William Brown

Argentina's official navy biography says Brown was born in Foxford, Co. Mayo, on 22 June 1777, into a Catholic family, and that his father took him to the United States as a child, where he was orphaned and went to sea as a cabin boy. The specialist historian John de Courcy Ireland doubts the poor-emigrant story: he notes that the Foxford birth and the 1777 date rest on Brown's own word, links him to the Westport Brownes, and records that Admiral Lord Howe found him a place as a Royal Navy midshipman.

In March 1814 the Directorio made him squadron commander. He took Martín García island that month and on 17 May 1814 won the naval battle off Montevideo, the victory Argentina marks each year as Navy Day. In the war with Brazil (1825–28) he commanded the fleet at Quilmes, Juncal and Monte Santiago. He served again under Rosas, beating a riverine force led by Garibaldi in 1842, and later became Garibaldi's friend.

He returned to Ireland once, in 1847, and was deeply distressed by the Famine; de Courcy Ireland says he brought relief to Foxford. He died in Buenos Aires on 3 March 1857. Fr Anthony Fahy gave him the last rites and led the prayers at his burial; the two men lie a few steps apart in Recoleta. Mitre said at the farewell that Brown had been worth a whole fleet to Argentina. Six navy vessels have carried his name.