Sister Heather has been digging into the ancient records to try and find out who was awarded the Freedom of Pembroke for doing something very heroic a very long time ago. (All the male members of the John family are entitled to receive the Freedom of the town in perpetuity as a consequence......)
At last she has discovered our hero. Able Seaman Thomas John, born c 1768 -- originally from Milford but maybe based at Pembroke Dock -- was a seaman on HMS Defiance, a 74-gun ship of the line in the thick of the Battle of Trafalgar on 21st October 1805. Thomas was one of 17 seamen from this ship who were killed in the battle, and it's most likely that this happened during the capture of the French vessel Aigle, of a very similar size. The Defiance lashed herself to the Aigle and there was fierce hand-to-hand fighting on board the French ship. There was a surrender, and then a counter-attack, and the Defiance eventually backed off and blasted the French ship into submission. She surrendered again, and later the British ship tried to tow her back to Britain. But she was so badly damaged that she was lost in a storm.
Heather hasn't yet found any citation relating to the death of our heroic ancestor, but she is working on it! According to family tradition, our heroic ancestor was a officer rather than an able seaman -- so that's a bit of a surprise. It's also quite surprising that he came from Milford -- we hadn't realised there was a family connection there, having assumed connections with the Neyland - Houghton - Burton area instead.
Thomas John would have been 37 when he died, and he must have left a family including at least one son! All hail to thee, ancient heroic ancestor!!
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