✟ 𝟹𝚁𝙳 𝙻𝚃. 𝙹𝙾𝙷𝙽 𝙸𝚁𝚅𝙸𝙽𝙶 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
extramuralise) wrote2024-03-27 06:49 pm
extramuralise) wrote2024-03-27 06:49 pm
█ＩＮＦＯ.
BIO
FULL NAME
john irving
BIRTH DATE
February 8th, 1815
AGE
33 ( AT TIME OF DEATH )
NATIONALITY
British
AFFILIATION
Her Majesty's Royal Navy
RANK
( 3rd ) lieutenant
BIRTHPLACE
Edinburgh, Scotland
CANON
AMC's The Terror
APPEARANCE
HEIGHT
6'0" ( 182.9 cm )
HAIR
medium/dark brown
BUILD
SLENDER; LANKY; A BIT SHY OF ATHLETIC
EYES
pale blue/green (varies by lighting)
PERSONALITY
+
𝓔MPATHETIC . 𝓜ODEST . 𝓓ILIGENT . 𝓔ARNEST . 𝓛OYAL
=
𝓡ESERVED . 𝓖OD-FEARING . 𝓕ASTIDIOUS . 𝓟RIM . 𝓡EPRESSED
x
𝓐VOIDANT . 𝓐LOOF . 𝓜YOPIC . 𝓙UDGEMENTAL . 𝓟ASSIVE
BACKGROUND
F A M I L Y
FATHER—
JOHN IRVING (SR.)
MOTHER—
AGNES HAY ( deceased )
SIBLINGS—
⒈ george ⒉ lewis ( & wife catherine ("katie")) ⒊ mary
⒋ alexander
⒍ archibald
⒎ david
JOHN IRVING (SR.)
MOTHER—
AGNES HAY ( deceased )
SIBLINGS—
⒈ george ⒉ lewis ( & wife catherine ("katie")) ⒊ mary
⒋ alexander
⒍ archibald
⒎ david
After leaving the Royal Naval College, Irving served on a number of different vessels in the years which followed, including the HMS Cordelia, the HMS Belvidera, the HMS Edinburgh, the HMS Favourite, the HMS Volage, and the HMS Excellent.
It was aboard the Belvidera where Irving would first meet William Elphinstone Malcolm and George Kingston, two men with whom he soon became close, intimate friends with, and would retain a steady epistolary correspondence with for many years to follow. The three of them had a natural connection almost from the start, and would bond even further via deep religious convictions developed through their friendship. Non-evangelical sailors were known to mockingly refer to them as "the Holy Ghost Boys."
By 1836, Irving felt increasingly frustrated with his Naval career, describing his future prospects in a letter to Malcolm as being "so bad that I can hardly do worse than remain in it," and "I have told my father that I shall be glad to leave the Navy." Having harbored a desire for some years prior to settle in Australia, he and his younger brother David emigrated to the Monaro Region of New South Wales to pursue sheep farming instead, although they would spend only four years (of "great hardship and deprivation") there: they were robbed shortly after arriving, neither of them had actual agricultural experience, the price of sheep fell drastically, the farm failed, and John nearly died of a severe and prolonged case of dysentery. Irving had little choice but to return to the Navy in 1843, becoming acting-lieutenant on the HMS Favourite for a voyage which took him through the South Sea Islands, then back home. Shortly thereafter he would join the HMS Volage as a 2nd lieutenant, and then the gunnery ship HMS Excellent. Being promoted to lieutenant seemed to satisfy much of the discontent he'd harbored previously toward the Navy, now giving him ambitions of advancing even further to Captain or Commander. He hoped to begin his path to promotion after returning from Arctic Service aboard the Franklin Expedition...
As for the rest... watch AMC'S The Terror season 1, now on Netflix!
( All information comes from "Lieut. John Irving, R.N., of HMS Terror, in Sir John Franklin's Last Expedition to the Arctic Regions: A Memorial Sketch With Letters," as well as his pages on both wikipedia and the Franklin Expedition wiki; I have collected it here with a few creative liberties taken, including rewriting and reorganizing much of the original text, but by the same token I also make no claims to this write-up being original writing, as it is only meant for informational display use here rather than game applications or any other form of publication! )
SKILLS
⚓️ MATHS
High aptitude for maths and numbers
⚓️ BOOKSMARTS
High aptitude for reading / writing
⚓️ THE POWER OF GOD AND ANIME
Very strong, nigh-unwavering Evangelistic faith & religious aptitude
⚓️ ADMIN / SECRETARIAL DUTIES
High aptitude for protocol and regulations; inventory keeping; maintaining logbooks and records; and other similarly meticulous "admin"-type tasks
⚓️ GUNNERY TRAINING
Knowledge of and training in use of firearms / ordnance / artillery
⚓️ NAVAL EXPERIENCE
20 years experience in the Royal Navy, the last 5 of those serving as an officer
⚓️ SURVIVAL SKILLS
Survival experience in arctic conditions, including food/resource rationing, relocation, and walking for extremely long stretches
⚓️ CIRCUMSPECTION
Diplomacy, discretion, politeness; inclinations toward problem-solving
⚓️ AUTHORITY
Middling-to-adequate (at best) leadership skills
TRIVIA
† John Irving was the 4th son out of 7 siblings total: George, Lewis, Mary, Alexander, Archibald, and David. He was particularly close with his older brother Lewis, and Lewis's wife Katie, with whom Irving corresponded frequently through letters.
† Though The Terror transcripts include a deleted segment which makes potentially ahistorical reference to Irving having a sachet of letters written to his mother — Agnes Hay, who died in 1823 when John Irving would have been 8 years old — it has been noted that since journals and other such logs were required to be turned in to the admiralty following any expedition, whereas personal correspondence was not, it is possible or even likely these "letters" were his way of chronicling his time aboard.
† Other than the Bible, Irving was particularly fond of studying Euclid's geometry texts.
† In 1835, while representing the Royal Navy at a coronation ceremony in Greece, a boat which Irving had command of capsized with one fatality, although he was exonerated of any fault in the accident.
† Irving also rescued a young man from drowning in the nearby river Wallondilly and saw to after his recovery.
† He was selected for Arctic Service at the age of 30 in part due to being unmarried.
† Did we already mention he was a failed sheep farmer and nearly died of dysentery?
† Though The Terror transcripts include a deleted segment which makes potentially ahistorical reference to Irving having a sachet of letters written to his mother — Agnes Hay, who died in 1823 when John Irving would have been 8 years old — it has been noted that since journals and other such logs were required to be turned in to the admiralty following any expedition, whereas personal correspondence was not, it is possible or even likely these "letters" were his way of chronicling his time aboard.
† Other than the Bible, Irving was particularly fond of studying Euclid's geometry texts.
† In 1835, while representing the Royal Navy at a coronation ceremony in Greece, a boat which Irving had command of capsized with one fatality, although he was exonerated of any fault in the accident.
† Irving also rescued a young man from drowning in the nearby river Wallondilly and saw to after his recovery.
† He was selected for Arctic Service at the age of 30 in part due to being unmarried.
† Did we already mention he was a failed sheep farmer and nearly died of dysentery?
AESTHETIC