He was made lieutenant Aug. 24, 1807; advanced to the rank of commander, Feb. 1, 1812; posted, June 7, 1814; and appointed to the Blonde frigate, fitting for a particular service, June 5, 1824. The subjoined account of his subsequent proceedings is taken from the Hampshire Telegraph.
Lord Byron left England for the Sandwich Islands, with the remains of their late majesties, in Sept. 1824. “On his arrival at Valparaiso, Mr. Charlton, consul-general of the islands in the Pacific, was sent forward to Woahoo, to announce the death of, the king and queen, and the approach of the Blonde with their bodies and suite. It was regarded as a remarkable circumstance by the natives, that just previous to the period of Mr. Charlton’s arrival at Woahoo, certain natural phenomena – such as the extraordinary overflowing and recession of the tide, an eclipse of the moon, &c. had taken place, which impressed them with a belief that some fatality had happened to the king or queen; similar occurrences being observed at the death of Tamahama, the sovereign who brought all the islands under one government, and afterwards ceded them to Vancouver, in 1794[1]. This omen or presentiment was confirmed by Mr. Charlton’s arrival.” When the Blonde arrived at Honoruru (the anchorage of Woahoo), May 19, 1825, she was, however, immediately saluted by 19 guns from the fort. The day afterwards Lord Byron and all his officers had an audience of the regent[2], at his house, at which were delivered in the presence of all the heads of the nation, the presents sent out in the Blonde. The present king is Kaukiauli, a lad, brother of Rio Rio, who died in England. On the 23d May, at 11 a.m., the bodies were landed, attended by Lord Byron and his officers, dressed in their full uniforms. On reaching the
- ↑ King Tamahama the First made most considerable advances towards civilization; he erected for the defence of Woahoo three forts, one of which mounts 42 pieces of ordnance; he possessed a considerable fleet, with which he had subdued the whole group of islands; and at the time of his death, in 1819, he was arranging an expedition for the conquest of Otaheite.
- ↑ Karaimoku, the brother of Boki, the governor, who came to England with his late master and mistress.
