches sealed and caulked, while another sail was sent under the hull to control the flooding. Having now created a substitute hull out of his deck, Riou raised what little sail he could and began the long journey back to land, with the pumps being continuously manned. For nine weeks Riou and his small crew navigated the Guardian , by now little more than a raft, across the 400 leagues to

4028-423: The head by a splinter. He had expressed himself grieved at being thus obliged to retreat, and nobly observed, 'What will Nelson think of us?' His clerk was killed by his side; and by another shot, several marines, while hauling on the main-brace, shared the same fate. Riou then exclaimed, 'Come, then, my boys, let us all die together!' The words were scarcely uttered, when the fatal shot severed him in two. Command of

4104-401: The indigenous Caribs or the European settlers who were there as indentured servants . The struggle between the northern Europeans and the Spanish spread southward in the mid to late seventeenth century, as English, Dutch, French and Spanish colonists, and in many cases, enslaved Africans first entered and then occupied the coast of The Guianas (which fell to the French, English and Dutch) and

4180-412: The latter may also include coastal regions of Central and South American mainland nations, including Mexico , Belize , Honduras , Panama , Colombia , Venezuela , French Guiana , Guyana , and Suriname , as well as the Atlantic island nation of Bermuda , all of which are geographically distinct from the three main island groups, but culturally related. The English term Indie is derived from

4256-424: The line engaged their Danish counterparts, Riou took his frigates in to harass the Tre Kroner forts and blockships. Despite being heavily outmatched and dangerously exposed, they exchanged fire for several hours. The ships suffered heavy casualties; Riou was hit on the head by a splinter. At 1:15 pm, Parker, waiting outside the harbour with the reserve, raised a signal ordering Nelson to withdraw. Nelson acknowledged

4332-406: The mid-6th millennium BCE. In the late 16th century, French, English and Dutch merchants and privateers began operations in the Caribbean Sea , attacking Spanish and Portuguese shipping and coastal areas. They often took refuge and refitted their ships in the areas the Spanish could not conquer, including the islands of the Lesser Antilles, the northern coast of South America, including the mouth of

4408-449: The other British captains. Riou was among those present. Riou had worked closely with Nelson and Captain Thomas Foley in the lead up to the attack, and Nelson duly appointed him commander of the frigates and smaller vessels, with the instruction to deploy his ships to support the main fleet. As the battle began, several of Nelson's ships ran aground on shoals in the harbour, and a new plan of attack had to be improvised. As Nelson's ships of

4484-460: The post nominal letters HonFRS . Statute 12 is a legacy mechanism for electing members before official honorary membership existed in 1997. Fellows elected under statute 12 include David Attenborough (1983) and John Palmer, 4th Earl of Selborne (1991). The Council of the Royal Society can recommend members of the British royal family for election as Royal Fellow of the Royal Society . As of 2023 there are four royal fellows: Elizabeth II

4560-399: The pressure of the water and the water level began to rise again. A number of seaman requested permission to take to the ship's boats. Riou convinced them to stay, but another attempt to fother the hull with another sail failed when the sail immediately ripped. By nightfall on 25 December, the water in the hold had risen to 7 feet, and the ship was rolling violently, allowing water to pour over

4636-493: The proposal is being made. There is no limit on the number of nominations made each year. In 2015, there were 654 candidates for election as Fellows and 106 candidates for Foreign Membership. The Council of the Royal Society oversees the selection process and appoints 10 subject area committees, known as Sectional Committees, to recommend the strongest candidates for election to the Fellowship. The final list of up to 52 Fellowship candidates and up to 10 Foreign Membership candidates

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4712-415: The ranks, he saw service on a number of the navy's stations, but also endured periods of unemployment. He received his first command in 1789, the former fifth-rate HMS  Guardian , which was being used to transport stores and convicts to Australia . He had the misfortune to run his ship onto an iceberg , which nearly caused his ship to sink outright. After several attempts to stop the flooding into

4788-434: The seriousness of the situation, Riou remained calm, using the sails to pull clear of the ice, and then taking stock of the damage. Now clear of the immediate danger of the ice, Riou found himself in a desperate situation. There was two feet of water in the hold and more was rushing in, while the sea was rising and a gale had sprung up. The pumps were manned, but could not keep up with the influx of water, and by midnight there

4864-412: The ship's side. Riou ordered the stores, guns and livestock to be thrown overboard in an attempt to lighten the ship, but was injured when his hand was crushed by a falling cask while trying to clear the bread-room. By morning the next day, the ship was settling by the stern, while the sails had been torn away in the gale. Again the seamen, this time joined by the convicts, requested to be allowed to take to

4940-522: The signal but ignored it, while Nelson's second in command, Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves repeated the signal but did not obey it. Riou now found himself in a difficult position. Too junior an officer to risk disobeying a direct order, he reluctantly gave the order for his small squadron to withdraw. In doing so his ships were forced to turn their sterns to the Danish guns, leaving themselves open to heavy fire on their most vulnerable area. The withdrawal of HMS  Alcmene and then HMS  Blanche reduced

5016-455: The son of politician Thomas Pitt , and nephew of Prime Minister William Pitt . With over 300 people aboard his ship, Riou left Spithead on 8 September 1789, and had an uneventful voyage to the Cape of Good Hope where he loaded more livestock and plants. While at the Cape, Riou met Lieutenant William Bligh , who had sailed with Riou on Cook's third voyage during which Bligh had been the sailing master of Resolution . Bligh had arrived at

5092-417: The territories in the East Indias Orientales (East Indies) and the territories in the West Indias Occidentales (West Indies) . Originally, the term West Indies applied to all of the Americas . The Indies from both regions were further distinguished depending on the European world power to which they belong. In the East Indies , there were the Spanish East Indies and the Dutch East Indies . In

5168-420: The thick cloud of gun smoke that was helping to obscure the British ships, leaving the Amazon exposed to the full force of the Danish guns. Riou remained in action for a further half an hour before reluctantly giving the order to withdraw. Lieutenant-Colonel William Stuart, commanding the soldiers of the 48th Regiment recorded that Riou: ...was sitting on a gun, was encouraging his men, and had been wounded in

5244-457: The volcanic Windward Islands arc. Based on proximity, these islands are sometimes grouped with the Windward Islands culturally and politically. Disputed territories administered by Colombia . The United Nations geoscheme includes Mexico in Central America . These three form the SSS islands that with the ABC islands comprise the Dutch Caribbean , of which the BES islands are not direct Kingdom constituents but subsumed with

5320-402: Was 6 feet of water in the hold. At dawn on Christmas Day , an attempt was made to fother the hull, which involved lowering an oakum -packed studding sail over the side to cover the gash in the hull and slow the flooding. This was temporarily successful and by 11 o'clock the pumps had been able to reduce the water to a level of 19 inches. The respite was short-lived, as the sail split under

5396-418: Was a former two-decked 44-gun fifth-rate , but had been armed en flûte and loaded with stores to be taken to the British colony at Botany Bay . In addition to these stores, consisting of seeds, plants, farm machinery and livestock with a total value of some £70,000, the Guardian was also to transport a number of convicts and their overseers. Aboard the Guardian was a young midshipman named Thomas Pitt ,

5472-595: Was described by a seaman aboard the Ganges as 'a strict disciplinarian with a fanatical regard for cleanliness'. He was also noted to be a religious man, and an affectionate son and brother. A further period on half-pay followed his discharge from the Salisbury in November 1788, but meanwhile he had succeeded in attracting the attention of the Townsend family, and was able to use their patronage to secure an appointment to command HMS  Guardian , in April 1789. The Guardian

5548-414: Was met with popular acclaim for his feat. Acquitted of any blame for the loss of his ship, he was promoted to master and commander on 21 September 1790, and advanced to post-captain on 4 June 1791. These promotions were for rank only, and he did not receive a command until after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars . Appointed to command the sixth-rate HMS  Rose in June 1793, he served in

5624-421: Was not a Royal Fellow, but provided her patronage to the society, as all reigning British monarchs have done since Charles II of England . Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1951) was elected under statute 12, not as a Royal Fellow. The election of new fellows is announced annually in May, after their nomination and a period of peer-reviewed selection. Each candidate for Fellowship or Foreign Membership

5700-416: Was spotted, and Riou decided to use the ice to replenish his stocks of fresh water that were quickly being depleted by the need to supply the plants and animals he was transporting. Riou positioned himself near the iceberg, and despatched boats to collect the ice. By the time the last boats had been recovered, night had fallen and a sudden fogbank descended, hiding the iceberg from view. Riou found himself in

5776-480: Was to the 14-gun brig-sloop HMS  Scourge , which was sent to serve in the West Indies . Here Riou appears to have become ill, a common experience for naval officers serving in the tropics, but he survived to return to Britain and was discharged from his ship on 3 February 1782 and went into the Royal Naval Hospital at Haslar . He recovered his health and by April 1783 was back on active service, joining

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