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Edward Bransfield
Edward Bransfield (c. 1785 – 31 October 1852) was an Irish sailor who became an officer in the British Royal Navy, serving as a master on several ships, after being impressed into service in Ireland at the age of 18. He is noted for his participation in several explorations of parts of Antarctica, including a sighting of the Trinity Peninsula in January 1820. Early life Edward Bransfield was born in Ballinacurra, County Cork, Ireland, in about 1785. While little is known of Edward's family or early life, the Bransfields are thought to have been a well-known and respected Catholic family. They may have had enough money to pay for Edward's education, but because of the Penal Laws, it is more likely that he attended a local hedge school. On 2 June 1803, Bransfield, then eighteen years old, was removed by British sailors from his father's fishing boat and impressed into the Royal Navy. He began as an ordinary seaman on the 110-gun first-rate ship of the line , where he sh ...
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Ballinacurra, County Cork
Ballinacurra () is a small harbour village on the outskirts of Midleton, County Cork. It is about 18 km south east of Cork city. The village lies at the confluence of the Owenacurra River and the east channel of Cork Harbour. It served as the port for the town of Midleton, which is less than 2 km north of Ballinacurra, for centuries and became a loading and unloading point for coal, timber, iron and slate and later flax for the linen industry. The port of Ballinacurra closed in 1962 as it was deemed too expensive to dredge the growing levels of silt and mud at the entrance to the small harbour. It is now used mainly for small leisure boats. The man who is believed to have discovered Antarctica in 1820, Edward Bransfield Edward Bransfield (c. 1785 – 31 October 1852) was an Irish sailor who became an officer in the British Royal Navy, serving as a master on several ships, after being impressed into service in Ireland at the age of 18. He is noted for his pa ...
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Ship Of The Line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two columns of opposing warships maneuvering to volley fire with the cannons along their broadsides. In conflicts where opposing ships were both able to fire from their broadsides, the opponent with more cannons firingand therefore more firepowertypically had an advantage. Since these engagements were almost invariably won by the heaviest ships carrying more of the most powerful guns, the natural progression was to build sailing vessels that were the largest and most powerful of their time. From the end of the 1840s, the introduction of steam power brought less dependence on the wind in battle and led to the construction of screw-driven wooden-hulled ships of the line; a number of purely sail-powered ships were converted to this propulsion me ...
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William Shirreff
William Henry Shirreff (baptised 4 April 1785 – 1 December 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer, captain of , , , and . He had six children four of whom were daughters. He had two notable daughters, Maria Georgina Grey and Emily Anne Eliza Shirreff, who transformed the education of British women. He retired as Rear-Admiral of the Blue. Biography Shirreff was born in 1785 and he joined the Royal Navy on 1 January 1796. In 1810, he married Elizabeth Murray, the oldest daughter of the lawyer and Member of Parliament David Murray, a brother of Alexander Murray, 7th Lord Elibank. From October 1812 until he invalided in July 1814, Shirreff commanded the frigate ''Barrosa'' on the coast of North America and in the West Indies. From 10 September 1817 until September 1821 he commanded ''Andromache''. When patrolling the west coast of South America in protection of the British interests in the region and in support of local independence movement against Spanish authority in the ear ...
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French Frigate Junon (1786)
''Junon'' was a 40-gun of the French Navy. French service ''Junon'' was commissioned in the French Navy under Captain d'Ettry on 2 May 1786. In 1786, ''Junon'' served as division flagship for Chef d'escadre Charritte in the 12-ship Escadre d'évolution. She was at Cherbourg on 24 June when a naval review and a simulated naval battle took place as Louis XVI visited the harbour. Later that year, she became the flagship for the French division off Western Africa, under Chef de Division Joseph de Flotte. In late 1790, under Lieutenant Villeneuve d'Esclapon, she prepared to sail from Toulon, but never departed. In June 1792, ''Junon'' escorted merchantmen from Toulon into the Atlantic Ocean under Lieutenant Terras de Rodeillac. In December 1792, she ferried Ambassador Sémonville to Constantinople, before returning to cruise off Sardinia, notably supporting the landing of French troops on 14 January 1793. From 26 August 1793, she was under the command of Lieutenant Le Duey, in M ...
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Fourth-rate
In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided into three tiers, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth rates. Up to the end of the 17th century the number of guns and the compliment size was adjusted until the rating system was actually clarified. A 'Fourth Rate' was nominally a ship of over thirty guns with a complement of 140 men. In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorize sailing warships in the 18th century, a fourth-rate was a ship of the line with 46 to 60 guns mounted. They were phased out of ship of the line service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, as their usefulness was declining; though they were still in service, especially on distant stations such as the East Indies. ''Fourth-rates'' took many forms, initially as small two decked warships, later as l ...
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Fifth-rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal Navy as originally devised had just four rates, but early in the reign of Charles I, the original fourth rate (derived from the "Small Ships" category under his father, James I) was divided into new classifications of fourth, fifth, and sixth rates. While a fourth-rate ship was defined as a ship of the line, fifth and the smaller sixth-rate ships were never included among ships-of-the-line. Nevertheless, during the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century, fifth rates often found themselves involved among the battle fleet in major actions. Structurally, these were two-deckers, with a complete battery on the lower deck, and fewer guns on the upper deck (below the forecastle and quarter decks, usually with no guns in the waist on this deck). The ...
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Brig-sloop
In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' encompassed all the unrated combat vessels, including the very small gun-brigs and cutters. In technical terms, even the more specialised bomb vessels and fireships were classed as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the sloop role when not carrying out their specialised functions. In World War I and World War II, the Royal Navy reused the term "sloop" for specialised convoy-defence vessels, including the of World War I and the highly successful of World War II, with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capability. They performed similar duties to the American destroyer escort class ships, and also performed similar duties to the smaller corvettes of the Royal Navy. Rigging A sloop-of-war was quite different from a civilia ...
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Cherokee-class Brig-sloop
The ''Cherokee'' class was a class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy, mounting ten guns. Brig-sloops were sloops-of-war with two masts (a fore mast and a taller main mast) rather than the three masts of '' ship sloops''. Orders for 115 vessels were placed, including five which were cancelled and six for which the orders were replaced by ones for equivalent steam-powered paddle vessels. Many of these sailing vessels served as mail packet ships, and more than eight assisted with exploration and surveys. The best known of the class was , then considerably modified for ''Beagle''s second survey voyage under Robert FitzRoy, with the gentleman naturalist Charles Darwin on board as a self-funded supernumerary. Design The carronade, nicknamed the "smasher" or "devil gun", was significantly smaller and lighter than conventional cannon. It was also found to have a more destructive broadside at close range, so that a smaller (and cheaper) ship could be more effective in naval actions ...
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Second Master
Second master was a rating introduced into the Royal Navy in 1753 that indicated a deputy master (naval), master on third-rate Ship of the Line, ships of the line or larger. Second masters were paid significantly more than master's mates, £5 5s per month. A second master was generally a master's mate who had passed his examination for master and was deemed worthy of being master of a vessel. Second masters were given the first opportunity for master vacancies as they occurred. Master's mates also acted as second master of vessels too small to be allocated a warranted master. Footnotes

{{Reflist Military ranks of the Royal Navy ...
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Captain's Clerk
A captain's clerk was a rating, now obsolete, in the Royal Navy and the United States Navy for a person employed by the captain to keep his records, correspondence, and accounts. The regulations of the Royal Navy demanded that a purser serve at least one year as a captain's clerk, so the latter was often a young man working his way to a purser's warrant. He had high status, with an office on the quarterdeck or upper deck on most ships. He was paid at the same rate as a midshipman in 1800, but by 1815 he had almost the same monthly pay as a standing warrant officer. On large ships, he had his own cabin in the gunroom, but on smaller vessels he lived with the midshipmen on the orlop deck. Duties Once commissioned, a ship required a great deal of paperwork to keep her in good order. The recognized office staff consisted of captain's clerk, the purser, and the purser's steward. On most ships the first lieutenant was allowed a "writer" to help him draw up the watch and st ...
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Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. In the 17th century, a midshipman was a rating for an experienced seaman, and the word derives from the area aboard a ship, amidships, either where he worked on the ship, or where he was berthed. Beginning in the 18th century, a commissioned officer candidate was rated as a midshipman, and the seaman rating began to slowly die out. By the Napoleonic era (1793–1815), a midshipman was an apprentice officer who had previously served at least three years as a volunteer, officer's servant or able seaman, and was roughly equivalent to a present-day petty officer in rank and responsibilities. After serving at least three years as a midshipman or master's mate, he was eligible to take t ...
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Master's Mate
Master's mate is an obsolete rating which was used by the Royal Navy, United States Navy and merchant services in both countries for a senior petty officer who assisted the master. Master's mates evolved into the modern rank of Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, while in the merchant service they evolved into the numbered mates or officers. Royal Navy Originally, a master's mate was an experienced petty officer who assisted the master but was not in line for promotion to lieutenant. By the mid-eighteenth century, he was far more likely to be a superior midshipman, still waiting to pass his examination for lieutenant or to receive his commission, but taking rather more responsibility aboard ship. Six master's mates were allowed on a first rate, three on a third rate, and two on most frigates. Duties Master's mates were experienced seamen, and were usually selected from the ranks of the quartermasters, who they supervised, or from the ranks of midshipmen who wanted more responsi ...
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