"Mr. Whiffin R.N." is the first instalment of a two-part posting, "Whiffin of Whiffin Spit." This story relates the life and career of John George Whiffin, paymaster in the Royal Navy and later Secretary of the Royal Indian Engineering College, Coopers Hill.

While some biographic information is available for millions of people who have lived in the past, these people effectively remain anonymous unless there is a hook to catch our interest and cause us to look deeper.

In this case, the hook was the brief historic plaque at the start of Whiffin Spit, near Sooke on Vancouver Island. It led me to investigate the life story of someone of whom I had no previous knowledge. And in turn, John George Whiffin led me to Coopers Hill and the book Imperial Engineers. Through his story, therefore, the narratives of many other interesting people have been renewed.

It was a lucky choice. John Whiffin's voyage aboard HMS Herald was recorded in detail by the ship's naturalist, Berthold Seemann. His narrative even included Whiffin's own words. Whiffin's subsequent career in the Royal Navy was a matter of official record, and his obituary in The Times provided clues to his other activities.

This first part of the story covers the period until HMS Herald's return to England in 1851. "Whiffin: Crimea and After" will consider Whiffin's later naval career, Coopers Hill, and his family.