John Hayes (explorer)

Commodore Sir John Hayes (February 1768 – 3 July 1831) was an English naval officer and explorer. He served in the Bombay Marine of the East India Company (EIC).^[2][1]

Sir John Hayes[1]
A portrait of Hayes
Born	February 1768 Bridekirk, Cumberland
Died	July 3, 1831(1831-07-03) (aged 63) Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Allegiance	East India Company
Service / branch	Bombay Marine
Years of service	1781 - 1831
Rank	Commodore
Battles / wars	Second Anglo-Mysore War Third Anglo-Mysore War Napoleonic Wars Invasion of Java First Anglo-Burmese War
Spouse(s)	Katherine Pyne ​ (m. 1795⁠–⁠1831)​
Children	4
Signature

Hayes was born in Bridekirk, Cumberland, the son of Fletcher Hayes and Elizabeth Martin. On 7 December 1781, at age of 13, he joined the Bombay Marine as a midshipman on HCS Bombay, a 24-gun grab.^[3] On 6 February 1793, Hayes sailed from Calcutta on a private trading voyage with two chartered merchantmen, the 14-gun Duke of Clarence and the armed snow Duchess. The goal of the voyage was to collect nutmeg from New Guinea. However, on passing Timor, due to adverse winds he decided to navigate around the south coast of Australia and resupply with wood and water at Adventure Bay, Tasmania.^[1]

He spent some time exploring the area of the River Derwent, unaware that it had already been charted by Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux. Hayes named many geographic features, generally using the names of EIC officers or his shipmates. Some of these names survive to the present day, including the River Derwent itself and Risdon Cove.^[1] Leaving Tasmania on 9 June, he arrived at New Caledonia on 28 June and explored the coast until leaving for New Guinea on 3 July. Hayes was the first European to land on Rossel Island.^[1]

Hayes participated in several conflicts the EIC was involved in, including the Second Anglo-Mysore War, Third Anglo-Mysore War, Napoleonic Wars (including the invasion of Java) and First Anglo-Burmese War. He died in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Bay of Bengal while en route to Calcutta at the age 63. His only son, Captain Fletcher Fulton Compton Hayes, was killed in Awadh during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.^[4]

References

1. Ida Lee (1912). Commodore Sir John Hayes His Voyage and Life (1767-1831) with some account of Admiral d'Entrecasteaux's voyage of 1792-3. Longmans, Green, and Co.
2. Roe, Margriet (1966). "Hayes, Sir John (1768 - 1831)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
3. Roe, Margriet. "Hayes, Sir John (1768–1831)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
4. De Rhé-Philipe, George William (1905). A Narrative of the First Burmese War, 1824-26. Office of the Superintendent of Government Print., India. p. 13.

External links

Media related to Sir John Hayes at Wikimedia Commons