Admiral John Lort Stokes, RN (1 August 1811 – 11 June 1885)Although 1812 is frequently given as Stokes's year of birth, it has been argued by author Marsden Hordern that Stokes was born in 1811, citing a letter by fellow naval officer

Crawford Pasco Crawford Atchison Denman Pasco (17 January 1818 – 28 February 1898) was a Royal Navy officer and Australian police magistrate during the 19th century. Career There were two periods to his career, first as in the Royal Navy: *He joined aged 12 ...

congratulating him on his birthday in 1852. was an officer in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

who travelled on for close to eighteen years.

Biography

Born on 1 August 1811, son of Henry Stokes, of Scotchwell, near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, and Anne, daughter of Dr George Phillips, Stokes joined the

on 20 September 1824. The first ship he served on was , and then in October 1825 he joined the crew of ''Beagle'' under Captain Phillip Parker King. ''Beagle'' was involved in a survey of the waters of South America. In 1828 the commander of HMS ''Beagle'', Pringle Stokes (not related to John Lort Stokes), committed suicide and Robert FitzRoy assumed command; the ship returned to England in 1830 and was recommissioned. From 1831 to 1836 Stokes served under FitzRoy as assistant surveyor for the second voyage of HMS ''Beagle'', and shared his cabin with

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

who was on board in a private capacity as a self-funded naturalist. Following this, Stokes was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and served under Commander John Clements Wickham for a survey of Australasian waters. When Wickham was invalided in 1841, Stokes took command of the ship. While Stokes was in command, ''Beagle'' surveyed Timor and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, returning to England in 1843. When he returned he wrote an account of this voyage of the ''Beagle'', which was published in 1846 in two volumes. Admiral John Lort Stokes 1812-1885 by Stephen Pearce

Admiral John Lort Stokes 1812-1885 by Stephen Pearce

In July 1846 Stokes was promoted to captain and commanded the steamship surveying New Zealand for four years. This was one of 26 hydrography surveys conducted by the British Hydrography Office around the world, and was also tasked with investigating natural resources and negotiating between British settles and the Maori inhabitants of New Zealand. Due to budget cuts, ''Acheron'' was replaced by a smaller vessel, from 1851 to 1856. The charts produced by Stokes remain in use to this day. From 1860 to 1863 Stokes commanded the ship HMS ''Rose'', surveying the coasts of 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 Kan ...

. He retired in 1863, was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in 1863, vice-admiral in 1871 and admiral in 1877. He died on 11 June 1885 at his home in Scotchwell.

Legacy

Stokes is commemorated in the scientific name of two species of reptiles: ''

Astrotia stokesii Stokes's sea snake (''Hydrophis stokesii'') is a large species of sea snake in the family Elapidae. It is sometimes placed in its own genus ''Astrotia''. The species is endemic to tropical Indo-Pacific oceanic waters. Etymology Both the specifi ...

'' and ''

Egernia stokesii ''Egernia stokesii'' is a gregarious species of lizard of the Scincidae family. This diurnal species is endemic to Australia, and is also known as the Gidgee skink, spiny-tailed skink, Stokes's skink and Stokes's egernia. The species forms stab ...

''. In 1848 Stokes Inlet and Lort River on the south coast of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

were named by John Septimus Roe the Surveyor General of Western Australia while leading a five-man exploration expedition, commemorating Stokes' work on ''Beagle'' surveying the Western Australian coast.

Notes

References

;Bibliography * *

Laughton, J. K. Sir John Knox Laughton (23 April 1830 – 14 September 1915) was a British naval historian and arguably the first to delineate the importance of the subject of Naval history as an independent field of study. Beginning his working life as a mathe ...

, Stokes, John Lort (1812–1885), ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

, 2004 * *

External links

* *
Lort Stokes collection of maps relating to Australia and the Pacific Ocean
at the National Library of Australia {{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, John Lort 1811 births 1885 deaths Explorers of Australia Explorers of Western Australia Explorers of New Zealand Royal Navy admirals English hydrographers People from Haverfordwest