This sounded like the conventional, self-deprecating 18th century lady's excuse for publishing. "Nothing but the greatest distress” would have led her to do so, she said. The title page read "A Voyage round the World, in the Gorgon Man of War: Captain John Parker. Performed and Written by his Widow; For the Advantage of a Numerous Family". In 1795, the year after her husband's death, influential acquaintances helped her publish her work. Her neighbour Joseph Budworth persuaded publisher John Nichols to invite subscriptions for the forthcoming book. Budworth, like John Parker, was a veteran of the Siege of Gibraltar and wrote a poem on that subject to drum up interest in A Voyage round the World. Naval officers and supporters were among the many people who responded with advance subscriptions. Nichols wrote a complimentary review in the Gentleman's Magazine, with hints of the exotic curiosities described in the book – rose-apples at the Cape, kangaroo meat at Port Jackson – and ending with the information that Mrs Parker had given birth to a boy just days after getting back home in June 1792. The book was well-received, but Parker’s money troubles continued. She had to apply for assistance from a charitable fund administered by Budworth, Nichol and others, but eventually lost her house and spent some time in a debtors' prison. Personal life Little is known about Mary Ann Parker's childhood. She seems to have been well-educated, and she had been to France, Italy and Spain, where she lived for three years. Her fluency in Spanish and familiarity with Spanish manners were an advantage to her in Tenerife, where she acted as the party's "interpreter general". The names of her mother and physician father are unknown. The Parkers had two children, a girl and a boy, before the voyage on the Gorgon. They were left at home with their maternal grandmother. Mary Ann said she had chosen to go with her husband despite knowing she would miss her children and her mother, from whom she had never before been separated for as much as a fortnight. The little boy died while she was away. As well as the baby born just after her return from the voyage she had another child in 1794. Two Parker daughters survived although both sons died young. Parker's life was full of financial troubles in the 1790s and early 1800s, as outlined above. She died