itby, in Yorkshire, on the 27th
of October, 1728; and, at an early age, was put apprentice to a
shopkeeper in a neighbouring village. His natural inclination not
having been consulted on this occasion, he soon quitted the counter
from disgust, and bound himself, for nine years, to the master of a
vessel in the coal trade. At the breaking out of the war, in 1755,
he entered into the king's service, on board the Eagle, at that time
commanded by Captain Hamer, and afterward by Sir Hugh Palliser, who
soon discovered his merit, and introduced him on the quarter-deck.

In the year 1758, we find him master of the Northumberland, the
flag-ship of Lord Colville, who had then the command of the squadron
stationed on the coast of America. It was here, as I have often heard
him say, that, during a hard winter, he first read Euclid, and applied
himself to the study of mathematics and astronomy, without any other
assistance than what a few books, and his own industry, afforded him.
At the same time that he thus found means to cultivate and improve
his mind, and to supply the deficiencies of an early education, he was
engaged in most of the busy and active scenes of the war in America.
At the siege of Quebec, Sir Charles Saunders committed to his charge
the execution of services of the first importance in the naval
department. He piloted the boats to the attack of Montmorency;
conducted the embarkation to the Heights of Abraham; examined the
passage, and laid buoys for the security of the large ships in
proceeding up the river. The courage and address with which he
acquitted himself in these services, gained him the warm friendship of
Sir Charles Saunders and Lord Colville, who continued to patronize him
during the rest of their lives, with the greatest zeal and affection.
At the conclusion of the war, he was appointed, through the
recommendation of Lord Colville and Sir Hugh Palliser, to survey the
Gulf of St Laurence and the coasts of Newfoundland. In this employment
he continued till the year 1767, when he was fixed on by Sir Edward
Hawke to command an expedition to the South Seas, for the purpose of
observing the transit of Venus, and prosecuting discoveries in that
part of the globe. From this period, as his services are too well
known to require a recital here, so his reputation has proportionably
advanced to a height too great to be affected by my panegyrick.
Indeed, he appears to have been most eminently and peculiarly
qualif