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He joined the Royal Navy as an Apprenticed clerk on 14th
March 1834 aboard HMS Ocean, docked at Sheerness. His father
was Purser in Ocean at the time. He was posted to HMS
Columbine on the 14th of June, less that a month before
the death of his father aboard Ocean. His Service record
indicates service in 20 different ships, stationed in the
East and West Indies, the Mediterannean, the Cape of Good
Hope, and in England. During the late 1840's, he was in
Columbine (for the second time) when the Navy was at war
with Chinese pirates around Hong Kong. He subsequently
wrote a book about these actions published in London in
1851. During 1850, he married Kitty Alderson, and no doubt
worked on his book. There is reason to believe a daughter
was born to them, but every possibility that Kitty didn't
survive the birth. Early in 1852, he joined HMS Hydra,
destined for the Cape of Good Hope. Late in 1852, while
based at Simon's Town, he married his second wife, aged
only 17, and took leave of the Hydra. They lived in Wynberg
near Capetown where a son was born in 1854. He was again at
sea for more than two years after this, mostly in the Far
East, he returned home as Paymaster in HMS Winchester, Sir
James Stirling's flagship in late 1856. After a year on
shore, he was in ships based nearer home for three years.
He missed the birth of his daughter, and his wife had to
delay the child's christening until he could be contacted
late in 1857. The family was together for once at the time
of the 1861 Census when he was serving in HMS Collosus. He
was appointed to his last ship, HMS Queen, in November 1861
and was in the Med., missing the birth of his second son,
until November 1862. What his movements or whereabouts were
until admitted to the Melville Hospital at Chatham in
August 1863 remains unknown. In Dec 1863 he was declared
bankrupt, and shortly thereafter, he was placed in the
Naval Hospital, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where he died in
1875. His Half-Pay and Retired-Pay records indicate he was
a bankrupt, and "unable to manage his own affairs". His
Death Certificate indicates 11 years of Dementia, and 30
hours of Epileptiform Convulsions prior to his death. The
cause of his condition remains a mystery. Whether his
family was able to visit him in Yarmouth is also unknown.
However, besides ensuring his wife of an income, and
attending to his debts, the Navy also paid for his
confinement at Great Yarmouth Hospital.
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