Abstract
BORN at Aberdeen in 1831, G. S. Nares entered the Navy on hoard H.M.S. Canopus, an old battleship captured from the French, in 1845, and was transferred to the Havannah, a frigate for service in the Pacific, in 1847. He passed his examination for lieutenant in 1851, and, coming home shortly afterwards, was appointed to the Resolute, and sent to the Arctic in the expedition under Captain Sir E. Belcher in search of the Franklin Expedition. His service up to the time he was a lieutenant was entirely in sailing vessels, the motive power of which was the wind applied to the propulsion of vessels by masts, yards, and sails, and this early training made him a thorough master of managing vessels in all circumstances of wind and weather, and although during his service after returning from the Arctic in 1854 he was employed in vessels that were furnished with auxiliary steam power, he was always pleased when he could navigate his vessel under sail alone. One instance of this may be given. When at Malta in the Newport in 1869 the chief engineer of that vessel, who was anxious not to go to sea on the day named because he wanted to attend some function on shore with his wife, asked to he given forty-eight hours to take off the cylinder covers, Captain Nares, as he then was, replied: “By all means.” The chief engineer was jubilant, but on the day originally named, after the usual morning muster by division, the order was given “Hands make sail,” and the ship sailed out of the harbour, much to the chagrin of the engineer staff. This was a good lesson given with tact and judgment.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vice-Admiral Sir George Nares, K.C.B., F.R.S. . Nature 94, 565–567 (1915). https://doi.org/10.1038/094565b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/094565b0