Besides Neil Petersen, three men, George Porter, James Ward, and Charles Paul, seamen, died of scurvy. The scientific results of the expedition are considerable; and the gallant men engaged in it have fully maintained the high reputation of British seamen for courage, perseverance, high discipline, hardihood, and endurance.
Chapter Eighteen.
Memoir of Commodore James Graham Goodenough.
To die in the path of duty, whatever that duty may be, is as honourable as to fall when engaged on the field of battle, or on the deck in fight with an enemy; and for either lot, British officers have ever shown themselves ready.
Among those of whose services the country has lately been deprived, none stood higher in the estimation of all who knew him than Commodore James Graham Goodenough. A brief notice of his career may induce others to follow his example. He was the second son of the Dean of Wells, was born in 1830, and sent at the age of eleven to Westminster School, of which his father had once been headmaster. He there gained the character he ever maintained of a brave, noble, and kind-hearted boy, who hated all evil doings or evil things. He was diligent and successful in his studies, and was beloved by all his companions.
In 1844 he joined HMS Collingwood as a naval cadet, and in her proceeded to the Pacific station. Here he spent four years, gaining from his messmates the same warm regard he had won from his schoolfellows. Ready for the performance of every duty, he was the leader among his companions on all occasions. He was a good linguist, and equal to the best in navigation and seamanship, as well as in all exercises. His chief characteristic was the thought of others rather than himself. When the Collingwood was paid off, he joined the Cyclops, commanded by Captain Hastings, and in her continued some time on the coast of Africa. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1851, passing the best examination at college. In that rank he served on board the Centaur, the flagship on the Brazilian station. He next served, during 1855, on board the Hastings, commanded by Captain Caffin, a Christian officer, whose advice to his young midshipmen when joining is worthy of being noted: “If you are a Christian, nail your colours to the mast and fight under them; you will be sure, in the end, to overcome your opponents!” While belonging to the Hastings, he was gazetted as having served with the rocket-boats at the bombardment of Sveaborg. After commanding the gunboat Goshawk, he proceeded to China, where he joined the Calcutta, flagship; and was gazetted on four occasions: for the capture of a large snake-boat from pirates in the Canton River, for being thrice in action in boats for the destruction of Chinese war-junks, for gallant services at the assault and capture of Canton, and for services on shore at the capture of the Chinese forts in the Peiho River. He now obtained the rank of commander, and returned for a brief time to England. After this he had for three years the command of the Reynard, on the China station. He next served as commander on board the Revenge, in the Channel squadron, and in 1863 was promoted to the rank of captain. During a residence on shore of about eighteen months he married. In 1864 he was sent by the Admiralty to America to visit the dockyards of the United States, and, at the end of that year, he went out to the Mediterranean as captain of the Victoria, flagship of Sir Robert Smart.
For five years, until 1870, he was in command of the Minotaur. The high esteem in which he was held was shown by his having been selected to assist in the revictualling of Paris after the Prussian siege, and also in distributing the peasant relief fund, when, accompanied by his wife, he gained the affection of all with whom he came in contact.
In 1871 the Admiralty again employed him to visit and report on the naval dockyards of Russia, Austria, Italy, and France,—another proof of the confidence reposed in him.