Thomas Ebrill (also spelt Abrill) was a British merchant, who from 1826 to 1842 worked with the ships the ''Minerva'', ''Star'' and ''Amphitrite'' in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

and is known for his discovery of the

Acteon group The Acteon Group (Groupe Actéon) is a rather isolated and uninhabited subgroup in the far southeast of the Tuamotu atoll group in French Polynesia. It is located about east-southeast of Tahiti at latitude: 21° 17' 60 S, longitude: 136° 29' ...

Life

Ebrill's early life is unknown. He lived in

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

in 1820 along with his brother-in-law Samuel Pinder Henry with whom he had a sugar cane plantation. His numerous trade and transport trips had taken him throughout

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

but also to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in Australia and

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

in Chile. From 1832 to 1839 he ran a pearl farm on the

Gambier Islands The Gambier Islands ( or ) are an archipelago in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of , and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera alo ...

but in 1833, he discovered the

whilst captain of the ''Amphitrite''. In 1839 he came to the aid of the French captain Cyrille Pierre Théodore Laplace who was stranded on the reef of Tahiti. On 1 November 1842 at the Isle of Pines,

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, Ebrill and his crew fell victim of an attack by the

Melanesians Melanesians are the predominant and Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in an area stretching from New Guinea to the Fiji Islands. Most speak one of the many languages of the Austronesian languages, Austronesian l ...

where his ship was looted and burned.

References

{{reflist *O'Reilly, Patrick: Tahitiens: ''répertoire bio-bibliographique de la French Polynesia; supplément'', Paris: Musée de l'Homme, 1966 (Publications de la Société des Océanistes; 17) *Dunmore, John: ''Who's who in Pacific navigation'', Carlton, Vic. Melbourne Univ. Press, 1992, pp. 95 19th-century British merchants Year of birth missing Year of death missing