Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

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

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, 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 history of Europe, Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly (French Revoluti ...

and well into the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

Early life

Arthur Morrell was born in 1788 in

Stoke Damerel Stoke, also referred to by its earlier name of Stoke Damerel, is an inner suburb of the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. In 1844, Stoke Damerel was described as a parish in Roborough hundred, adjoining the borough of Plymouth, and including ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, 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 Military rank, 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 ...

'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 Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

and served aboard during an 1806 attack on

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, then held by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's brother,

Joseph Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte (born Giuseppe di Buonaparte, ; ; ; 7 January 176828 July 1844) was a French statesman, lawyer, diplomat and older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. During the Napoleonic Wars, the latter made him King of Naples (1806–1808), an ...

. 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 N ...

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 British Royal Navy, Royal Navy, United States Navy and merchant services in both countries for a senior petty officer who assisted the sailing master, master. Master's mates evolved into th ...

. 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 norther ...

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 Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Haitian Creole: ''Jan-Jak Desalin''; ; 20 September 1758 – 17 October 1806) was the first Haitian Emperor, leader of the Haitian Revolution, and the first ruler of an independent First Empire of Haiti, Haiti under th ...

. Morrell was part of the crew that brought ''Clorinde'' under a British flag to

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. ''Pique'' later took part in an abortive attempt to capture

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

, 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 ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in 1814, one of his last naval actions during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. 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 the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

Arctic exploration

In 1818, Morrell took part in a "perilous voyage of discovery" to

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

, in search of the Northwest Passage, in what was one of the earliest voyages of

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

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

David Buchan David Buchan (c. 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 ...

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, explorer and colonial administrator. After serving in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, he led two expeditions into the Northern Canada, Canadia ...

. 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 oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

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 In the age of sail, arming or victualling a war ship, or war vessel had the meaning of equipping the ships with all the materials to navigate and the " victuals" necessary for the crew to subsist. So, in addition to the rigging (masts, sails and ...

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 Brittany, Breton town and a commune in France, commune in the Côtes-d'Armor Departments of France, department in northwestern France. On 1 January 2018, the former commune of Léhon was merged into Dinan. Geography Inst ...

, in France, where two of his sons were born, George Truman Morrell 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 Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

Erith Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies north ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

.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 # George 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 Royal Navy captains Administrators of Ascension Island English polar explorers British explorers of the Arctic Recipients of the Polar Medal Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Military personnel from Plymouth, Devon