USS BYRON DE-79

JOHN BYRON

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, April 2016

While a midshipman in the Royal Navy, John Byron (1723-1786) was shipwrecked during a storm off the coast of Chile on 14 May 1741. His frequent encounters with bad weather in ensuing years won him the sobriquet, “Foul Weather Jack.” Byron’s grandson, George Gordon, Lord Byron, used his grandfather’s experiences as the basis for the shipwreck scene in his epic poem, Don Juan.

During his naval career, Byron commanded several ships. In 1760 he commanded a small squadron that superintended the destruction of the French fortifications at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, and, while so engaged, destroyed French merchant shipping and three small men-of-war. In 1764, Byron commanded the frigate Dolphin during her circumnavigation of the globe with the sloop Tamar. They reached the English Channel on 9 May 1766, ending a voyage of “little more than twenty-two months,” the shortest voyage around the world up to that time.

Byron became a rear admiral when he was made governor of Newfoundland in 1769 and rose to the rank of vice admiral in 1778. Given command of a squadron fitting out for the North American station, Byron sailed for American waters on 9 June 1778, his ships “wretchedly equipped” and “badly manned.” The squadron’s somewhat lackluster performance against one commanded by the French admiral, D’Estaing, caused some to look askance at Byron as a fleet commander, and he was never again so employed.