John Fearn (born , fl. 1798) was an English ship captain, notable as the first European to report sighting the Pacific island of

Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...

.multiple authors and consultors,

Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media co ...

, ''History'' (original title), He was probably born on 24 August 1768 in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

.Register of Bowl Alley Lane Presbyterian Chapel quoted in

Voyage of discovery

Captain Fearn departed

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

in the first half of 1798 in command of the

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

''Hunter'' (300 tons), owned by Campbell, Clarke & Co of Calcutta. Among those on board was

supercargo A supercargo (from Spanish ''sobrecargo'') is a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship. The duties of a supercargo are defined by admiralty law and include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the merchand ...

and partner in the firm that owned the vessel, Robert Campbell. The newly built vessel was named after the then governor of New South Wales, John Hunter, and carried a speculative cargo of mixed goods. It arrived at Sydney on 17 June 1798 where it, "came to a very advantageous market, the Colony being at the time of her arrival, in great want of stores and provisions". ''Hunter'' departed Sydney 20 August 1798 bound for New Zealand. On arrival six weeks was spent at the

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, in the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

, taking spars. She sailed from New Zealand in October and went on to discover Hunter Island (sometimes called Fearn Island) and then Nauru, which was sighted on 8 November 1798. Captain Fearn named it ''Pleasant Island'' due to its attractive appearance. Fearn was commemorated on the obverse of a $10 Nauruan coin and on a Nauruan postage stamp issued in 1974. Fearn has frequently been confused with his contemporary namesake, a British philosopher who spent some years as an officer in the Royal Navy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fearn, John English explorers English sailors History of Nauru Year of death missing British explorers of the Pacific 1768 births