Remembering Patrick Stokes, Admiral Charles Austen’s great great grandson

Patrick Stokes, a great great nephew of Jane Austen and a direct descendant of her naval brother, Charles, died early on Christmas morning, 2023, at his home in Bridport, Dorset, England, aged 80. Trained as a chemist, Patrick had a successful international career in business. Among lovers of Jane Austen’s novels, he will be remembered for his initiatives to promote her literary legacy.                    

Fig.1: “Halifax,” by Lt Herbert Grey Austen, 1848. [2]

Fig 2: Publication from the Halifax Conference 2005. [3]  

 Patrick had a talent for gathering people together for literary purposes. He spearheaded and organized four highly successful international conferences attended by members of the Jane Austen Society UK (JAS), the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) and the Jane Austen Society of Australia (JASA). These conferences took place in Bermuda (2000 and 2010) and in Halifax, Nova Scotia (2005 and 2017). The locations were apt choices as Jane Austen’s brothers, Francis and Charles, had both served in North American waters during their naval careers.[1]

Fig. 3: Plenary Speakers at the 2014 JASNA AGM.

In addition, for eighteen years Patrick organized and directed the highly popular annual JAS conferences in the UK, maintaining the tradition of choosing places associated with Jane Austen, her writings, her family and the period in which she wrote.  

Patrick’s leadership in these matters was marked by professionalism, hard work, and humour. Those who had the good fortune to attend any of his conferences remarked favourably on the interesting speakers and the attractive settings with historic connections. They spoke warmly of the convivial spirit of the gathering, the fine food,  and the pleasure of talking about Jane Austen in good company. The success of these ventures was in large part due to Patrick’s personality. He was charming, gregarious and made people feel welcome.

Patrick was also a memorable speaker about the Georgian Royal Navy.

Fig. 4: Patrick presenting at the Halifax Conference 2017.

He was a keynote speaker at the JASNA AGM in Montreal, 2014, and subsequently talked to JASNA Regions in the United States and Canada as well as in the UK. Patrick had a fine feel for the dramatic on such occasions, arriving with panache in the costume of an Admiral’s dress uniform of the period. His witty presentations amused and delighted his audiences.

Fig. 5: Patrick as an ‘Admiral’, Halifax, June 2017.

Patrick also displayed his acting skill when he was recruited to take part in Syrie James’s short play, “Dangerous Intimacy: Behind the Scenes at Mansfield Park,” which was performed at the 2014 JASNA AGM. He delivered a vigorous portrayal of the Prince Regent. In addition,  participants in a JASNA summer tour to England will remember meeting Patrick on location at Lyme Regis. Who else could read so well the dramatic passages from Persuasion where Austen describes Lousia Musgrove’s disastrous fall on the Cobb at Lyme?

Fig. 6 : The novel Persuasion and Lyme.

Fig. 7: On location on the Cobb, Lyme.

Patrick rendered further service to JAS as Chair of the Society, beginning in 2004 for a five year term. Afterwards and ever willing to be helpful, Patrick took on the task of ensuring sufficient seating was available for JAS AGMs, which at the time took place in a tent on the grounds of Chawton House. With a twinkle in his eye and typical Patrick humour, he was happy to report that he was still a chairman, but now best described as a chair-man!

Fig. 8: Portrait of Captain Charles Austen in the 1840s.

Patrick was keen to promote Jane Austen to the world, to encourage new readers, to offer support to those researching her works, her life and family. It was in this context that I first met Patrick. While exploring the life and times of Fanny Palmer, Charles Austen’s young wife, Patrick’s knowledge, interest, and encouragement was a gift beyond expectation. I am very grateful for his permission to include in my book, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister: The Life and Letters of Fanny Palmer Austen,[4] reproductions of several Austen family artefacts in his possession, including a fine oil portrait of his great great grandfather, Charles, in later life.

I count myself very fortunate to have known Patrick. Along with wit and charm, he had a hugely generous heart and endearing spirit. His unique gift was to make everyone he met feel significant and important. Patrick will be greatly missed in the Jane Austen world and far beyond.

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[1] Charles served as a commander (1804-1810), flag captain to his Commander- in - Chief, Admiral Warren (1810)  and frigate captain (1810-1811); Admiral Sir Francis was Commander- in - Chief of the North American and West Indies Station, 1845-1848.

[2] Lt  Herbert was a son of Admiral Sir Francis Austen and served on the North American Station with him from 1845-48. Private Collection.

[3] The cover image of Halifax Harbour is also by Lt Herbert Grey Austen. The publication was edited by Sarah Emsley and includes essays by Sarah, Peter Graham, Sheila Johnson Kindred and Brian Southam.

[4] MQUP ( 2017, 2018) 

Photo credits: Figs. 2, 3, 6, 7 : Hugh Kindred;  Thanks to Sarah Emsley for permission to use Fig. 4 and Fig.5.

Captain Charles Austen’s Ceremonial Spadroon

A naval captain’s awards and gifts in recognition of meritorious service are springboards to understanding the diversity of his professional career and his versatility as an officer. In the case of Captain Charles Austen, brother of Jane Austen, two special objects merit exploration.[1] I have already written about the significance of Charles’s General Service Medal with its two clasps, one, referred to as “Unicorn 8 June 1796,” was awarded for his participation in the impressive capture of an enemy vessel, La Tribune (44 guns), and the other for the campaign for “Syria[2] Charles received this distinguished British naval award in 1849. A very different mark of grateful recognition of his services occurred in 1827 during Charles’s naval mission to South America. This acknowledgement took the form of a beautifully decorated ceremonial “spadroon.”[3].

Fig. 1: Portrait of Charles Austen and his Sword

“[Charles’s] spadroon is a ceremonial sword with a canon-shaped cross guard and eagle-headed pommel. The loop guard is in the form of a rope, which is held in the eagle’s mouth, and loops around the canon. The grip is made of carved ivory. The steel blade has been etched with decorative patterns, with gilded decoration. The scabbard [or sheath for holding the sword] has been decorated with eagle and sun motifs on one side, and on the other side is inscribed the dedication to Charles Austen from General Simon Bolivar.”[4]

This wonderful artefact connects to a period in 1827, when, as captain of the frigate HMS Aurora (38 guns), Charles was one of the Royal Navy captains stationed in the West Indies. Part of this squadron’s duties was to provide various services of support for General Simon Bolivar, liberator of Spain’s former colonies in South America.

 This past summer in England, I tried to find out more about the circumstances surrounding Charles’s receipt of his spadroon. It made sense to follow the clue which the historic inscription on the scabbard of the sword provides. That text reads: “Presented to Charles John Austen, R.N. commanding HMS Aurora at the City of Caracas, 1st March 1827 by Simon Bolivar the liberator of his country as a mark of his esteem.”

I knew that Charles kept a private journal during his years as Captain of HMS Aurora (1826-28). His writings are contained in nine notebooks in the collection of the Caird Library, which is part of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Once at the Caird Library, I expected to discover Charles’s entry for 1 March 1827 would provide a description of the sword’s presentation at a Venezuelan location, probably accompanied by Charles’s impressions of Bolivar. This was not the case. As Charles’s journal entry for that date reveals, he spent time at a Dockyard (most likely in Antigua) during the day.[5] That evening he entertained guests for dinner, the party concluding with “cards and liquors in the after cabin [of the Aurora].”[6] As further research revealed, Charles did not meet Bolivar until 20 April 1827, 50 days later. 

So here was a mystery. Where and when did Bolivar present the sword and for what reasons did he select Charles for this honour? Answering this question will provide a glimpse of how Charles undertook various assignments, and activities which would not ordinarily occupy a naval captain on a station.

In a later post, I plan to place Charles’s receipt of the sword in the context of his career, exploring how, for a short period, Charles played a small part in British international diplomacy in South America. That narrative will also introduce several interesting individuals with whom Charles interacted: the artistic and ambitious British Consul in Caracas, Venezuela, Sir Robert Ker Porter, the Honorable Alexander Cockburn, His Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary to the Columbian States, and the flamboyant and dynamic General Simon Bolivar, the illustrious military and political leader, who was known to his people as the Liberator and hero of the South American revolution. During his time in Caracas, Charles was welcomed by these men into the social and diplomatic life of the city.

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[1] Owned by Austen descendent David Willan.

[2] See my blog for 26 May 2023, “Honouring Jane Austen’s Naval Brother Charles: The Story of his General Service Medal.” I have been recently told that Charles’s medal is very rare because of the two clasps. I thank Nick Ball of the Chatham Historic Dockyard for explaining to me that only four “Unicorn” claps were awarded, so the combination of one with the more common “Syria,” is almost certainly unique.

[3] A spadroon was lighter than a broad sword, because it was designed to both cut and thrust.[3] Earlier this year, Charles’s sword became part of the exhibit “Command of the Ocean,” at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent, England.

[4] Many thanks to the sword’s owner, David Willan for the fine detailed description of its appearance.

[5]Antigua is the most likely location as Charles’s guests included Captain and Mrs Wilson of the 93rd, a Regiment, which was stationed there.  

[6] Charles Austen, Private Journal, 1 March 1827, AUS/121.

Honouring Jane Austen’s Naval Brother Charles: The Story of His Naval General Service Medal

Fig.1: Charles Austen’s Naval General Service Medal[1]

In 1849 Charles Austen received a distinguished award, the Naval General Service Medal. It was created by Queen Victoria in recognition of participation in significant naval actions between 1793 and 1840, such as an important single-ship capture of an enemy vessel, a larger naval engagement, like the Battle of St Domingo (1806), or a major fleet action, such as the defeat of the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar (1805).[2] The medal shows a left facing effigy of the Queen on one side and the figure of Britannia on the other. It hangs by a white ribbon edged with dark blue. Clasps, each designating the action for which the participant is honoured, are affixed to the ribbon.

Charles’s ribbon carries two clasps: “Unicorn 8 June 1796,” a reference to a single ship action by the 38 gun frigate, HMS Unicorn,[3] and “Syria” which refers to an extensive campaign in Syria in 1840.[4]  These actions are like bookends to a 42 year period during Charles Austen’s long naval career. He was a 16 year old midshipman when the Unicorn triumphed over the much larger French frigate, La Tribune (44 guns). By 1839, during the action in Syria, he was the 60-year-old captain of HMS Bellerophon (80 guns). In this blog, I will explore the two naval actions which Charles’s medal recognizes and consider the significance of this award for Charles. 

HMS Unicorn vs La Tribune: A dramatic chase and capture

Those aboard HMS Unicorn on 8 June 1796 would long remember that day. As dawn broke, the Unicorn, while cruising west of the Scilly Islands, sighted and gave chase to an enemy frigate, La Tribune.[5] During the day, the French ship ran before the wind, and although the Unicorn gained on her target, she was also subjected to well directed fire, resulting in damage to her mast and rigging. Undeterred, the Unicorn kept up the chase and a running fight for 10 hours. According to her captain, Thomas Williams, “at half past ten at night, having [run 210] miles, we [came] up alongside our antagonist and gave him [broad] sides for 35 minutes.”

As the smoke cleared, the Unicorn realized that she was still in considerable danger. La Tribune was, in Williams's words, “attempting by a master manoeuvre to cross our stern and gain the wind.”[6] Williams and his men responded by “instantly throwing Unicorn’s sails aback, by which means the ship gathered stern way, passed the enemy’s bow, regained her former position”[7]  and renewed the attack. The triumphant Williams continued: “the effect of our fire soon put an end to all manoeuvre for the enemy’s ship was completely dismantled,[8] her fire ceased, and all further resistance appearing ineffectual, they called out they had surrendered.”[9] It was a spectacular triumph of seamanship and bombardment for all those aboard the Unicorn.

Fig. 2: Capture of La Tribune by HMS Unicorn on June 8th 1796.[10]

Only similarly significant single ship actions during the French Revolutionary Wars (1793-1802)  were deemed worthy of the Naval General Service Medal.[11] The Admiralty recommended only those actions which counted as exceptional accomplishments in which the captain and the men had displayed marked courage and excellent seamanship, and the action was completed with as little loss of British lives as possible. The capture was also deemed praiseworthy if the enemy vessel, although damaged, could readily be repaired and refitted.  In such instances, the ship could be recommissioned into the British Navy, thereby adding to the British fighting forces while at the same time reducing the enemy’s fleet.

Evidently, the taking of La Tribune by the Unicorn satisfied these expectations. With a crew of 251 compared to the enemy’s 337, Williams and his men undertook a daring and challenging action, which required bravery, stamina and perseverance. They managed to sustain a running fire for 10 hours over a distance of 210 miles. Moreover, Captain Williams’s leadership was exemplary. Throughout the action he displayed “judicious and seamanlike conduct.”[12] The enemy’s final desperate strategy to cross the Unicorn’s stern and gain the wind was “skillfully defeated”[13] by Williams’s quick thinking and his men’s rapid response. An extraordinary feature of the action was that La Tribune failed to inflict any casualties aboard the Unicorn, whereas 37 men on the Tribune were killed, and 15 were wounded, including her captain, Commodore Moulson. In addition, La Tribune was a valuable prize - only three years old, well built and well designed. She was repaired and commissioned into the British navy as HMS Tribune.[14]

To be a participant in an action of this importance surely thrilled the young Charles Austen. It was his first experience of a long and complex pursuit and capture. We don’t know what specific part he played. As a senior midshipman, he might have been involved in commanding a group of guns in action during the prolonged chase. Charles must have felt some reflected glory, given the public praise for the Unicorn’s remarkable feat. Certainly, the Austen family rejoiced when, soon after the Unicorn’s return to port, King George III knighted Captain Thomas Williams as a reward for his gallant bravery. The Austens had a personal reason for being delighted since Captain Williams had married Mrs Austen’s niece, Jane Cooper, two years earlier. For Charles, the Unicorn action demonstrated what fame and fortune a naval career might bring. If he developed expert naval skills and was lucky enough to have auspicious future commissions and assignments, he too might enjoy a life of adventure, honour and riches. That Charles did come by adventure and honour, at last, is signalled by his award of the second clasp designated “Syria.”

HMS Bellerophon (80) and the Syrian campaign 1840

 “Syria” refers to the capture of the Egyptian held fort, St Jean d’Acre, on 4 November 1840 by Austrian, British and Turkish forces and the operations connected with it along the coast of Syria. What was Charles’s involvement in this offensive?

In April 1838, Charles was commissioned as captain of HMS Bellerophon, an impressive ship of the line with a crew of 650, and mounting on her lower, upper and quarter decks seventy-two 32 pounder guns and six 68 pounder guns. Among her crew were Charles’s only sons, nineteen-year-old Charles John, as master’s mate, and fourteen-year-old Henry. When the Admiralty dispatched reinforcements to the western Mediterranean that year, the Bellerophon was among the ships deployed on this mission.[15]

The political mood in the western Mediterranean at that time was tense as Mehemet Ali, the Viceroy of Egypt, had forcibly expanded his control into Syria. Britain and other allied powers demanded he withdraw. Hostilities began when the combined fleets of Britain, Austria and Turkey assembled close to Beruit in August 1840. The Bellerophon, together with HMS Hastings (74 guns) and HMS Edinburgh (74 guns) bombarded the town, which surrendered on 3 October. Tripoli was evacuated by October 22nd, leaving Ali with one last stronghold, the reputedly impregnable fortress of St Jean d’Acre with its surrounding town.[16]  

Fig. 3: Bombardment of St Jean d’Acre, 3 November 1840[17]

At 2:00 pm on 3 November, the British and her allies mounted an intensive attack on the town of St Jean d’Acre,[18] its citadel and adjacent fortifications. The first division of British ships, initially led in by HMS Powerful and followed in order by the Princess, Charlotte, Thunderer, Bellerophon, and Revenge, was supported by a second division led by the Turkish admiral[19] with seven additional British warships, three Austrian and two Turkish vessels. The firing, once begun, “waxed furious.” The smoke obscured visibility even before the ships anchored.  “The defenders, … [who] wrongly supposed the enemy would not venture close to the fortifications, were deceived as to the exact stations of the [attacking] ships, and thereby gave their guns too great an elevation.”[20] As Clive Caplin has described the scene, “the roar of the cannon was tremendous and incessant. A hail of enemy missiles whistled in all directions over the fleet, while a tempest of shot and shell poured down on the batteries and citadel of the town.”[21] 

At 4:30 pm, the defenders suffered a catastrophe. A large powder magazine in the town blew up with a frightful explosion causing dense clouds of smoke. Upwards of 1200 people were killed. Quantities of debris fell on the Bellerophon, which continued to fire at any indications of resistance. During three and a half hours of constant action under Charles’s effective leadership, the Bellerophon expended 160 barrels of gunpowder and 28 tons of cannonballs.

Fig. 4: HMS  Bellerophon leading the bombardment of the Syrian fortress at Acre[22]

By 6:00 pm all firing ceased. In addition to the devastation of property and lives caused by the explosion in the town, 300 were killed in the batteries and almost all the guns at the sea face were disabled. The Austrian Archduke Friedrich, who commanded the troops, led a landing party of allied soldiers to capture the citadel. This force, united with 5000 men who arrived from  Beruit, took possession of the town of St Jean d’Acre. The combined navies’ action in this last Allied victory in the Egyptian-Ottoman war was complete. The only task left was the transfer of 2000 prisoners to Beruit, a task which Charles Austen shared with three other vessels.

What might this campaign have meant to Charles? Personally, he had the satisfaction of being part of a combined international force which successfully completed a large and significant naval action. He could be proud of his men who had deployed Bellerophon’s gun power with steady and effective industry. To his great relief, Charles's two sons survived unscathed, in fact he lost no men in the intense bombardment.

Subsequently, in addition to being awarded the “Syria” clasp for his participation in the campaign, Charles was picked out for further honour for his particular performance in the action.  On 18 December 1840 he was one among only thirteen British captains and one Lieutenant who were made Companions of the Order of the Bath (Military Division), a prestigious British order of Chivalry founded by King George 1 in 1725. Moreover, the Syrian action, which illustrated his competence in battle, enhanced Charles’s naval record and likely contributed to his selection for what would be his last commission, his appointment in1851 as Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies and China Station.  

Fig.5: Badge of the Companion of the Military Division of the Order of the Bath

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[1] Owned by Charles’s direct descendent David Willan, the medal in currently on display at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham in the exhibit, “Command of the Oceans.”

[2] Other fleet actions include: Camperdown (1797), the Nile (1798), Copenhagen (1801), Abukir (1801).

[3] Only four individuals from the Unicorn action were still alive at the time this clasp was awarded.

[4] 6,978 individuals received this clasp.

[5] Unicorn’s action began as a pursuit, in company with HMS Santa Margaritta, of two French frigates the Tribune, and the Tamise. The Santa Margaritta quickly took the Tamise. The Unicorn continued to chase the Tribune.

[6] Thomas Williams to Admiral Kingsmill, 8 June 1796. The text of Williams’s letter is from a cutting of a newspaper report affixed to the back of a print, titled “The capture of  La Tribune by HMS Unicorn …,” after Francis Chesham, in the possession of the National Trust, Gunby Estate, Lincolnshire.                                                                                          

[7] See “Sir Thomas Williams, Royal Naval Biography, ed. John Marshall, 1827.

[8] Only her mizen mast was left standing

[9] Thomas Williams to Admiral Kingsmill, 8 June 1796.

[10] After a painting by Thomas Whitcombe, published in The Naval Achievements of Great Britain from the year 1793 to 1817, London, 1817.

[11] Only 32 single ship actions were recognized.

[12] “Sir Thomas Williams, Royal Naval Biography, ed. John Marshall, 1827.

[13]“ Sir Thomas Williams,” J.K Laughton, revised Andrew Lambert, Oxford Dictionary of Biography.

[14] La  Tribune was originally the French frigate, Galathee, launched in 1793. As HMS Tribune, her career in the British navy was short lived. See my blog “Jane Austen’s Naval Brother, Charles, and La Tribune: Milestones in a Naval Career, 1 August 2022.

[15] My account draws on Clive Caplan’s article, “The Ships of Charles Austen,” JAS Report for 2009, 154-5.

[16] See W.L Clowes on the 1840 Syrian campaign, paragraph 17, URL https://pdavis.nl/Syria.htm. The fort had been considerably strengthened since its occupation by the Egyptians in 1837. The defences were very strong towards the sea, where the works mounted 130 guns and about 30 mortars.

[17] By Lt  Col William Freke Williams, published in England’s Battles by Sea and Land, 1857.

[18] According to Clowes, “the town was low standing on an angle presenting two faces to the sea, both walled and covered with cannon - in one place a double tier.” See paragraph18.

[19] He was Captain Baldwin Wake Walker RN.

[20] See Clowes, paragraph 11.

[21] See Caplan, 155.

[22] Signed and dated by John T. Baines, Dec. 19, 1840.

Jane Austen’s Naval Brother, Charles, and La Tribune: Milestones in a Naval Career

Particular ships may come to have a special significance in a naval career. For Charles Austen, a ship that repeatedly touched his life in the Royal Navy was the vessel first known to him as the French frigate, La Tribune. Charles was a sixteen-year-old midshipman aboard HMS Unicorn (38 guns) when, on 8 June 1796, she encountered La Tribune (44 guns).[1] Charles had recently completed three years of rigorous study at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth. He was now learning to apply the theory of seamanship in practice at sea under the tutelage and supervision of his mentor and family friend, Captain Thomas Williams. He was about to take part in an epic chase in which Williams and his men would distinguish themselves.

While cruising west of the Scilly Islands, the Unicorn sighted and gave chase to La Tribune in a running fight which lasted ten hours. The Unicorn eventually pulled alongside the enemy and a “sharp contest ensued and continued with great impetuosity for thirty-five minutes.” When the smoke from their guns cleared, Unicorn saw that Tribune was preparing to cross her stern to gain the wind. This manoeuvre was defeated by “Captain Williams instantly throwing his sails back,…[and passing] the enemy’s bow. The action now renewed with fresh vigour but lasted only minutes, the [Tribune] having her mizen mast alone standing, surrendered.”[2] Thirty-seven of the Tribune’s crew were killed and fifteen, including her captain, were wounded; the Unicorn with  240 aboard suffered no casualties.

Fig 1: “The Capture of “La Tribune by HMS Unicorn”[3]  

This was an important coup for those on the Unicorn. Captain Williams was knighted by King George III for his exemplary leadership. La Tribune was a valuable prize capture so, not surprisingly, the  next year she was refitted and taken into British service as a 34 gun frigate. Her value was shared as prize money among all aboard in proportion to their rank. Midshipman Charles Austen would have received only a small sum but the event was significant to him. As the youngest in a clergy family of seven children, Charles had no expectations of private sources of income. He would have to make his own way. From his perspective, this exploit demonstrated the fame and fortune that a naval career might offer. If he could develop the expert  naval skills and have luck like that of his captain, Thomas Williams, a bright future might be his.

Charles’s role in the capture of the Tribune and the subsequent benefits for all involved would be well known to Jane Austen and the family. Jane took a keen interest in both her naval brothers’ successes at sea. She could appreciate that this chase, fight and seizure of an enemy warship would give Charles a sense of accomplishment. Moreover, she may have been an indirect beneficiary of  the Unicorn’s success. Charles purchased the topaze crosses that he famously  gave to his sisters in 1801 with prize money he had recently received. As the Unicorn had made other prize captures in 1796 and beyond, we cannot know for sure that the £30 of prize money Charles spent on jewelry for his sisters came from the Unicorn’s victory over the Tribune. However, as payouts of prize money were often much delayed, due to the slow processes of  the Vice  Admiralty Courts, there is a possible connection.[4]

Jane Austen would also have rejoiced in the Unicorn’s triumph for Sir Thomas Williams’s sake. He was considered one of the family since, four years earlier, he had married the beautiful Jane Cooper, who was the first cousin and former school mate of Jane and Cassandra Austen. Jane was a witness at the wedding and she had earlier dedicated “A Collection of Letters” in Volume the Second of her Juvenilia to the bride, alluding to the “Charming Character which in every Country, & in every Clime in Christendom is Cried Concerning you.” With Thomas Williams’s elevation to a knighthood, his wife became “Lady Williams.” Such a distinction would surely have pleased the romantically minded seventeen-year-old Jane.

Once at work in the British Navy, HMS Tribune was considered one of the finest frigates in his majesty’s service. However, instead of winning glory for the British, a year later she was shipwrecked on the Atlantic coastline of North America in Nova Scotian waters.

The sinking of HMS Tribune resulted from a constellation of human errors. On the morning of 16 November 1797, the ship was about to enter the port of Halifax after completing convoy duty from Newfoundland. Her sailing master, who was in charge of the ship’s navigation, was overconfident and refused the services of a local pilot. This was a fatal decision as the Tribune ran aground on the treacherous Thrum Cap Shoal on the eastern side of the entrance to the harbour. Her captain, Scory Barker, refused the offer of rescue boats from the Halifax Naval Yard and nearby military forts, judging that if he jettisoned guns and other heavy articles, the ship would safely refloat at high tide. Although she came off the shoal with the rising tide, a violent gale from the southeast also arose and carried the rudderless Tribune towards the western coast and onto the rocks near Herring Cove.[5] Of the over 240 on board, about 100 took to the rigging in the harsh temperature of that November night, hoping for rescue from onshore.

Fig.2: Chart showing the relation between the Thrum Cap Shoal and Herring Cove[6]

Local inhabitants of Herring Cove did what they dared. They lit a huge bonfire on shore, but as to reaching the survivors, heavy surf on the rocky shore made any approaches to the Tribune very dangerous. An acknowledged hero of the catastrophe was thirteen-year-old Joe Cracker, who saved two men in his small rowing boat. Eight others were subsequently saved by boats from the Cove. Overall, only twelve survived the wreck.[7] This disaster is marked with a monument honouring Joe Cracker set at the closest site on land, named Tribune Head.

Fig. 3: Tribune Head as seen from the land[8]

Fig. 4: Plaque honouring Joe Cracker, who intrepidly rescued two men from the rigging of the Tribune

Fig. 5: Herring Cove today

Fast forward now to 1805-1810 when the newly commissioned Lieutenant Charles Austen was commanding HMS Indian (18 guns) on the Royal Navy’s North American Station.  His assignments often took him in and out of Halifax Harbour, the northern base of the Station. From the westward approach his little sloop must pass close to Herring Cove and traverse the waters where HMS Tribune had wrecked and sunk. How might he have reflected in making this passage?

Perhaps he recollected, with sorrow, on the huge loss of life and profound suffering which had occurred, a situation made the more poignant by the probability that women and children belonging to naval officers’ families had perished with the Tribune. The tragic end of the Tribune was, additionally, a reminder of the importance of sound navigation and the necessity of competent seamanship among officers and men. The ill-fated Tribune had been badly served in both these dimensions. Charles probably also recollected the excitement of the chase of the Tribune in her earlier incarnation as a French frigate and his hopes for a future career of action and profit which was now just beginning with his first command.

Fig.6: The Naval  General Service Medal, 1847

The Tribune was to surface one more time in the narrative of Charles Austen’s long naval career. In 1847, Queen Victoria authorized the award of a silver medal, named the Naval General Service Medal, to recognize successful actions served in between 1793 and 1840. Charles received the new award with the “Unicorn 1796” clasp affixed in 1849.[9] By then a Rear Admiral of the Blue, it was fitting that the valour of the Unicorn in capturing the Tribune should become part of the honours which marked Charles Austen’s successful naval career.

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[1] She was originally the French frigate Charente Inferieure, launched in 1793 during the French Revolutionary war. and renamed La Tribune the next year.

[2] See John Marshall, Royal Naval  Biography, entry on Sir Thomas Williams (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Royal_Biography/Williams,_Thomas).

[3]After a painting by Thomas Whitcombe, courtesy of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

[4] See Victor Lucas, in Jane Austen, Pipkin Guides Series, 3.

[5] See HMS Tribune -1797- Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Maritime Heritage Database (https://novascotia.ca/museum/wrecks/shipwrecks.asp?ID=4539).

[6] Chart showing the lights and buoys in the approaches to Halifax harbour in The Sea Road to Halifax by Admiral Hugh Pullen, 1980, 72.

[7] Lieutenants Campbell and North managed to escape in a jolly boat before the Tribune struck the rocks near Herring Cove. There are conflicting accounts about how many were aboard, ranging from 250-289; some sources say 14 survived. See endnote 5.

[8] Figs. 3-5, photos by Sheila Kindred

[9] Charles was one of the 4 survivors of this action who received the clasp in1849. His medal had a second clasp for  “Acre 1840.” It referred to Charles’s  participation in the bombardment of the Egyptian stronghold, the fortress of St Jean d’Acre, which was said to be impregnable.

Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park: Midshipmen in Fact and Fiction

In Mansfield Park, Jane Austen created the fictional midshipman William Price, who was ambitious to succeed in the naval world. In the years before she began the novel, her naval brother, Charles, had guided the education of an actual midshipman, Thomas (Tom) Fowle of Kintbury, Berkshire. Intriguingly, the lives of the real and imagined midshipmen seem to intersect in Austen’s narrative.

Fig. 1: The Kintbury Vicarage where Tom Fowle grew up prior to entering the Royal Navy.[1]

Jane Austen had reason to be very interested in Tom Fowle’s career as a midshipman. She was intimately acquainted with his family, including his mother, the former Eliza Lloyd, his father, Rev. William Fulwar-Fowle, who had been her father’s pupil at the Steventon Rectory, and his siblings, particularly his older sister and near contemporary, Mary Jane.[2] Moreover, Tom’s uncle and namesake, the cleric Thomas Fowle, had been engaged to Jane Austen’s sister Cassandra before his untimely death in 1797. By way of letters among family and friends, Jane would have learned about Tom Fowle’s experiences at sea and his progress in his naval training.[3]     

 Midshipman Tom Fowle on HMS Indian:

Tom Fowle was a keen and likable boy,[4] who entered the navy at about age 12 under Charles Austen’s care and instruction. Charles, captain of the sloop of war, HMS Indian (18 guns) was a natural choice for Tom’s naval apprenticeship in light of the Austen family connections with the Fowles. In addition, Charles had a reputation for competency and concern for his men and his ship, the Indian, was in a desirable location. She was based on the North American Station[5] where the climate was more wholesome than the navy’s more southern Stations. The Austens and Fowles had not forgotten their sorrow when Tom’s uncle and Cassandra Austen’s fiancé had died of yellow fever while serving as a naval chaplain in the West Indies. It was comforting that Tom’s training would take place in a healthier geographic area.

Fig.2: HMS Atalante, of the identical design to HMS Indian (18 guns) on which Tom Fowle was a midshipman.[6]

In joining the Indian as a midshipman in about 1805, Tom Fowle could expect a life that was, by times, tough, hazardous and exacting, Midshipmen lived in crowded, damp, quarters in the depths of the vessel, mixed in together with older, rougher and uncouth seamen. Tom must have found his living quarters and associates very different from the comforts and companions in the rural English vicarage he had left. Very soon he would be exposed to the vicissitudes of the changeable, often violent weather of the North Atlantic, a frightening encounter for a someone with no previous seafaring experience. Over the next years he would need stamina and dedication for training in seamanship, naval tactics, the running of a ship and the organization of its men. He would learn the necessity of teamwork in the face of crisis, especially should the Indian come under attack. All the while, Tom had to study diligently in preparation for the lieutenant’s exam.[7]

Tom had much to report to his parents and older siblings. He endured situations when the Indian faced danger and potential disaster and he experienced moments of celebration. What he had seen and done must have been raw material for exciting narratives, as the following examples show.

A violent hurricane all but caused the Indian to founder in October 1807.[8] As Charles described the horrific event, “the wind became so furious as to perfectly overpower the Ship, which lay down on her beam end with such a weight of Water on Deck as to make me fear she would never right again. To save the ship and our lives, I ordered the main mast to be cut away.”[9] This ordeal was a truly chilling experience for a young midshipman. 

Equally terrifying was the occasion when the Indian barely escaped capture by four fast French warships that collectively carried 120 guns compared to the Indian’s 18. For almost fifty hours Indian used every possible tactic to elude her determined pursuers. The gunroom, sail cabin and bulkhead were dismantled and flung overboard to augment the ship’s speed. At one point, the wind died down and all the vessels became becalmed. Then all hands on the Indian manned the sweeps [oars] and rowed furiously. Luckily, the crew’s feat of perseverance paid off as they were able to put their smaller, lighter vessel a safe distance from the enemy.

Tom Fowle also shared occasions of heartfelt celebration. That the ship and her men had survived a tremendous hurricane as well as a close pursuit by four enemy ships, was just cause for thanksgiving. Additionally, from 1806-1808, the Indian was involved in the capture of a French privateer and 5 merchant vessels carrying contraband or enemy cargo, all of which were successfully adjudicated in the captor’s favour. According to a prescribed formula for the distribution of prize money, the crew and marines received a two-eights share. On a ship with a crew of about 121 men, Tom’s prize money would have been modest,[10] probably not enough to consider purchasing something special for his sister, Mary Jane, as Charles Austen had used his prize money when a midshipman to buy “Gold chains and Topaze crosses” for his sisters, Jane and Cassandra, in 1801.[11]

Fig. 3: Captain Charles Austen, painted by Robert Field.[13]

The pleasing expectation of even more prize money was quickly set aside when, in late November 1808, a prize crew from the Indian that Charles placed aboard a captured French merchant vessel was unable to bring her safely to port in Bermuda. Charles shared this news with Cassandra, expressing his personal grief in the loss of “12 of my people, two of them mids.”[12] The mids in question must have been Tom’s close associates. In the face of this tragedy, the precarious nature of naval life was made vividly clear to him. The event also suggests that Charles, who might have assigned Tom to the prize crew but chose not to expose him to further danger, took his responsibilities for the care of his protegee seriously.

Charles also arranged for Tom to profit from visits on shore. He introduced him to Esther and James Esten, his brother and sister-in-law, who lived in St George’s, Bermuda.[14] Entry into the Esten’s elevated social circle would have helped Tom acquire the social ease and polish that the Navy thought desirable in its officers.  

Meanwhile, Tom’s nautical studies progressed favourably.[15] Family interest and support for his career continued. We know from one of Jane Austen’s letters that his father arranged for charts to be sent to him by way of Fanny Palmer Austen’s father, John Grove Palmer, in London.[16]  On 23 September 1810, an enthusiastic Fanny Palmer Austen shared with Esther the news that “Mr Fowle has passed his examination for a Lieut. with great credit.”[17]

Midshipman William Price in Mansfield Park

Jane Austen started planning Mansfield Park in 1811 and finished writing it in 1813.[18]  However, she set the action of her novel in 1808-09,[19] which happens to cover years when Tom Fowle was training aboard the Indian. As Austen was sketching the character of William Price, information about the developing career and nautical experiences of an actual midshipman would seem relevant and revelatory. Although other sources of information were available to Austen, they could not provide the immediacy of details about a likable young man, whose naval experiences had been recounted by his captain, her brother, Charles. Austen had followed the midshipman years of her sailor brothers, Francis and Charles, but they had been some time ago - for Francis, 1789-1792, and for Charles, 1794-97. Tom’s Fowle’s story was vivid, authentic, and contemporary.

Austen introduces William Price efficiently and effectively into the novel. He has come to his uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram’s estate, Mansfield Park, to visit his sister, Fanny, after a separation of 7 years while he has been a midshipman aboard the naval sloop, the Antwerp. The succinct narrative he provides of his career to date is delivered with “clear, simple, spirited details” that impart “good principles, professional knowledge, energy, courage and cheerfulness.” Austen wrote: “Young as he was, William had already seen a great deal. He had been in the Mediterranean - in the West Indies - in the Mediterranean again - had been often taken on shore by the favour of his Captain, and in the course of seven years had known every variety of danger, which sea and war together could offer.”[20]

In William’s brief profile there are actions, attitudes and features of his personality that find resonance with Tom Fowle. Both Tom and William were ambitious young men who have served their sea apprenticeship aboard small sloops during the Napoleonic Wars; both had “seen a great deal”- Tom, on the waters and in the port towns of the extensive North American Station and William, by service in the Mediterranean (twice) and the West Indies. William regaled those at Mansfield Park with descriptions of “imminent hazards, or terrific scenes, which a period at sea must supply.”[21] Tom had similar stories to convey to his family and friends. Both young men were personable, and the beneficiaries of extra attention from their captains. Tom was considered Charles Austen’s protegee and was made welcome by Fanny Palmer Austen’s family and their circle in Bermuda. William was “often taken on shore by the favour of his Captain.” Both Tom Fowle and William Price were attracted to the acquisition of prize money. Tom earned a modest sum between 1806 and 1808; William speaks speculatively of his hope to receive prize money “which was to be generously distributed at home.”[22] In addition, both midshipmen have sisters close to their own ages who were very attentive to their budding careers. Tom’s sister, Mary Jane, who was a year older, must have exchanged letters with him regularly during his midshipman years; she even planned to visit him aboard one of his subsequent ships in October 1813.[23] Fanny Price has been William’s unerring correspondent and supporter in his career aspirations. She encourages him when he bemoans that he will never become a lieutenant.

Fig. 4: Fanny Price with her brother William at the ball given in her honour.[24]

Just as William, training on the Antwerp, “had known every variety of danger, which sea and war together could offer,” a similar comment could be made about Tom Fowle’s apprenticeship on the Indian. He had escaped very near capture by marauding French warships, he had survived some horrific storms at sea. These details expose the dangers that both factual and fictional midshipmen had to face with courage and bravery. In sum, Jane apparently drew some intriguing parallels from the real Tom Fowle as she worked to bring her imaginary midshipman, William Price, to life.[25]

 Yet being a midshipman was not a desirable end, rather it was the path to becoming an officer. As Austen knew, passing the lieutenant’s exam was only the first step in advancement. A successful candidate needed to be commissioned as a lieutenant on a ship in the active sea service. This step was not automatic. In fact, Tom Fowle had to wait several years, as Austen knew. Jane clearly considered the dramatic possibilities of this major hurdle for William since she worked it into her novel.

She captures William’s frustration that, without a patron or influence with the Admiralty, he fears he will never be employed as an officer. He confides in his sister Fanny that he feels ostracized at assemblies as “girls turn up their noses at any who does not have a commission. [He bemoans] One might as well be nothing as a midshipman. One is nothing indeed.”[26] William disparagingly refers to himself as the “poor scrubby mid as I am.”[27] But Austen goes a step further than a description of how William feels. She uses the circumstances of his stalled naval career to move the plot along.

Briefly put, Henry Crawford, who is in pursuit of the affections of an unwilling Fanny Price, sees an opportunity to ingratiate himself with her. He asks his uncle, Admiral Crawford, to use his connections and influence to secure a lieutenant’s commission for William. He succeeds in this scheme to benefit William and in consequence puts Fanny under the obligation to think well of him. Although Fanny is delighted to have William “made” a lieutenant, she is disquieted by the obligation which accompanies it. Fanny’s struggles to understand and assess the calibre of Henry’s character adds to the drama of the story, as the reader tracks Fanny’s emotional stresses throughout volume 3 to the happy ending, when she marries, not Henry, but the man she has always loved. 

In conclusion: Discovering the resonances between Tom Fowle’s early naval career and that of Austen’s engaging midshipman William Price speaks to Jane Austen’s sources of inspiration when creating this fictional character.[28] Moreover, exploring Tom Fowle’s naval experiences aids in understanding what it was like to be a midshipman, and sheds light on Charles Austen’s strengths as a caring and supportive naval captain.

Afterward: To his great pleasure, Tom Fowle was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1812 on Charles Austen’s ship, HMS Namur. Charles had the satisfaction of bringing along the career of a competent young officer and Tom, the pleasure of advancing his naval training under a captain he admired and respected. As the captain’s family lived on board, Tom was in close association with Fanny Austen and their young daughters, Cassy, Harriet and Fan. According to Fanny, baby Fan (almost one) was “quite the favourite with …Tom Fowle.”[29] Sadly, his naval career was cut short. He died in Paris in about 1822.[30]  

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[1]The image is from the cover of The Jane Austen Society Report for 2015.

[2] Evidence of Jane Austen’s long-standing relationship with the Fowle family comes from Mary Jane Fowle’s observation about Jane Austen’s last visit to the Kintbury Vicarage in the spring of 1816. Referring to her as “Aunt Jane” as a courtesy title, she wrote “Aunt Jane, went over all the old places, and recalled old recollections associated with them in a very particular manner.” See Deirdre LeFaye, Jane Austen: A Family Record (2004), hereafter Family Record, 236. In earlier years Jane Austen corresponded with Mary Jane. See Jane’s letter to Martha Lloyd, Jane Austen’s Letters (1995), hereafter Letters, ed. Le Faye, 3rd edition, 29 November 1812, 197.

[3] Charles Austen kept his sisters informed about Tom’s health and progress. In a letter to Cassandra, 25 December 1808, he wrote: “Tom Fowle is very well and is growing quite manly.” See JATS, 216.

[4] He was the second son of his family for whom the navy presented a possible career option for a young man of the lesser gentry. Many boys were attracted to the navy with the prospects of action in battle, riches in prize money and world-wide travel.  

[5] The North American Station extended from the Gulf of St Lawrence to Cape Canaveral, Florida and included the waters north, south and east of Bermuda.

[6] The image is from the Naval Chronicle, vol. 31, 1814, plate CCCCXV.

[7] Tom’s curriculum would include: the specifics of navigation and mathematics, practical skills involving knots and ropes, how to climb aloft, how to take his station in action. “A good deal was learned by doing and observing: … [for example] by assisting in casting the log and lead lines when the speed and location of the ship were regularly checked.” See Rory Muir, Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune: How Younger Sons Made Their Way in Jane Austen’s England (2019), hereafter Gentlemen, 204. Weir’s book has been a very valuable source about the training and lifestyle of midshipmen.

[8]Another vicious storm which severely threatened the Indian’s seaworthiness occurred on her passage from Halifax NS to Bermuda in November 1809. It is described in my book, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister (2017), hereafter JATS, 43.

[9] See Charles Austen to his Commander-in-Chief, Admiral George Berkeley, 23 October 1807, ADM 1/497, TNA.

[10] In the case of co-captures the prize money was divided equally among the vessels involved. 

[11] See Jane to Casandra, 27 May 1801, in Letters, 91. This was a particularly thoughtful gesture on Charles’s part as his sisters, especially Jane, were adjusting to the emotional wrench of permanently leaving the family home in Steventon. 

[12] See Charles to Cassandra, 25 December 1808, see JATS, 216. Jane had been told earlier of the prize taking and that the French schooner had not yet been heard from. See Jane to Cassandra, 24 Jan 1808, 169.

[13] In a private collection.

[14] Esther Esten liked Tom. Writing to Charles on 26 July 1808, she asked him to “present my best regards to Tom Fowle.” See JATS, 215.

[15] Austen scholar, Deirdre Le Faye, aptly describes Tom as a “promising midshipman.” See Le Faye, Family Record, 165.

[16] See Jane to Cassandra, Letters, 25 October 1808, 149 and note 4, 394.

[17] Ordinarily a midshipman had to complete 6 years of training before he took the exam for lieutenant. For the skills he would be examined on see Gentlemen, 214, 215.

[18] See Jane Austen: The Chawton Letters (2018) ed. Katheryn Sutherland, 11.

[19] Mansfield Park (hereafter MP), ed. R.W. Chapman (1923), Chronology of Mansfield Park, 554. 

[20] MP, vol. 2, chap. 6, 236.

[21] MP, vol.2, chap. 6, 235.

[22] MP, vol. 3, chap. 7, 375. 

[23] See Jane to Cassandra, 21 October 1813: “Mary Jane Fowle was very near returning with her Bros [Tom] and paying them a visit on board,” Letters, 241.

[24] An illustration by Hugh Thompson.

[25] For how Jane Austen may have used source material taken from real life, see JATS. 206, 207.

[26] MP, vol. 2, chap. 7, 249.

[27] Ibid, 245.

[28] Making the case for the parallels between Tom Fowle and William Price does not preclude noting that Jane Austen had other sources of inspiration for William Price, some of which that came from within her immediate family. For example, Brian Southam has observed that “the portrait of William Price - eager, enthusiastic and open – owes much to Charles’s own boyishness and charm.” See “Jane Austen and North America: Fact and Fiction,” in Jane Austen and the North Atlantic (2006), ed. Sarah Emsley, 27. Moreover, Charles’s gift to his sisters of Topaze crosses in 1801 made its way into the novel as William gives his sister, Fanny, an amber cross. See note 11.

[29] See Fanny to Esther, 13 November 1813. See JATS, 139.

[30] See Le Faye, Letters, Biographical index, 525.