James Gordon (Royal Navy Officer)
Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Alexander Gordon, KCB, RN (6 October 1782 – 8 January 1869) was a distinguished British officer in the Royal Navy. His 75 years in the service, from Midshipman to Admiral of the Fleet was unprecedented in its duration. He served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. Historian Bryan Perrett has suggested that his career was the model for events in the Horatio Hornblower novels of C. S. Forester.
Read more about James Gordon (Royal Navy Officer): Early Career, Frigate Captain, Postwar Career, Posthumous Reputation
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“I wonder if his appetite was good?
Or, if it were, if also his digestion?
Methinks at meals some odd thoughts might intrude,
And conscience ask a curious sort of question,
About the right divine how far we should
Sell flesh and blood.”
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