Captain

Captain (Royal Navy)

Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...

 Owen Stanley FRS RN

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 (13 June 1811 – 13 March 1850) was a British Royal Navy officer and surveyor.

Life

Stanley was born in Alderley, Cheshire the son of Edward Stanley

Edward Stanley (bishop)

Edward Stanley FRS was a British clergyman and Bishop of Norwich between 1837 and 1849.Born in London into a notable Cheshire family, Stanley was the second son of Sir John Stanley, 6th Baronet, and the younger brother of John Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley.Educated at St John's College,...

, rector of Alderley and later Bishop of Norwich

Bishop of Norwich

The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers most of the County of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The see is in the City of Norwich where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided...

. A brother was Arthur Penrhyn Stanley

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley was an English churchman, Dean of Westminster, known as Dean Stanley. His position was that of a Broad Churchman and he was the author of works on Church History.-Life and times:...

 and his sister Mary Stanley

Mary Stanley

Mary Stanley is known primarily because of her dispute in the Crimea with Florence Nightingale, whose friend she also was.She was born in Alderley, Cheshire the third child of Edward Stanley, later to be the Bishop of Norwich, and sister of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of Westminster and Owen...

.

He entered the Royal Naval College

Royal Naval College

Royal Naval College may refer to:* Royal Naval Academy in Portsmouth , renamed the Royal Naval College in 1806* Royal Naval College, Greenwich * Royal Naval College, Osborne...

 at the age of fifteen, and for nine years served under Phillip Parker King on HMS Adventure

HMS Aid (1809)

HMS Aid was a 10-gun Royal Navy transport ship launched in 1809 at Kings Lynn. She was converted to a survey ship in March 1817, and was renamed HMS Adventure in 1821. The ship was sold in 1853....

 and John Franklin

John Franklin

Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...

 in the Mediterranean. In 1836 he sailed to the Arctic as scientific officer on HMS Terror

HMS Terror (1813)

HMS Terror was a bomb vessel designed by Sir Henry Peake and constructed by the Royal Navy in the Davy shipyard in Topsham, Devon. The ship, variously listed as being of either 326 or 340 tons, carried two mortars, one and one .-War service:...

 under George Back

George Back

Admiral Sir George Back FRS was a British naval officer, explorer of the Canadian Arctic , naturalist and artist.-Career:...

. In 1838 he was given command of HMS Britomart and sailed to Australia, returning in 1843. In March 1842 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 

In December 1846 Stanley sailed from Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

 in charge of HMS Rattlesnake, with the purpose of surveying the seas around the Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...

 and Torres Strait

Torres Strait

The Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is approximately wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost continental extremity of the Australian state of Queensland...

. The ship called at Madeira

Madeira

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...

, Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, Simon's Town

Simon's Town

Simon's Town , sometimes spelled Simonstown; is a town in South Africa, near Cape Town which is home to the South African Navy. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula. For more than two centuries it has been an important naval base and harbour...

 and Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

, arriving in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

in July 1847. Stanley died in Sydney on the return trip having accomplished the main objects of the voyage and was given a state funeral.

External links

• Stanley, Owen (1811-1850) National Library of Australia, Trove, People and Organisation record for Owen Stanley