Captain Daniel Woodriff (17 November 1756 – 25 February 1842) was a British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

officer and

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. He made two voyages to Australia. He was Naval Agent on the convict transport '' Kitty'' in 1792 and, in 1803, the captain of for David Collins' expedition to found a settlement in

Port Phillip Port Phillip ( Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is com ...

Biography

Woodriff was commissioned as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

on 1 April 1783, and received promotion to the rank of commander on 18 September 1795, and to captain on 28 April 1802.

Voyage to Australia

Towards the end of 1802, Woodriff was appointed to command of the , a 50-gun ship armed ''

en flûte ''En flûte'' (French: "as a fluyt") is a French naval expression of the Age of Sail to designate the use of a warship as a transport with reduced armament.Willaumez, p. 294 Some warships, ships of the line or frigates, were occasionally used wit ...

'', and fitted to transport convicts. They were bound for

in the Bass Strait, on the southern extremity of Australia, with the intention of setting up a settlement there under the command of David Collins. ''Calcutta'' sailed from

Spithead Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...

on 28 April 1803, in company with the storeship ''

Ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

'', calling at

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

in July, and the Cape of Good Hope in August, arriving at their intended destination in October. ''Calcutta'' then sailed alone to

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea ...

to take on a cargo of of timber. Whilst in Sydney, Woodriff and the crew of ''Calcutta'' assisted in suppressing the

Castle Hill convict rebellion The Castle Hill convict rebellion was an 1804 convict rebellion in the Castle Hill area of Sydney, against the colonial authorities of the British colony of New South Wales. The rebellion culminated in a battle fought between convicts and the ...

. For that service, Woodriff received a land grant near Penrith, New South Wales in 1804. ''Calcutta'' then sailed back to England via

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

and Rio de Janeiro, arriving at Spithead on 23 July 1804, thereby completing a

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Mage ...

of the globe in ten months and three days.

Action of 26 September 1805

The ''Calcutta'' was refitted as a 50-gun ship, and sent to Saint Helena to escort merchant ships back to England. She arrived there on 3 August 1804 and sailed in company with six merchant ships back to England. Unfortunately, on 26 September, as the convoy approached the entrance to the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, they encountered a powerful French squadron. Woodriff attacked, sacrificing his own ship in order to give the convoy a chance to escape, which all but one did, while the ''Calcutta'' was forced to surrender. Woodriff, his officers, and crew were landed at

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...

three months later, and marched to

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

, away. In June 1807, Woodriff was released in a

prisoner exchange A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, dead bodies are involved in an exchange. Geneva Conventions Under the Geneva Conven ...

, and promptly court-martialled for the loss of his ship. He was honourably acquitted, and his conduct was pronounced to have been that of ''"a brave, cool, and intrepid officer."''

Later career

In 1808 Woodriff was appointed agent for prisoners of war at Forton, near Gosport. Towards the end of the war he served as

Resident Commissioner Resident commissioner was or is an official title of several different types of commissioners, who were or are representatives of any level of government. Historically, they were appointed by the British Crown in overseas protectorates (such ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. He was admitted into the

Royal Hospital, Greenwich Greenwich Hospital was a permanent home for retired sailors of the Royal Navy, which operated from 1692 to 1869. Its buildings, in Greenwich, London, were later used by the Royal Naval College, Greenwich and the University of Greenwich, and ar ...

, on 9 November 1830, and was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

on 26 September 1831, on the occasion of King

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

's Coronation Honours.

Family

He was born on 17 December 1756, the son of John Woodriff of Deptford, Kent. He married Asia Sumarel (1764–1827); they had three daughters, and three sons: Capt. Daniel James Woodriff RN (1787–1860), Cdr. John Robert WoodriffFor more on John Robert Woodriff see: RN (1790–1868), and Lt. Robert Mathews Woodriff RN (1792–1820).

Biography

Voyage to Australia

Action of 26 September 1805

Later career

Family

References

Further reading