John Narborough

After the peace, he was chosen to conduct a secretive voyage in the South Seas. He set sail from Deptford on 26 September 1669, and entered the Straits of Magellan in October of the following year. In 1670 he visited Port Desire in Argentina and claimed the territory for the Kingdom of England. Having made landings at various points the expedition finally arrived to the heavily fortified Corral Bay on late December 1670.[3] There the expedition established contact with the Spanish garrison whose commanders were highly suspicious of Narborough's intentions despite England being at peace with Spain.[3] The Spanish demanded and received four English hostages in exchange for allowing Narborough's ship into the bay.[3] Despite claiming to be in distress and in need of provisions the Spanish refused to give provisions given that the crews seemed to be in healthy condition and Narborough's true intentions being unclear to them.[3] Narborough then unexpectedly made the decision to leave, and his ship departed Corral Bay on 31 December.[3] The four English hostages and a man known as Carlos Enriques were left behind and ended up in the prisons of Lima where they were subject to lengthy interrogations, as the Spanish struggled to find out the goal of Narborough's expedition.[3] Narborough returned home in June 1671 without achieving his original purpose. A narrative of the expedition was published at London in 1694 under the title An Account of several late Voyages and Discoveries to the South and North.

The Marquis Fernando Fajardo y Álvarez de Toledo learnt of Narborough's expedition while active as Ambassador to the Court of St James's.[4] The information was probably complemented by rumours of naval activities spread by indigenous peoples of Patagonia, with whom the Spanish had contact in Chiloé.[3][4] In response, the Spanish organized the Jerónimo Diez de Mendoza, Bartolomé Gallardo and Antonio de Vea expeditions on the three consecutive summers of 1674–1676, seeking news of any English presence.[4][5] The expedition of Jerónimo Diez de Mendoza brought to Chacao, Chiloé, Cristóbal Talcapillán, a native Chono whose claims about "Morohuinca" (English) bases in the far south caused the Spanish authorities concern.[6] The expedition could find nothing to verify an English presence. The Spanish eventually concluded that Talcapillán was lying and dismissed him.

During the Third Anglo-Dutch War Narborough was second captain of the Lord High Admiral's ship, HMS Prince. He conducted himself with conspicuous valour at the Battle of Sole Bay in May 1672, after the death in action of his superior, Sir John Cox, and won approbation. Shortly after he was promoted to rear-admiral and knighted.

Sir John suppressing Barbary pirates 14–24 January 1676

In 1675 he was sent to suppress the Barbary piracies, and by despatching gun-boats into the harbour of Tripoli at midnight and burning the ships, he induced the Dey to agree to a treaty. An account of the raid appears in the diary of a naval chaplain, Henry Teonge.[7] The lieutenant responsible for the harbour burnings was Cloudesley Shovell, who later married Narborough's widow.[8] Shortly after returning, Narborough undertook a similar expedition against the Algerines.

In 1680 Narborough was appointed Commissioner of the Navy, an office he held until his death in 1688. During those years he was a patron to a treasure hunter from New England, invested in an expedition by William Phips to find wrecked Spanish treasure ships in the Caribbean, and sought for the support of Charles II and others in the venture. Phips's first expedition, made in 1682 and funded by New England investors, was marginally successful. His second, in 1683–1685, was less successful, but gained valuable leads, and Narborough helped him to raise funds for a third expedition. Departing in September 1686, Phips located a valuable wreck in February 1687 and returned to England with treasure valued at over £200,000, which gained him approbation and a knighthood. After this success, Narborough decided to lead a follow-up expedition in the following year. Returning to the wreck, the English found it had been discovered by others. They recovered only about £10,000 of treasure before Narborough fell ill and died at sea in May 1688.

Knowlton Court, Kent

Narborough had bought the Knowlton Court estate, near Dover, from the executors of Sir Thomas Peyton, and so was buried in St Clement's Church.[9] His eldest son John was created a baronet in November 1688 (see Narborough Baronets) in honour of his father. Sir John died with his brother James and their stepfather Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell aboard HMS Association during the Scilly naval disaster of 1707.[2] Narborough's widow is buried in St Paulinius's Church, Crayford, where there is a memorial to her and her second husband.[10] Narborough's two sons were buried in the Old Town Church on St Mary's, Isles of Scilly.[1]

Knowlton Court passed to Narborough's daughter Elizabeth, who had married Sir Thomas D'Aeth in 1701.[11] [[File:St Clement church, Knowlton, Kent.jpg|thumb|Both Sir John and his sons have memorials in Knowlton church.