Trivial Trivia - taking trivia to new levels

[AussieMick]

Well done for picking that connection, Susan. ( I didnt )

And of course congratulations to Roger for arriving first at Charles Wilkes. He was captain of the ship that was involved in removing the Confederate "ambassadors" from the British ship the Trent (Nottingham cricket ground is Trent Bridge).

Wilkes was a South Seas explorer and the character Cap'n Ahab may have been based upon him. His mother died when he was young and he was raised by Elizabeth Ann Seton (she died when she was 46). She is the patron saint of ... wait for it ...

saint of seafarers

I wonder how John Wilkes Booth came by his middle name. There was a John Wilkes who was an English MP that supported the War of Independence colonialists and was also a Catholic supporter.

"John Wilkes's brother was the grandfather of U.S. Naval Admiral Charles Wilkes."

Wikipaedia also says: In a famous exchange with John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, where the latter exclaimed, "Sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox," Wilkes is reported to have replied, "That depends, my lord, on whether I embrace your lordship's principles or your mistress."