Mayo's Admiral William Brown - founder of the Argentine Navy
By Tom Gillespie
LAST Wednesday (June 22) marked the 245th anniversary of the birth in Foxford of Admiral William Brown.
He is regarded as Argentina's greatest naval hero and one of the founding fathers of the South American nation.
On the centenary of Brown's death in 1957, the Argentine nation donated a bronze bust of the admiral to the people of Foxford, and commemorations to mark his death are held in the town annually on March 3, the anniversary of his death in 1857.
The Irish Naval flagship, the L.E. Eithne, commanded by Castlebar native Mark Mellett, the former Defence Forces Chief of Staff, travelled to Argentina in 2007 at the invitation of the Argentine government as part of the 150th anniversary commemorations of Admiral Brown's death.
On its return to Ireland it transported a life-size statue of Admiral Brown, which was erected on Sir John Rodgerson’s Quay in Dublin as part of the 150th anniversary commemorations of his death. Dublin City Corporation also named a road in the vicinity in his honour.
In May 1995 John De Courcy Ireland’s ‘The Admiral From Mayo’ was published by Éamonn de Búrca, a native of Mountgordon, Castlebar, where he wrote: "William Brown pursued a career as a merchant seaman. Drawn into the maelstrom of Latin American politics in the dying days of the Spanish Empire, he rose to become one of the founding fathers of a new nation, Argentina, born from bitter struggle of the people of the Plate Estuary to wrest democratic institutions and political independence from the decaying tyranny of colonial Spanish rule.
"A quintessential seaman, Brown was happier on the deck of his ship, and his success in leading his crews to victory against enormous odds was founded on his constant concern for their welfare.
"In spite of his amazing record of naval success in a whole series of campaigns, Brown had to endure persecution, trial and imprisonment not once but several times in consequence of political intrigue.
"Nor did he forget the land of his birth, returning in her darkest days of the Famine to give money for relief and supporting O’Connell’s campaign against the union.
"The story of his dramatic and inspiring life, and the personal qualities that led him through every adversity to a tranquil and revered old age, is here told for the first time, in a book that crowns John de Courcey Ireland’s life-long interest in the sea and its affairs."
The sleeve notes read: "On March 15, 1814, Europe’s eyes were on Rheims, as the Allied forces closed in to force Napoleon’s abdication.
"At dawn that same day, half a world away, a red-haired captain launched an improvised navy into battle that was to break Imperial Spanish power in the New World.
"It was the start of a 40-year career of almost unbroken success that made William Brown one of the founding fathers of the modern Argentina nation.
"The dramatic story of his life of triumph and disaster - honour and disgrace - is told for the first time in English in this ground-breaking book by Ireland’s leading maritime historian."
Oliver Murphy of the Admiral William Brown Society, Foxford, wrote: "William Brown was born in Foxford in 1777, and at the age of nine he crossed the Atlantic to America, with his parents, who sought gainful employment and a new life.
"Unfortunately, his father contracted yellow fever, and died shortly after arrival. Young William Brown secured a position as a cabin boy aboard an American merchant ship. For 10 years he sailed in similar ships, becoming a sailor and, in due course, he obtained a Master's ticket.
"He joined the Royal Navy, and served in their Atlantic Division for a period of 12 years. His ship was captured by a French Man of War and he was imprisoned in Metz, from where he escaped. However, he was recaptured and jailed once more in Verdun, from where he also escaped to Germany and eventually travelled to England.
"On reaching England he went to sea again, employed by the Merchant Navy, where he befriended a man called Walter Chitty, whose sister he married in 1809, in Bromley, Middlesex, England.
"The couple sailed to Buenos Aires the following year in a ship belonging to Brown. Although this ship was lost to a privateer, Brown secured the finance to purchase another, and commenced trading on the River Plate."
He started trading from Buenos Aires around 1810, after he realised that there were more opportunities in South America.
In 1812, he purchased land in Buenos Aires and built a Quinta, called ‘Casa Amarilla'. A replica still stands there today and serves as a museum to Brown's life.
In 1813 he got caught up in a rebellion against the Spanish when his trading vessels were attacked.
He joined the rebels and with their help founded the Argentinian Navy, and with his flagship the Hércules won the war against the Spanish.
In 1847 he returned to Ireland for a short visit, and was very distressed at the devastation and despair that the Famine had caused. He returned to Argentina and he died in Buenos Aires in 1857, and was buried in the Recoleta Cemetery.
Admiral William Brown is a national hero in Argentina, and provinces, towns, streets, units of the Argentinian Navy, and its training college are named after him.
The late J.J. O’Hara, a former president of the Admiral Brown Society, was responsible for highlighting and promoting the Admiral Brown Foxford-Buenos Aires connections which are still vibrant today.