Tish. Regenerated from tishpish. Old bat with double cats. Age privileged, demi ironic, semi trailer. Yoghurt privileged.
You'll probably notice I like Stephen Colbert a.k.a. Hunnibi a little bit...
#paulcrew
David McCallum appreciation life.
Frozen seamen enthusiast. Tish @ AO3
I mean you had two in a week you insatiable gremlins but FINE yes okay have some pictures of Wally going boat shopping
I call this one "Draw me like one of your French buoys"
This is the one where he fell asleep and they towed him away and hooked him up to an anchor, but taken before he fell asleep. Seems to be enjoying the sun.
Here he is trying to use a ladder (spoilers this was not successful)
He actually decided this one was too small.
But so far, you're thinking, these are all just charming images of a rascal! Elanor, you cry, you describe this beast as a criminal! A ruffian! A ne'er-do-well nereid! How can he be any of those things?
Well, let me show you, Anon. Let me show you.
Here he is commandeering a fishing vessel, thus STEALING the LIVELIHOODS of those HARD WORKING FISHERS
But British fishers mostly voted Brexit, so maybe you aren't sympathetic. Well, fair enough. But what would you say if I told you that he's back to his old tricks again vis-a-vis BLOCKING EMERGENCY SERVICES
THIS IS AN AMBULANCE BOAT, WALLY
GET DOWN THIS INSTANT
And finally, if his theft of a working ambulance weren't enough, here he is capsizing another boat. JUST LIKE he did in Tenby.
I warned you all. I warned you all he was up to no good. I warned you all this is an obstinate demon youth in need of an ASBO. But no, none of you listened. You fools. You played right into his flippers.
In honour of Terror Camp day, which I'm an eager attendee of, I thought I'd finally post some digging I've been doing lately.
Unlike his counterpart in The Terror, John Bridgens was not in his early sixties, but joined the expedition at 26, and came from Woolwich, Kent. He was the Subordinate Officers’ Steward aboard Erebus. Being endlessly fascinated by the way historical fiction can subsume historical identity, Bridgens piqued my interest particularly in the way he has been wholesale lifted from his historical counterpart to become a brand new character. So I went looking for him. What follows is conjecture on my part, but I'm putting it out here as I continue to fact check. This is all subject to correction.
The facts at my immediate disposal were Bridgens’ details on the Erebus muster (ADM 38/672), and a reference to his mother Harriet Richards in the allotment books for Erebus (ADM 27/90/93).
John Bridgens came to the Erebus having previously served on the Endymion, where he was an AB. From the allotment books for the Erebus and Endymion, we know that his mother, who would receive his pay, was called Harriet Richards.
The National Archives, ADM 27/90/93
We also have Harriet’s address - 3 New Road, Woolwich, Kent.
That the surname was different was an interesting point, and on further investigating, I was able to find a marriage certificate for a “Harriott Bridgens”, marrying a William Richards in 1822 at St Mary Magdalene, Woolwich. The interesting part came in noting that Harriet was listed as a spinster, suggesting that Bridgens was not a married name. Additionally, if the age in the muster is correct, John Bridgens would already have been three or four at this point. If this is the right Harriet/Harriott, was John potentially an illegitimate child?
Harriott and William Richards turn up in the census for 1841, living at New Road, Woolwich. They do have several children: James, Robert, Nancy, George and Emmalea (Emily) - no John (though he would have been about 21 by this point and potentially already at sea). Harriet and her children by William Richards turn up again in the 1851 census, but living at Rope Yard Rails. William Richards is not present, and from the record of his death, in 1846, it looks like the family moved from New Road some time after that fact - also some time after John Bridgens would have set sail.
Harriott marries again in December 1854, this time to an Alexander Wood, a widower - both of Rope Yard Rails. On this certificate, her father’s name is listed: William Bridgens and his profession given as “labourer”.
London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P97/MRY/034; Viewed on: Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1936 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
With her approximate year of birth from the 1841 census, 1799, it was possible to find a Harriet born to a William and Ruth Bridgens of Flaggon Row baptised on 27th March 1798 at St Nicholas, Deptford. Here, her middle name is given as Maria.
London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P78/NIC/002; Viewed on: Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
So far, so good, but still no record of John Bridgens. None of Harriet’s siblings have this name either.
In the Death Duty Register for 1854, a John Bridgens is listed registered against a Harriet Richards for Woolwich. This is certainly the right John Bridgens, as the entry for the name confirms that Bridgens was a seaman on Erebus. It includes the updated address for Harriet - Rope Yard Rails. It also contains two other crucial details, his name: “Henry James, otherwise John” (in the index Hen. Jas. othse John) and the additional descriptions “Bachelor", "a Bastard”. Interesting.
The National Archives, IR27/63. Viewed on findmypast.co.uk
Armed with this, a little digging reveals a baptism on 22nd August 1821, for a Henry James, son of Harriet Maria Bridgens and Joseph Gladman. Joseph's profession is listed as “Gunner, Royal Artillery”. Henry James’ birthdate is also listed - 30 September 1818. His surname too, is listed - Bridgens. And in the margin, the person updating the register has written “sp?” Some suggestions from genealogy forums has turned up that this may be an abbreviation for “spurious” or illegitimate.
London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P97/MRY/013; Viewed on: Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Three years previously, in the same location, a “Henry Gladman” was baptised on 25th October 1818, to “Harriet Mary Gladman” and “Joseph Gladman”, the latter again being listed as a Gunner in the Royal Artillery. Though the address given is different, if further evidence is needed that this is the same child, the birthdate is added here too - 30th September, 1818. Both of these are registered by the same person, in the same place, so it would be some coincidence.
London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P97/MRY/012; Viewed on: Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
A September 1818 birthdate would put him squarely at age 26 for March 1845, when he appears on the muster for Erebus.
It looks like that this Henry James was hurriedly baptised by at least one of his unmarried parents, falsely claiming their marriage. A few years later, for whatever reason, the baptism was repeated, and this time his father did not give his surname to his offspring, or to Harriet. As for Joseph Gladman himself, he married another woman, Jane Kelly, a little over a month after Henry James Bridgens/Henry Gladman was born and later moved to Scotland with her and their children.
I’m still working through what happened to this child between his birth and showing up in the Royal Navy (I have Suspicions, but we shall see). That he does not appear in Harriet’s census records is inconclusive - he likely would have already been at sea in 1841. There are other John Bridgens and Henry Bridgens who appear in census records, but these can mostly be associated with other individuals.
It looks to me likely that Henry James Bridgens was born the illegitimate child of Harriet Maria Bridgens, and died John Bridgens, a steward on board HMS Erebus, lost looking for the Northwest Passage. As I said at the top, I'm still fact checking, but it does make an interesting story.
