Talk:William Laurence

Aha! A clue as to Laurence's age

In HMD, he recalls his unpleasant service on the HMS Shorewise under Captain Barstowe as a "freshly made" lieutenant of 17 (chapter 4).

During Laurence's first meeting with Hammond in TOJ (end of chapter 2) he recalls the Macartney embassy to China, which had taken place 14 years ago (1791). Laurence had been "newly made lieutenant" at that time.

Thus, if he was 17 when he was made a lieutenant, and it was 14 years ago, he is 31 now, give or take, depending on when birthdays happen. I have therefore put c. 1774 as his date of birth, until we find out otherwise.

That also gives us an idea as to Jane's approximate age -- when they first meet, he estimates that he and Jane are about the same age. That would have made her 21-ish when she had Emily.

I feel like Sherlock Holmes :)

- whitearrow

You're a genius! -- Strangerface 14:54, 29 September 2006 (PDT)

Hee! Thank you!

- whitearrow 17:26, 29 September 2006 (PDT)

Rank

I don't have "Tongues of Serpents" in front of me. Did Laurence ever stop being "Mr. Laurence" and switch back to being Captain? I've expanded the biography to include the events of Empire of Ivory and Victory of Eagles. It's sort of amusing that the vast majority of this bio doesn't include the books. I suppose that makes sense, assuming everyone here has read the books, but there are some gaps. -- Strangerface 20:21, 16 August 2010 (PDT)

Naval Record

We already know that Laurence;

• Ran away to sea at 12, under Captain Mountjoy (1784).
• Was captured by the French as a young Midshipman.
• Was Lieutenant at 17, on the Shorewise, under Captain Barstowe (1791).
• Was (presumably) second Lieutenant on the Normandy, under Captain Yarrow (Around 1798).
• Was first Lieutenant on the Goliath and was at Battle of the Nile (1798).
• Dined with Admiral Nelson on the Vanguard prior to the Battle of the Nile (1798).
• Belize was (presumably) ship before Reliant (Before 1805).
• Reliant was last ship (Around 1805).
• Has unusually large number of actions to his credit, which saw him to the post list at a young age, and was accounted a fighting-captain.
• Has been to India.
• Has never commanded a dragon-transport.

Anything else we can use to guess his record, or what ships he may have been on for how long? See, we know he went to India, if we can find out around what time, we could guess what ship he was on by checking which ships were there historically at that time. Almaron 16:50, 4 September 2010 (PDT)