Meet Commander Codrington Shagg-Pyle!
Younger brother to Little Hope’s very own Lord Horatio Shagg-Pyle, Codrington – as a second son – decided at an early age that it was to be a life on the ocean wave for him and shot off to sea like a ferret up a drainpipe at the earliest opportunity.
Having exchanged said drainpipe for a hornpipe, he set to with a will swabbing the decks and sampling lots of grog.
Our fellow soon found himself up there with the best of them, serving initially under Admiral Salmon and Sir John Fisher, before going on to positively distinguish himself under Lord Jellico at the battle of Jutland.
Returning a hero and sporting an eye patch (but only occasionally. He still had a right eye, it just liked to sleep more than the left one) Codrington went on to command His Majesty’s ships Cauldron and Rum-Runner before hopping onto the poop deck of HMS Nancy in early 1940.
There had been no news of the Nancy for a while, her last position having been reported as ‘going like buggery after the blighters’ near the Bay of Biscay. Hope was beginning to fade for our man, until one dark night...
(Shout out to my brother Derek aka 'South Atlantic Sam' for his portrayal of Codrington!)