The Rev. Mr. Nobbs, to whom the early Pitcairners are indebted for so
much, carried on the work of John Adams so well and so piously that he was
sent home to England, ordained a clergyman of the Established Church,
returned to Pitcairn, and then accompanied the emigrants to Norfolk
Island, where he died about ten years ago.
Mr. Nobbs had a very curious history, which we reprint from the Rev. T.B.
Murray's book on Pitcairn:--
"In 1811 he was entered on the books of H.M.S. _Roebuck_; and,
through means of Rear-Admiral Murray, he was, in 1813, placed on
board the _Indefatigable_, naval storeship, under Captain Bowles.
In this vessel the young sailor visited New South Wales and Van
Dieman's Land, whence he proceeded to Cape Horn and Cape of Good
Hope, and thence, after a short stay at St. Helena, he returned to
England. He then left the British Navy, but after remaining a
short time at home he received a letter from his old commander,
offering to procure him a berth on board a ship of 18 guns,
designed for the assistance of the patriots in South America. He
accepted this offer, and left England early in 1816 for
Valparaiso, but the Royalists having regained possession of that
place, he could not enter it until 1817. He afterwards held a
commission in the Chilian service, under Lord Cochrane, and was
made a lieutenant in it in consequence of his gallantry in the
cutting out of the Spanish frigate _Esmeralda_, of 40 guns, from
under the batteries of Callao, and during a severe conflict with a
Spanish gun brig near Arauco, a fortress in Chili.
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