Hi Bruce

Thanks for that info - how did you find it, I tried everything I could think of! How did you work out that the John Corkill who went to France was the same person as mentioned in Manx Worthies? I had assumed that because he served "before the mast", then he would only be a humble seaman. Would someone like this go on to marry a French countess? Could there have been two John Corkills in the navy?

By the way, have you had any experience of trying to use records kept by the IOM chancery to help trace ancestors? I have a date accurate to within only a couple of years or so which should match with what they have on record - but it seems impossible to find!

Thanks for your help - really appreciated.
Alison