The existence and actions of various other characters including Archie, Guthrie and Manley Dixon have also been confirmed in historical research. I have not been able to find Mansfield in any reference work but he may have got work later in the Admiralty itself as clearly someone with a vindictive streak did, as the following note confirms.
The final footnote must be spared for poor Lieutenant William Parker who readers will recall was severely wounded in the attack on the Gamo. This note also serves to demonstrate the power of clerks to Admirals and the Admiralty. Cochrane’s autobiography describes how repeated requests by him for Parker’s advancement were turned down, doubtless due to his association with Cochrane himself. In the end Parker retired on half pay to a farm near Kinsale with his wife and four daughters. Some malevolent official in the Admiralty then sent him orders to command the sloop Rainbow in the West Indies. Thinking he was at last getting the recognition he was due, the man sold his farm and furniture and used the money to travel with his family to Barbados to take his commission. However when he arrived there after a lengthy search of the region, he found that the ship did not exist. Returning to England he complained to the First Lord of the Admiralty who promised that he would be amply compensated for the loss and expense of this fruitless voyage and that he would be given another command at the first opportunity. Sadly the malevolent force intervened again and he received neither. With his prospects still in ruin, domestic arrangements destroyed and pride wounded, his spirit gave way and he sank into an early grave, leaving his wife and four daughters with little support. Cochrane writing his autobiography in his eighties advises that despite then being a senior Admiral again in the Navy he was never able to identify who had so cruelly deprived his former comrade.
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Thank you for reading this book and I hope you enjoyed it. I aim to write about more of Thomas Flashman's adventures in the future so look out for further instalments.
Copyright © Robert Brightwell 2011
Flashman and the Seawolf Page 25
