The 1805 Dispatches #22.01 February 2022 3 of 5 GEORGE KING Fighting Talk: One Boy’s Journey from Abandonment to Trafalgar Take a look at the website link below, of an exhibition until 27 February 2022, which we think might be of interest to our readers. It is a small exhibition at the Foundlings Museum that will be worth a visit if you are in London, but perhaps not for a special trip to London from afar. George King, once a Royal Marine on HMS Polyphemus (64), wrote his autobiography later in life. Originally apprenticed to a confectioner in London, after being brought up in the Foundlings Hospital– the UK’s first children’s charity. George ran away and was pressed into the Navy in 1804 with his journeys taking him across the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, Brazil and Argentina. His memoir provides us with an account of life below deck, on shore, and in the thick of battle, both a humorous and harrowing, including his account of the Battle of Trafalgar where he fought aboard HMS Polyphemus, which took 200 French prisoners and towed HMS Victory, bearing Nelson’s body, back to Gibraltar. Go To: https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/events/fighting-talk… Burnham Thorpe Playing Field Committee was faced with a dilemma over the best way to deal with a diseased Norwegian maple tree which had fallen onto the playing field. The tree had to be cut down, which left a decision on what to do with the stump or face the costly full removal of the stump and roots. BTPFC had the idea of approaching local tree sculptor, Henry Hepworth-Smith, to discuss sculpturing the tree stump. After consideration they decided to mark the Queen’s platinum Jubilee by commissioning Henry to create this Lord Nelson sculpture. The sculpture looks fabulous. It was celebrated with ‘a big reveal’ on the 22nd of December. Text edited from ‘The Burnhams Newsletter’ (Ed. Lucinda Reddyhoff), sent in by Club Chaplain Lynda Sebbage Image: Lynda Sebbage NELSON AGAIN IN BURNHAM THORPE Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust Britain’s extensive underwater cultural heritage ranks amongst the richest in the world. MAST’s mission is to investigate our maritime past to protect our future. The Trust exists to fill a long overdue void in our understanding of our nation’s rich maritime heritage, to ensure that there is a sustainable future for such sites, through archaeology, research, study and dissemination. A database cataloguing every Royal Navy vessel lost since 1512 is now available to the public. The Royal Navy Loss List is a free online database which lists 5,100 warships and auxiliaries lost in naval service. Created by the Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust in 2011, and originally intended to help legal and conservation experts protect Royal Navy wrecks around the globe, it has now been made accessible to all. The database is searchable in various ways, as you can find out by going to: https://thisismast.org// research/royal-navy-loss-listsearch.html THE ROYAL NAVY LOSS LIST
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTYyMzU=