Charles Brand entered the Royal Navy aged 13, at the time of the serious threat of invasion by the French under Napoleon Bonaparte.
On his return to the UK, he found employment with the Kennet and Avon Canal company, married a fashionable London b.
He led a possible government-sponsored expedition to Peru in 1828 and crossed the Andes on foot in the winter.
After an adventurous life as a midshipman, he became a lieutenant but was then forced to seek employment ashore at the end of hostilities.
Charles Brand entered the Royal Navy aged 13, at the time of the serious threat of invasion by the French under Napoleon Bonaparte