sketcher and naval officer, son of James Sykes, naval agent of Arundel Street, The Strand, London, entered the Royal Navy at the age of ten as Captain Paul Minchin’s servant on board the Resource stationed at Halifax. In 1790-95 he served as master’s mate in the Discovery on its voyage around the world under Captain George Vancouver. In 1791 Discovery was for some weeks at King George Sound (Albany, Western Australia) and Sykes made some sketches, including a view of some Aboriginal huts which was redrawn in London by William Alexander and used as an engraving, Deserted Indian Village in King George III Sound, New Holland , in Vancouver’s published journal of the voyage (London 1798). Three of Sykes’s original watercolours are held by the Hydrographic Department of the Ministry of Defence (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich).
After Discovery left Western Australia the ship visited New Zealand, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and the north-west coast of America where Sykes saved his captain and other members of the crew from being killed by a party of Indians. After returning to England he was promoted lieutenant in 1795. He continued to serve aboard various ships, mainly at Halifax, and was promoted commander in 1800. After further service in British, Mediterranean and French waters he became a vice-admiral in 1848.
Sykes had married a daughter of Edward Earl, chairman of the Scottish Board of Customs, in 1811. They lived in Surrey, England, where he was deputy-lieutenant of the county. He died on 12 February 1858.
