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, National News, Capital idea... hero to have street named after him. URL accessed on October 15 , 2006 .]] , 2006 . EARLY LIFE AND CAREER Career as a merchant captain , William Brown's birthplace in , 2006 .]] William Brown was born in Foxford, County Mayo, Ireland on , 2006 . One morning while wandering along the banks of the Delaware River , he met the captain of a ship then moored in port. The captain enquired if he wanted employment and Brown answered yes. The captain then and there engaged him as a cabin boy, thereby setting him on the naval promotion ladder, where he worked his way to the captaincy of a merchant vessel. Comparatively little is known of Brown's early life, and it has been suggested that he was illegitimate and took his mother's surname, and that his father's surname was actually Gannon. 1 Service during the Napoleonic Wars After ten years on the Atlantic, where he developed his skills as a seaman and reached the level of captain, William Brown was Press-ganged in to a British boat and forced to serve the British Crown . During the Napoleonic War s, Brown's ship was seized by a French Man-of-war , and he was made a prisoner and sent to Lorient . On being transferred to Metz , he succeeded in escaping disguised in a French officer's uniform. He was recaptured, however, and then imprisoned in the fortress of Verdun . From there, in 1809, he escaped in the company of a British colonel named Clutchwell and eventually reached German territory. Returning to England, he renounced his maritime career and, on , 2006 . Immigration to Argentina Brown became part owner of a ship called ''Eliza'', trading between Montevideo and Buenos Aires . When ''Eliza'' met with disaster and ran aground, Brown carried his cargo inland, and having disposed of it profitably, he next crossed the Andes to Chile . He had by now accumulated sufficient capital to enable him to purchase a schooner called ''Industria'' ( Spanish for "Industry"), with which he opened a regular sailing-packet service between Uruguay and Argentina, the first such venture in South America . At this point, the Spanish Colonial Government stepped in, sensing a threat to its mercantile interests. COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARGENTINE NAVY War with Spain See Also: Argentine War of Independence Spanish ships destroyed Brown's schooner, and took drastic effects to nullify Argentina's attempts to defend her coasts against Spanish raiders. As a result of the incident, Argentina resolved to provide ships to protect her coasts and trade, with Brown being appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Argentine fleet. Brown resolved to attack the formidable Spanish squadron with his ill-equipped navy of seven ships. On March 8 1814 , Brown took his tiny fleet to sea and within 48 hours was engaged in a furious battle. Land and sea forces saw action at Martín García , a fortified island twenty miles above Buenos Aires, commanding the two rivers Paraná and Uruguay , and known as ''the Gibraltar of the River Plate .'' Brown failed to win possession of the island, and his flagship, the ''Hercules'', was badly battered and ran aground. Argentine forces attacked vigorously by land and sea on 14 March , and after a stiff contest succeeded in gaining possession of Martín García. The Spanish commander took his ships to Montevideo hotly pursued by Brown, whose naval forces were now increased by the addition of three armed merchant vessels. The Spanish blockading squadron was now blockaded itself by Brown and his fleet. Montevideo was threatened with starvation. Brown, pretending to retreat, Drew The Spanish Forces Away on May 14 from the protection of the fort guns, and two days afterwards on May 16 an engagement took place in the course of which Brown's leg was shattered by a cannon ball. Undeterred he continued to issue orders and direct operations while stretched on the deck of the ''Hercules''. In a panic the Spanish squadron rushed for shelter to port, but three of their ships were captured. As a direct result of this engagement the Río De La Plata was freed from Spanish control and Montevideo fell to the Argentines. As the hero of the action, Brown was raised to the rank of colonel and made commander of the navy. His flagship, the ''Hercules'', was presented to him as a personal gift and reward for his services. War with Brazil See Also: Argentina-Brazil War Brown did not long remain inactive. Uruguay had been a bone of contention between , 2006 . War with Uruguay See Also: History of Uruguay#The "Guerra Grande" 1839-1852 Factional disputes within Uruguay led Argentine leader was blocked in 1845 Britain , France and Brazil entered the conflict on the ''Colorado'' side. LAST YEARS In 1847, Admiral Brown visited his native Foxford accompanied by his daughter. After the fall of the Rosas regime many naval officers found themselves discharged, but not the Commander of the Navy. Brown remained honoured for his long and loyal service to the nation. Retiring to his villa, ''Casa Amarilla'' at Barracas, Brown was visited by Grenfell, his opponent in the Brazilian war, who remarked how ungrateful the Republic was to its good servants; the old Admiral replied: "Mr Grenfell, it does not burden me to have been useful to the mother country of my children; I consider the honours and the wealth superfluous when six feet of earth are enough to rest so many difficulties and pains." On , 2006 . His grave is currently located in the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires. AFTER HIS DEATH , 2006 .]] Commemorative stamps showing William Brown have been issued in 1957 by the Irish government, See e.g. Siteworx UK Website Design, Admiral William Brown. URL accessed on October 15 , 2006 . and in 1891, 1935, and 1956 by the Argentine government. See List Of People On Stamps Of Ireland and List Of People On Stamps Of Argentina . Statues and memorials of William Brown's battles are located in both Buenos Aires and Foxford, his birthplace in Ireland. See e.g. North Atlantic Skyline Blog, Statue of Admiral William Brown in Buenos Aires. URL accessed on , 2006 . Located in ''Casa Amarilla'', Brown's home in Argentina, the Brownian National Institute was created in 1948 for "research and study the nation's maritime history and naval interests, and cooperate with both the Argentine and Irish governments in the investigation of William Brown's life and military achievements". The centre is based in , 2006 . Also, a substantial number of Argentine watercraft and political entities have been named after him. Examples include:
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