William Brown was born in County Mayo, emigrated to the United States, went to sea after family tragedy, and worked up to merchant command. Accounts then place him in Royal Navy impressment, French captivity, repeated escapes, and England, but parts of that chronology and its technical detail are difficult to reconcile. A story involving a British galley, for example, does not fit the period. Brown married Elizabeth Chitty in 1809, and the Catholic-Protestant couple agreed to raise their sons Catholic and their daughters Protestant. He soon established himself as a merchant in Montevideo. After losing one vessel he moved cargo overland, crossed the Andes, raised new capital, and created a profitable packet service between Uruguay and Argentina. Spanish action against that service gave him a direct grievance as well as the money and maritime experience that later supported his naval command.
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William Brown’s merchant success and a biography full of puzzles
Brown rose from an Irish emigrant and merchant seaman to a prosperous River Plate shipowner, although parts of his wartime biography do not fit neatly together.