19 Facts About Fairfax Moresby

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Fairfax Moresby GCB was a Royal Navy officer.

Fairfax Moresby later saw action during the blockade of Brest during the Napoleonic Wars before becoming commanding officer of a sloop which was sent to the Aegean Sea to defend the population of Malta from pirates; the grateful people presented him with a sword.

Fairfax Moresby then sailed to the Adriatic Sea where he led a naval brigade providing artillery support to the Austrian forces during the siege of Trieste.

Fairfax Moresby went on to be senior naval officer at the Cape of Good Hope and then senior officer at Mauritius, with orders to suppress the slave trade: he concluded the Moresby Treaty with Seyyid Said, the imam of Muscat, restricting the scope of local slave trading and conferring on English warships the right of searching and seizing local vessels.

Fairfax Moresby took an interest in Pitcairn Islands at this time and planned the emigration of the islanders to Norfolk Island.

Fairfax Moresby was assigned to the second-rate HMS London as an able seaman but was promoted to midshipman and took part in the unsuccessful expedition to capture Ferrol in Spain in August 1800 during the French Revolutionary Wars.

Fairfax Moresby transferred to the first-rate HMS Royal George later that year, to the sixth-rate HMS Alarm in the Channel Squadron in March 1802 and to the fifth-rate HMS Amazon in the Mediterranean Fleet in November 1802.

Fairfax Moresby became a master's mate in the third-rate HMS Puissant at Portsmouth in December 1805 and then transferred to the first-rate HMS Hibernia, flagship of the Earl St Vincent, and saw action during the blockade of Brest during the Napoleonic Wars.

Fairfax Moresby subsequently transferred to the third-rate HMS Repulse in the Mediterranean Fleet and later to the third-rate HMS Sultan.

Fairfax Moresby was then made acting commanding officer first of the sloop HMS Eclair and then of the sloop HMS Acorn observing French and Venetian ships in the Adriatic Sea in Spring 1811.

Fairfax Moresby then returned to the Adriatic Sea where he led a naval brigade providing artillery support to the Austrian forces during the siege of Trieste in October 1813.

Fairfax Moresby was appointed a Knight of the Austrian Military Order of Maria Theresa on 23 May 1814 and, having been promoted to captain on 7 June 1814, was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 4 June 1815.

Fairfax Moresby became commanding officer of the sixth-rate HMS Menai in April 1819 and went on to be senior naval officer at the Cape of Good Hope early in 1820 and then senior officer at Mauritius in 1821, with orders to suppress the slave trade: he concluded the Fairfax Moresby Treaty with Seyyid Said, the imam of Muscat in September 1822 restricting the scope of local slave trading and conferring on English warships the right of searching and seizing local vessels.

Fairfax Moresby became commanding officer of the third-rate HMS Pembroke in the Mediterranean Fleet in January 1837 and commanding officer of the third-rate HMS Canopus in the Channel Squadron in March 1845.

Fairfax Moresby took an interest in Pitcairn Islands at this time and planned the emigration of the islanders to Norfolk Island which took place in 1856.

Fairfax Moresby was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 5 July 1855, promoted to vice-admiral on 12 November 1856 and promoted to full admiral on 12 April 1862.

Fairfax Moresby was advanced again to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 28 March 1865 and appointed Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom on 20 April 1867 and then Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom on 17 July 1869.

Fairfax Moresby was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 21 January 1870.

Fairfax Moresby died at his home near Exmouth in Devon on 21 January 1877 and was buried at St Margaret and St Andrew's Church, Littleham.