Arthur Fleming Morrell (10 November 1788 – 13 September 1880) was British officer of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, an explorer, and Commandant of Ascension Island, who saw service spanning the end of the

Napoleonic era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislativ ...

and well into the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

Early life

Arthur Morrell was born in 1788 in

Stoke Damerel Stoke, also referred to by its earlier name of Stoke Damerel, is a parish, that was once part of the historical Devonport, England; this was prior to 1914. In 1914, Devonport and Plymouth amalgamated with Stonehouse: the new town took the nam ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, the second son of a Royal Navy lieutenant, John Morrell. His father had been an able seaman, rising to the

warrant officer Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ranks, the mos ...

's rank of gunner by the time his sons entered the Royal Navy.

Career

Royal Navy

Morrell's brother was John Arthur Morrell, who became a commander and served aboard during an 1806 attack on

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, then held by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's brother,

Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...

. Morrell joined the

at the age of about twelve or thirteen as a first class volunteer. He served first on , a 38-gun

fifth rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal ...

ship in the Channel fleet that took several French ships as prizes during the years Morrell served on her. He then moved to the Caribbean on board , and was by now a

master's mate Master's mate is an obsolete rating which was used by the Royal Navy, United States Navy and merchant services in both countries for a senior petty officer who assisted the master. Master's mates evolved into the modern rank of Sub-Lieutenant in t ...

. It was aboard ''Pique'', a captured French ship formerly named ''Pallas'', that he would take part in the

blockade of Saint-Domingue The Blockade of Saint-Domingue was a naval campaign fought during the first months of the Napoleonic Wars in which a series of British Royal Navy squadrons blockaded the French-held ports of Cap Français and Môle-Saint-Nicolas on the northern ...

in 1803, serving off Cape Francois. A boat from the ''Pique'', commanded by Lieutenant Nesbit Willoughby, was dispatched to capture the as she fled the rebellious Haitians led by Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Morrell was part of the crew that brought ''Clorinde'' under a British flag to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. ''Pique'' later took part in an abortive attempt to capture Curaçao, which in 1804 had been retaken from Britain by a Dutch-French force. After nine years in the Caribbean, Morrell found himself in the Mediterranean in a succession of ships including , from which he beheld the fall of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

in 1814, one of his last naval actions during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. At the end of hostilities, Britain turned to Arctic exploration to employ its navy and to attempt to discover a shorter route to the resource-rich

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

Arctic exploration

In 1818, Morrell took part in a "perilous voyage of discovery" to Spitsbergen, in search of the Northwest Passage, in what was one of the earliest voyages of

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

discovery. The voyage was unsuccessful, but Morrell would later be awarded the Arctic Medal, 1818–55. Captain

David Buchan David Buchan (1780 – after 8 December 1838) was a Scottish naval officer and Arctic explorer. Family In 1802 or 1803, he married Maria Adye. They had at least three children. Exploration In 1806, Buchan was appointed as a lieutenant in ...

commanded HMS ''Dorothea'', while Morrell served as first lieutenant. The ''Dorothea'' was accompanied by , commanded by

John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...

. As first lieutenant, Morrell kept a detailed log book which provided meteorological observations and navigational notes. The expedition eventually failed to penetrate thick pack ice.The National Archives. ''ADM 55/36''. The expedition returned to England without having achieved its goal. It would be nearly 40 years before Arctic exploration would be recognized, and in 1856 the Arctic Medal was struck and issued retroactively for various polar voyages starting with 1818, the year of Buchan's expedition.

Ascension Island

After a brief period commanding , which included successfully interdicting slave ships off the west coast of Africa, Morrell, now a commander, was in 1844 appointed Commandant of Ascension Island, an island in the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

that held strategic value to Britain, due to its proximity to both Africa and South America. He served as the island's 16th commandant for nearly three years, during which time the Royal Navy continued to engage the slave trade, and would have used the island as a base of operations and victualling stop.

Service history

* 1801: entered the Royal Navy as a first class volunteer aboard HMS ''Doris''. * 1803–1804: served on , 36 * 1806: Promoted to

aboard HMS ''Redbridge'', 12 * 1808: Served on board , 64, Captain William Pryce Cumby commanding * 1809: Confirmed to the rank of lieutenant. * 1814: Served on board , Captain John Lampeu Manley commanding * 1818: Appointed first lieutenant of HMHS ''Dorothea'', under Commander

* 1821: First lieutenant aboard , 46, Captain Fleetwood Pellew * 1823–1841: On half-pay * 1843: Commander of , 10 * 1844–1847: Commandant of Ascension Island * 1846: Commander of * 1856: Promoted to captain and awarded the Arctic Medal (1818–55) on retirement from the Royal Navy

Marriage and family

In 1820, Morrell married Elizabeth Reid, daughter of the "first pay clerk of wages" at Devonport, William Reid. Morrell was promoted to the rank of commander in 1821, but with peace, much of the Royal Navy was on half-pay. In between periods at sea, it seems that Morrell and Elizabeth lived in or near Devonport. But by 1830, the family had moved to

Dinan Dinan (; ) is a walled Breton town and a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in northwestern France. On 1 January 2018, the former commune of Léhon was merged into Dinan. Geography Its geographical setting is exceptional. Instead o ...

, in France, where two of his sons were born,

George Truman Morrell Commander George Truman Morrell RN (29 January 1830 – 7 May 1912) was a British naval, officer and explorer active during the Victorian era. Early years George Truman Morrell was born 29 January 1830 in Dinan, Brittany, France, a British ...

and another Arthur Morrell, both of whom would also serve in the Royal Navy. Elizabeth later died aged 61, on 29 September 1862, by which time the family had settled in Dartford, Erith,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

.Jeffries, F. ''The Gentleman's Magazine'', Vol. 213. p. 651. They had eight children together, of whom six would survive into adulthood. # Anna Harriett Cumberland Pellew Morrell # Lucy Elizabeth Haynes Morrell, who later married Scottish surgeon and botanist Edward George Irving # Charles Walter Morrell # Eliza Truman Morrell #

, explorer and later a commander in the Royal Navy # Arthur Morrell, later a rear admiral in the Royal Navy # Eliza Mary Anne Morrell # Isabella Cunard Morrell Morrell returned to sea service in 1843, on being given command of .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrell, Arthur Fleming 1788 births 1880 deaths Administrators of Ascension Island English polar explorers Explorers of the Arctic Recipients of the Polar Medal Royal Navy officers Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Military personnel from Plymouth, Devon