F. S. Bell Falkland Islands. The captain, eight officers and 79 members of the crew were given the Freedom of the City of Exeter on 29 February 1940, and were welcomed by a crowd of 50,000 cheering residents. The crew marched through the streets with fixed bayonets, carrying HMS "Exeter's" shell-torn White Ensign through the streets. Bell also commanded in 1945. He retired from the Navy owing to ill health on 8 January 1948. In the 1956 film "The Battle of the River Plate", Bell was played by John Gregson. During the film, Bell's nickname of 'Hookie', because of his distinctive nose, is
HMS Porpoise (1799) HMS Porpoise (1799) HMS "Porpoise" was a 12-gun sloop originally built in Bilbao, Spain, as the packet ship "Infanta Amelia". On 6 August 1799 HMS "Argo" captured her off the coast of Portugal. "Porpoise" wrecked in 1803 on the North coast of what was then part of the Colony of New South Wales, now called Wreck Reefs, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. "Porpoise" was commissioned in October 1799 under Lieutenant William Scott as a storeship for New South Wales. She sailed in April and arrived on 7 November 1800 in Port Jackson. She carried a selection of useful European