John Rivett-Carnac

Who was John Rivett-Carnac?

Admiral John Rivett-Carnac or John Rivett Carnac was an officer in the Royal Navy who became an early explorer in Western Australia. He later attained the rank of admiral.

John Rivett-Carnac was born in Bombay, India on 27 June 1796. He was the seventh and youngest son of the eleven children of James Rivett of the British East India Company by his wife Henrietta Fisher, daughter of James Fisher, of Bombay. His eldest brother was James Rivett-Carnac who would become the Sir James Rivett-Carnac, 1st Bt., and a Governor of Bombay. His father assumed the name of Rivett-Carnac by Sign Manual on 17 Jul 1801 in compliance with the last will and testament of General John Carnac. General Carnac had married his father's sister Elizabeth and in 1776 his father went to live with them in Bombay, where he remained until his death in 1802. John Rivett-Carnac emigrated to England with his mother in 1804, two years after his father's death.

He entered the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth in 1810, and in 1813 was appointed midshipman on the 38-gun Junon. He saw action in the War of 1812, taking part in operations under Sir George Cockburn and Lieutenant Philip Westphal.