Commander George Truman Morrell RN (29 January 1830 – 7 May 1912) was a British naval, officer and explorer active during the Victorian era. Early years George Truman Morrell was born 29 January 1830 in Dinan, Brittany, France, a British subject. He was the second son of a naval officer, Arthur Fleming Morrell, and Elizabeth Reid, who was the daughter of a pay officer at the Plymouth Dockyard. His eldest brother, Charles Walter Morrell, died in 1839, aged 11. His younger brother, Arthur Morrell, also born in Dinan became a Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy. Career Morrell joined the Royal Navy in 1842 at age 12, a first class volunteer aboard HMS Calcutta, Captain George Frederick Rich commanding. He would spend seven years as a midshipman, before becoming a mate aboard HMS Excellent in 1849. He was then acting lieutenant on several occasions, before being confirmed to that rank in 1851. In 1866, the Foreign Office reported on "great judgement" displayed by Morrell during a daring expedition up the Niger River aboard HMS Investigator, a journey he documented in his journal. During his naval career, Morrell served aboard the following ships: 1842, HMS Calcutta 1842–1843, HMS Monarch 1843–1845, HMS Aigle 1845, HMS Formidable 1845, HMS Siren 1849, HMS Excellent 1849–1850, HMS Phoenix 1850–1851, HMS Helia 1851–1852, HMS Philomel 1852–1853, HMS Daring 1853–1856, HMS Imaum 1861–1865, HMS Wellesley 1865, HMS Espoir 1865, HMS Investigator 1865–1866, HMS Sparrow 1866, HMS Espoir 1866–1867, HMS Wellesley 1867, HMS Fisgard 1867–1868, HMS Wellesley 1869–1873, HMS Trafalgar He was paid off from the navy in 1869, and then served for a short period with the coast guard in Sligo, Ireland, as a division lieutenant. He documented his final year of service in Ireland in another journal, filled with details such as the loss of ships and crew, the recovery of drowning victims ("30th June - Bodies of two young women aged about 16 & 18 both sweetly pretty, laying in our boat house, having been brought off Black rocks near L. House on Saturday, to await coroner's inquest on Monday, 30th June"), and discipline meted out to coast guardsmen ("Sept. 9th - Mr. King to lose one good conduct stripe"). Marriage and family Morrell married Ellen Mary Stretton (born c. 1835 - died 21 December 1903), of Islington, in a ceremony on 29 August 1861, at St Michael, Highgate, Middlesex. The family was mainly settled in