#MB77
1838
Folio (ca. 31,5x20 cm). 1 p. (bifolium, with a second blank leaf). Brown ink in secretarial hand on J. Green & Son laid paper watermarked "1837"; signed by Barrow at the bottom. Fold marks, otherwise a very good letter.
An official letter signed by John Barrow as the second Secretary of the Admiralty informed that "My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty having been pleased to advance you from the Pay of a Third Rate to that of the First Class". The letter is addressed to a Royal Navy boatswain James Mayning. He was in the naval service for over 46 years, being stationed in the Caribbean, North America and East Indies, and was slightly wounded "at the reduction of the island of Cheduba" (Burma) while serving on HMS Slaney (The Oriental Herald and Colonial Review. London. Vol. Viii, September-December 1824, p. 576). Mayning served on HMS Talavera, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, in 1836-1840.
John Barrow was a renowned English statesman, traveller and promoter of exploration; a member of the Royal Society (1805), a founding member and a president (1835-1837) of the Royal Geographical Society. He accompanied Lord Macartney’s embassy to China (1792-4), and served during the latter’s governorship in South Africa (1797-9) "collecting much of the commercial and strategic intelligence about the eastern seas and southern Africa" (Oxford DNB). Barrow was the auditor general to Cape Colony 1798-1803 and the second Secretary of the Admiralty in 1804-1845 (except for the period between 10 February 1806 and 7 April 1807).
"In his position at the Admiralty, Barrow was a great promoter of Arctic voyages of discovery, including those of John Ross, William Edward Parry, James Clark Ross, and John Franklin. The Barrow Strait in the Canadian Arctic as well as Point Barrow and the city of Barrow in Alaska are named after him. He is reputed to have been the initial proposer of St Helena as the new place of exile for Napoleon Bonaparte following the Battle of Waterloo in 1815" (Wikipedia).
