Admiral John Byng was a Royal Navy officer.After joining the navy at the age of thirteen,he participated at the Battle of Cape Passaro in 1718.Over the next thirty years he built up a reputation as a solid naval officer and received promotion to vice-admiral in 1747.
He also served as Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland Colony in the 1740’s and was a member of parliament from 1751 until his death.
Byng is best known for failing to relieve a besieged British garrison during the Battle of Minorca at the beginning of the Seven Years’War.Byng had sailed for Minorca at the head of a hastily assembled fleet of vessels,some of which were in poor condition.
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