Richard Byron (Royal Navy officer)
Returning to home waters, Andromache joined Lord Howe's fleet in The Channel and later participated in the relief of Gibraltar.
[3][1] On 2 June 1784, still serving under his cousin, Byron was promoted to midshipman of HMS Druid, searching for smugglers along the Devon and Cornish coast.
Richard Byron, who had been serving as master's mate, then transferred to HMS Crown, under the flag of Rear-admiral William Cornwallis, as a midshipman once more.
[1] When Perseverance returned to home waters in July the following year, Byron was on leave until he was appointed to Rear-admiral Caldwell's flagship, Impregnable in October 1793.
Once through the line, the British ships would turn and engage their opposite number on the leeward side thus preventing any possibility of an escape.
[6] Only a few captains followed Howe's orders however, either because they had misunderstood or had willfully chosen to disobey, or they had been prevented from doing so by damage incurred in the previous actions.
Despite this the British were able to capture seven ships, although one almost immediately sank, while the rest of the French fleet was so badly damaged it was forced to retire.
[11] After the battle, Byron served aboard the 100-gun, HMS Queen Charlotte and in her took part in another large engagement off the island of Groix a year later.
[1] Having received word that Villaret had left Brest, the Channel Fleet of 14 battleships, by then under Alexander Hood, set off in pursuit.
By dawn, Queen Charlotte, which had forged ahead through superior sailing, was alongside Irresistible with the rest of the British fleet spread out behind.
[15] On 23 June 1812 Belvidera was 35 miles south-west of the Nantucket Shoals where she was waiting to ambush the French privateer Marengo.
The United States had declared war on Britain four days previously but word had not yet reached Byron, who nevertheless prudently moved away.
After ten hours in pursuit, the leading American ship, President, had closed to 600 yards and began firing.
[17] When President renewed her attack she did so by bringing her starboard guns to bear, which caused considerable damage to Belvidera's sails and rigging.
Belvidera continued to shed weight, throwing her water and boats over the side in an attempt to put distance between her and her pursuers, and by 20:00, she was two miles ahead of the nearest American ship.
The American squadron gave up the chase and returned to their original mission, searching for the Jamaican merchant fleet, not realising that Belvidera had, over the last 15 hours, led them further away from it.
[1][20] On 14 July 1812, Byron, still in command of Belvidera, was part of a squadron under Philip Broke which also included: Shannon, Aeolus, Guerrière and the 64-gun Africa.
The heavy American frigate, USS Constitution, it was later discovered, was sailing alone and the result of Guerrière's course change was that when daylight came, the nearest British ship was the Belvidera four miles away.
The larger, slower Africa was already a long way astern of these two and the distance was widening all the time as the smaller, faster frigates pushed on.
In order to stay in touch, Byron had to imitate the manoeuvre and ignore the danger to his boats' crews from Constitution's five 24-pound stern chasers.
