Sir Edward Smoak

Draft notice for the Continental Army, 8/14/1777.

File Unit: Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land File of John Newton, ca. 1800 - ca. 1912

Series: Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, ca. 1800 - ca. 1912

Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 1773 - 2007

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Gabriel Bray (1750-1823), was second lieutenant of the 44-gun ‘Pallas’ under Captain the Hon. William Cornwallis (1744-1819), who later became a well-known admiral, on two voyages (1774-77) to report on British interests in West Africa, including the slave trade. The dated drawings refer only to the first of these, from December 1774 to September 1775, though a few may be from the second. Here are a sampling of a few of the drawings and an oil painting.

This drawing was done on the 'Pallas's' transatlantic crossing from Africa to Barbados, 4 April - 31 May 1775. The scene is likely to be in the ship's cockpit a lower-deck space, with little natural light, that was the home of midshipmen and master's mates. There they slept, ate and - as shown here - relaxed and studied by candlelight. One of their hanging cots, with a draw-string bag for personal items suspended at its head, can be seen in the top right corner, hanging parallel to the ship's side, as indicated by the positions of the hanging knee and deck beam, top centre. These were the living conditions that 'young gentlemen' first met when they went to sea and it is likely that one or more of those shown are either the Hon. Thomas Pakenham, or Lord Charles Fitzgerald, two of the aristocratic protégés of the ship's captain, the Hon. William Cornwallis.

A view on the 'Pallas's' fo'c'sle at sea, looking forward over one of her chase guns, with the starboard clew of her fore-course visible above her bowsprit. It is possible the seaman is a forward lookout, or just relaxing, and there is another sitting out on the spritsail yard to starboard with a harpoon, possibly to spear dolphin. The scene suggests light weather conditions running down into lower latitudes on the way to Africa. The name “Pallas” is carved or painted on the quoin (breech wedge) of the gun.

A drawing of four fully uniformed marines - probably a 'mess' of four - below an upper deck hatchway on the 'Pallas'. The two visibly eating are seated on sea chests and the meal could be pease pottage (or pudding) - a porridge of dried split peas baked with water and seasoning. The drawing was, however, probably made while the "Pallas' was at Portsmouth.

“Self portrait of Gabriel Bray”. This is one of two such self-portraits in the Bray album, the other showing him painting in watercolours (and probably using the same mirror). Both also show the long hair which men of the time could favour, usually tied back into a queue (pigtail) with ribbon among sailors (and soldiers) and powdered white in formal circumstances.

“Under the Pallas’ half-deck.” This is a still-life study aft on the 'Pallas, with Marines' drums and leather buckets hoisted up out of the way and a gun and (probably) a water cask secured for sea. The gun has what is probably a lead or hardened leather cover lashed over its touch-hole.

“Two small Royal Navy frigates.” The ships mount about 11 guns a side, suggesting they are small firgates of about 26-28 guns. The ensigns of both lack the blue and Scottish saltire element in the upper quadrant, which may just be an unfinished detail. A naval lugger (possibly a launch or longboat) is in the foreground. Since Bray has signed the drawing with his usual 'ad vivum' abbreviation, it may be a scene he observed off Africa during the 'Pallas' voyage, or perhaps one closer to home just finished at sea later: for he clearly did not do everything strictly from life. The ship on the left flies the red ensign often signifying one on independent commission, while the white one suggests the frigate on the right is from a command under a flag officer of the white squadron. This vessel also shows a rare example of the use of a long square driver (sail) hoisted in a following wind to the peak of the lateen mizzen yard, which normally carries a fore-and aft sail. Neither ship appears large enough to be the 'Pallas'.

In 1832, naturalist Charles Darwin arrived via HMS Beagle at Rio De Janeiro.

Charles Darwin

In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., a leader of the American civil rights movement who was in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city's sanitation workers, was assassinated by James Earl Ray.

The evening of King’s murder, a Remington .30-06 hunting rifle was found on the sidewalk beside a rooming house one block from the Lorraine Motel. During the next several weeks, the rifle, eyewitness reports, and fingerprints on the weapon all implicated a single suspect: escaped convict James Earl Ray. A two-bit criminal, Ray escaped a Missouri prison in April 1967 while serving a sentence for a holdup. In May 1968, a massive manhunt for Ray began. The FBI eventually determined that he had obtained a Canadian passport under a false identity, which at the time was relatively easy.

On June 8, Scotland Yard investigators arrested Ray at a London airport. He was trying to fly to Belgium, with the eventual goal, he later admitted, of reaching Rhodesia. Rhodesia, now called Zimbabwe, was at the time ruled by an oppressive and internationally condemned white minority government. Extradited to the United States, Ray stood before a Memphis judge in March 1969 and pleaded guilty to King’s murder in order to avoid the electric chair. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Three days later, he attempted to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming he was innocent of King’s assassination and had been set up as a patsy in a larger conspiracy. He claimed that in 1967, a mysterious man named “Raoul” had approached him and recruited him into a gunrunning enterprise. On April 4, 1968, he said, he realized that he was to be the fall guy for the King assassination and fled to Canada. Ray’s motion was denied, as were his dozens of other requests for a trial during the next 29 years.

In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., a leader of the American civil rights movement who was in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by the city's sanitation workers, was assassinated by James Earl Ray.

The evening of King’s murder, a Remington .30-06 hunting rifle was found on the sidewalk beside a rooming house one block from the Lorraine Motel. During the next several weeks, the rifle, eyewitness reports, and fingerprints on the weapon all implicated a single suspect: escaped convict James Earl Ray. A two-bit criminal, Ray escaped a Missouri prison in April 1967 while serving a sentence for a holdup. In May 1968, a massive manhunt for Ray began. The FBI eventually determined that he had obtained a Canadian passport under a false identity, which at the time was relatively easy.

On June 8, Scotland Yard investigators arrested Ray at a London airport. He was trying to fly to Belgium, with the eventual goal, he later admitted, of reaching Rhodesia. Rhodesia, now called Zimbabwe, was at the time ruled by an oppressive and internationally condemned white minority government. Extradited to the United States, Ray stood before a Memphis judge in March 1969 and pleaded guilty to King’s murder in order to avoid the electric chair. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Three days later, he attempted to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming he was innocent of King’s assassination and had been set up as a patsy in a larger conspiracy. He claimed that in 1967, a mysterious man named “Raoul” had approached him and recruited him into a gunrunning enterprise. On April 4, 1968, he said, he realized that he was to be the fall guy for the King assassination and fled to Canada. Ray’s motion was denied, as were his dozens of other requests for a trial during the next 29 years.

In 1581, Francis Drake was knighted aboard the Golden Hind by Queen Elizabeth I at Deptford.