Edward Belcher
Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, KCB (27 February 1799 – 18 March 1877), was a Nova Scotian, British naval officer and explorer. He was the great-grandson of Governor Jonathan Belcher. He was briefly married (1830–33) to Diana Jolliffe, stepdaughter of Captain Peter Heywood, that marriage ending upon her application for legal separation for his having infected her with venereal disease.
Biography
Early life
Belcher was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the second son of Andrew Belcher and entered the Royal Navy in 1812.
Surveys
In 1825, he accompanied Frederick William Beechey's expedition to the Pacific and Bering Strait as a surveyor. In 1836. he commanded a surveying ship on the north and west coasts of Africa and in the British seas. Belcher took up the work which Beechey had left unfinished on the Pacific coast of South America. He was on board the bomb vessel HMS Sulphur, which was ordered to return to England in 1839 by the Trans-Pacific route. Belcher made various observations at a number of islands which he visited, having been delayed by being despatched to take part in the war in China in 1840.
