Vice-Admiral The Hon. John Byron was a British Royal Navy officer and politician. He was known as Foul-weather Jack because of his frequent encounters with bad weather at sea. As a midshipman, he sailed in the squadron under George Anson on his voyage around the world, though Byron made it only to southern Chile, where his ship was wrecked. He returned to England with the captain of HMS Wager. He was governor of Newfoundland following Hugh Palliser, who left in 1768. He circumnavigated the world as a commodore with his own squadron in 1764-1766. He fought in battles in The Seven Years' War and the American Revolution. He rose to Vice Admiral of the White before his death in 1786.
The Chatham Islands form an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about 800 kilometres (500 mi) east of the South Island of New Zealand. It consists of about ten islands within a 40-kilometre (25 mi) radius, the largest of which are Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Some of these islands, once cleared for farming, are now preserved as nature reserves to conserve some of the unique flora and fauna. The resident population is 600. The islands' economy is largely dependent on conservation, tourism, farming, and fishing.
The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean about halfway between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. They form the main part of Kiribati.
Taetae ni Kiribati or Gilbertese, also Kiribati, is a Micronesian language of the Austronesian language family. It has a basic verb–object–subject word order.
Pukapuka, formerly Danger Island, is a coral atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is one of most remote islands of the Cook Islands, situated about 1,140 kilometres northwest of Rarotonga. On this small island an ancient culture and distinct language has been maintained over many centuries. The traditional name for the atoll is Te Ulu-o-Te-Watu, and the northern islet where the people normally reside is affectionately known as Wale ('Home'). The name Pukapuka is also ancient, and referred originally to the people.
Samuel Wallis was a British naval officer and explorer of the Pacific Ocean.
Philip Carteret, Seigneur of Trinity was a British naval officer and explorer who participated in two of the Royal Navy's circumnavigation expeditions in 1764–66 and 1766–69.
Wallis is a Polynesian island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna. It lies north of Tonga, northeast of Fiji, east-northeast of the Hoorn islands, east of Fiji's Rotuma, southeast of Tuvalu, southwest of Tokelau and west of Samoa. Its area is almost 100 km2 (39 sq mi) with almost 11,000 people. Its capital is Matāʻutu. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion. Its highest point is Mount Lulu Fakahega. Wallis is of volcanic origin with fertile soil and some remaining lakes. Rainfall is plentiful.
Louis-René Madelaine Le Vassor, comte de La Touche-Tréville was a French Vice-admiral. He fought in the American War of Independence and became a prominent figure of the French Revolutionary Wars and of the Napoleonic wars.
Arorae is an atoll in Kiribati located near the equator. Arorae is the southernmost island in the Gilbert Islands group. It houses almost 1300 people on 9.5 square kilometres.
HMS Dolphin was a 24-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1751, she was used as a survey ship from 1764 and made two circumnavigations of the world under the successive commands of John Byron and Samuel Wallis. She was the first ship to circumnavigate the world twice. She remained in service until she was paid off in September 1776, and she was broken up in early 1777.
Port Egmont was the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands, on Saunders Island and is named after the Earl of Egmont.
The Society Islands are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. Geographically, they form part of Polynesia.
Rungata, or Rungataa, is a settlement on Nikunau Island in Kiribati. It is the largest settlement on the island, with a population of almost 1,000, including residents of the adjacent Nikunau Island Council compound and of the Nikunau Island Junior Secondary School. It is the port for the island, having a passage through the reef and a jetty. The nearest locations are Manriki to the south, and Tabutoa to the north, both of which are between one and two miles away.
Tabutoa is a settlement on Nikunau Island in Kiribati. The nearest locations, are Manriki and Rungata, to the south, and Muribenua, to the north all of these are between one and three miles away.
The Action of 21 July 1781 was a naval skirmish off the harbor of Spanish River, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, during the American Revolution. Two French Navy frigates, led by Admiral Latouche Tréville and La Pérouse, engaged a convoy of 18 British ships and their escorts from the Royal Navy. The two French frigates captured two of the British escorts while the remainder of the British convoy escaped.
The Action of 7 June 1780 took place during the American War of Independence between the frigates Hermione and HMS Iris. The ships exchanged fire for one hour and a half before parting. The battle resumed epistolarily when Hawker published his account of the battle in a newspaper, which Latouche contested heatedly.
Matavai Bay is a bay on the north coast of Tahiti, the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia. It is in the commune of Mahina, approximately 8 km east of the capital Pape'ete.
