Barrow's Boys: A Stirring Story of Daring, Fortitude, and Outright Lunacy by Fergus Fleming

Author:Fergus Fleming [Fleming, Fergus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Published: 2007-11-30T21:00:00+00:00

O come and tell us what the Pole is –

Whether it singular or sole is, –

Or straight or crooked bent, –

If very thick, or very thin, –

Made of wood– and if akin

To those there be in Kent17

15

ROSS RESURGENT

When Parry and Ross returned from not finding the North Pole Barrow was in a slight state of shock. During their absence the Admiralty's fusty proceedings had suffered an upset. In 1827, the short-lived Prime Minister Canning had resurrected the post of Lord High Admiral, last held in the reign of James II. The man he had appointed was the brother of King George IV, the Duke of Clarence, who had become heir to the throne on the death of his elder brother, the Duke of York.

William Duke of Clarence – William IV as he was crowned in 1830 – was not a typical Admiralty Lord. For a start he had been a professional naval officer and knew what he was talking about. Secondly he did not really care what he was talking about so long as there was enough wine to hand. And thirdly, he said and did what he liked because he knew that one day he would be king. According to the diarist Greville, he distinguished himself ‘by making ridiculous speeches, by a morbid official activity, and a general wildness which was thought to indicate incipient insanity’.1 It was all true and he was a good laugh to boot.

The Duke burst through the Admiralty like a dose of salts. He liked to entertain – ‘for you know, my delight is in hospitality’,2 he confided to his master of household – and insisted Barrow give him a tour of Admiralty House so that he could gauge its potential. As the obedient Second Secretary opened door after door, the Duke became ever more excited. It was almost as splendid as anything his brother the King had to offer.

The Duke enjoyed himself thoroughly. He usurped everybody's powers, issued elaborate decrees about uniforms, sold his horses and his silver in order to entertain more lavishly, and turned the navy on its head by ordering officers to go easy on the cat-o'-nine-tails. Indeed, he told the reactionary Croker that he did not like him. More, he was going to sack him as soon as he became king.

‘It is a totally different thing from what it was when I left England,’ cheered Hydrographer Parry in a letter to his wife, having just been ordered by the Duke to take two weeks’ extra leave after his polar expedition, ‘and as concerns my personal comfort and feelings, improved beyond all conception. [My position as Hydrographer] is now, in short, fit for a gentleman and an officer to hold, which was by no means the case, when a certain person whose name begins with a C, was allowed to govern the Admiralty from top to bottom. This is all over now, and, under the Duke's government, every-body minds their own business.’3

Alas, Parry spoke too soon. Croker cranked his influential wheel and word reached high authority that the Duke of Clarence was unfit for office.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.