Patee Byng's Journal 1718-1720

Henry Pattee Byng (1699-1747) was Sir George Byng’s eldest son and became the second Viscount Torrington on his father’s death in 1733 (see volumes 67, 68 and 70). This very detailed journal is concerned only with the Sicilian Campaign between 1718 and 1720.

The very young Pattee Byng had spent time as an army officer and was not officially in the Navy, but George Byng received the King’s permission for his eldest son to accompany him as his representative and special envoy, when George Byng was appointed to command the British Mediterranean Fleet in March 1718.

The journal gives a lively picture of the campaign and the difficulties of cooperation between a British fleet and an Austrian army. Pattee Byng took the news of his father’s victory over the Spanish at Cape Passaro beack to England, travelling overland by coach.