Talk:John Willett Payne

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West Florida

I removed the reference to service on the West Florida, which I suspect is not supported by the Oxford DNB entry. (I do not have access, but it is not mentioned in this bio.) According to sources I've been able to locate that describe the Battle of Lake Pontchartrain, the Lt. John Payne that commanded it in 1779 was killed in the action, which would make his later accomplishments rather remarkable. Magic♪piano 14:34, 12 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The section of the ODNB that references this is "After rejoining Howe's flagship for a while, and then, it seems, commanding the West Florida (14 guns), Payne returned to England in the Roebuck (40 guns), and on 19 April 1779 was appointed first lieutenant of the Romney (50 guns)". This is, in theory at least, a reliable source, although from experience I know that the ODNB can be wrong, particularly in cases of mistaken identity.--Jackyd101 (talk) 22:53, 12 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the quote. This 1895 DNB also places this Payne on the Romney in Europe in April 1779, does not mention the West Florida, and has a further assignment in November 1779. One source (see Rea, listed in Battle of Lake Pontchartrain, JSTOR access required) has "John Payne" assuming command of West Florida in January 1779; Martinez also identifies him as commander of the ship at the September action. These are probably different people; I think too many sources (not to mention questions of logistics) work against ODNB. Magic♪piano 01:12, 13 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]