The San Francisco call., 1910-03-31
NORFOLK ADMIRAL
LIST INCREASES
City Is Cradle Land of Famous
Sea Dogs, Including Lord
Nelson

To the famous list of Norfolk ad
mirals we can now add Sir John Fisher
! since the first sea lord has chosen his
| title from the village of Kilverstone,
near Thetford, though his associations
with East Anglia are those of adop
tion and not of birth, like the other
Norfolk admirals in history. That lit
tie tract of country which today we
call Nelson's homeland is corner of
the empire that in a quiet lethargic
way has played very big part in the
of it's sons who did not rise to the
eminence of Shovel or Nelson have
given their lives for the country as
those two men did.
| Norfolk is the cradle land of six
| famous seamen, and the greatest of
| these, is Nelson. In a corner of North
! Norfolk that lies between Hunstanton
| and Cley-next- the-Sea they We're all
born and bred, three of them before the
| days of Nelson, one of them contempt
rary with him and one of them in the
nineteenth century. The tiny village
| Oh gave lO TIC WI = 80
| John Marlborough and Sir Cloudesley
| Shovell; Salthouse, a neighboring ham
| let, was the birthplace of Sir Christie
pher Myngs, the valiant hero or many
fight under Blake and Monk in the
times of the commonwealth and after-
ward when the merry monarch was on
the throne. says the London GLOBE
| The trio of seventeenth century heroes
is enough to lend distinction to any
=; II oaI the greater nRnt
arisen hundred years later.
| Myngs was the first of them, for, ac-
! cording to the records, the date or MS
baptism was November %, 1928. Then
came Marlborough, who was born IN
1910, and finally Shovel. who was born
| in 1850 The relationship of the trio
to each other in later life was as
marked as in their early years. Mynss
took Shovel to sea with him as vol
lunteer in the days when the sun OF
| Charles II was RISING, and when Mar
borough was dead his widow was mar
ried to Shovel. Moreover. all three
died at sea while on service. Myngs
met his death in the four days fight
between Monk and Van Tromp in 1865,
and at his funeral dozen of his sea-
men, all Norfolk men, walked beside
! the hearse and laid the coffin in the
| grave Marlborough, the navigator, VINO
made so many Journeys on the Guinea
coast, and commanded a DIVISION at
| the battle of Solebay, died in the chan
mel in 1886. when setting forth with a
large convoy. And Shovel, worst fated
of them all, was dashed to pieces on
| the rocks of Scilly with his flagship.
| the Associa ton, on the night or Oc-
tober %, 1901 Many Norfolk seamen
must have perished in that great ca
tastrophe. for those admirals of East
Anglia visited the homeland for their
crews when they fitted out new ships
| and could always rely upon raising
| goodly proportion of their complement
! in the villages around the coast. And
two more Narboroughs, sons of his old
comrade, died with him. but they were
Kentish born, though of Norfolk stock.
| OF Nelson and Norfolk much has been
! written and his devotion to dear, dear
Burnham Thorpe" was strong to the
| last When, after the battle of the
Nile. he was given a peerage, he was
not content to be known by the name
! of his victory only He sought and
| obtained permission TO be Viscount
Nelson of the Nile and of Burnham
Thorpe. The visits he paid to his ma
tive place were as frequent as pos
| sible He was there for time after
| being invalided out of the "Hinchin-
| brooke and after the battle of the
Nile he sought health and strength
! in Norfolk while he was recovering
| from the wound in his forehead Be
| fore he went away to commission the
! "Agamemnon" he gave an entertain
ment to the villagers in the inn which
today is called the Lord Nelson. and
| in which the room he used is care
| fully preserved From his expedition
| to the Baltic he returned again TO Nor
! folk and landed at Yarmouth on his
way to Gradenham hall, near East
Dereham And even in the day of bat
fJ,a n ST nf hn nj a.
faIgar, he remembered the homeland.
1T is a happy day for Burnham
Thorpe" he remarked. 1T is the day
of their fair
We know but little of the other Nor
folk admiral of Nelson's days, Vice
Admiral Boyles, but he began his ca
reer in the same ship as Nelson. the
Reasonable, and at the battle of Fer
roll in July. 1905, he commanded the
Windsor Castle and took two Spanish
| prizes which he brought safely into
Portsmouth and on which feat he was
warmly congratulated by Nelson. who
| exulted over this achievement of
Norfolk neighbor. Boyles was native
| of Wells-next the-Sea. celebrated for
| its musseIs, and though seven years
older than Nelson he survived Trafal-
gar by IL years Another nautical
| celebrity. who was a native of Wells
| was Eliza beth Clayton, who. dressed
and worked as a ships carpenter many
years." though unlike another famous
| female sailors. she never reached COM
missioned rank.
There is one more Norfolk admiral
whose name is familiar to every one,
| Admiral Sir Gerard Noel. He was born
| at Stanhoe a neighboring parish to
Burnham Thorpe, and to make the as
sociation even closer. he was the sec
ond son of former rector. And there
is one last link between Norfolk and
the navy which may be recalled here
the last years of Captain Marryat. the
novelist of the sea. were spent at the
Manor house, Langham, and, with his
two sons. he is buried in Langham
church.