Talk:Sir Isaac Coffin, 1st Baronet

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Military history: Biography / Maritime / British / European / Early Modern / American Revolution / Napoleonic era

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Biography: Military / Peerage and Baronetage

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A fact from Sir Isaac Coffin, 1st Baronet appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 22 September 2009 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Captain Isaac Coffin rescued a man from drowning while commanding HMS Alligator, but injured himself in doing so?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2009/September.

Wikipedia

Enquiries

16 refs to one page 84? Must be a good page

Tracey fitted 200 biographies into 374 pages. Coffin's covers pages 83-85, sharing part of 83 with Edward Codrington, and part of 85 with Christopher Cole. 84 covers the years from 1786 to the early 1800s, the most active part of his career. Laughton in the DNB similarly covers entire lives in one or two pages. I'm not sure if this is a criticism?

Was Dorchester alive or dead when he was brought home ... why?

He was alive, no reason is given, though it was common for officials to return to Britain at the end of their appointments, or to discuss matters with their superiors in London. Coffin nearly took him back to Canada in 1793, but in the end Dorchester travelled on a different ship.

Surely its HMS Alligator? Victuallers (talk) 23:18, 18 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the point of the hook was to be intriguing. i.e. imply that he was brought home in a reptile of the species Crocodillia, rather than a ship with that name.

Should the DYK fact be in the lede?

I don't see why, it's not a requirement of DYK is it? It was a footnote to Coffin's career, the transport of officials across the Atlantic was a common undertaking for commanders. I've had comments in the past about putting too much into the lede, and this incident was a bit tangential compared to Coffin's other main achievements (service in battle, legal issues on two separate occasions, and his time as naval commissioner and dockyard superintendent, his political career and baronetcy. Benea (talk) 23:41, 18 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thx

1. I never thought of a DNB style biography. Youre right its not excessive 2. I see is routine, but your DYK hook gives it importance and I wanted to know more and the article was brusque on the subject 3. I'm not sure they such a redirect of the name is allowed outside 1/April, but I agree with intriguing the reader 4. In the lede is not a requirement .... but it is so helpful for those checking. thx again Victuallers (talk) 21:28, 19 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've seen discussions on that style of hook before at the template talkpage, with the general reading being that it's ok. One of my recent hooks as read implied a naval officer defeated two mythological figures in combat (DYK ... that John MacBride (pictured) defeated Hercules and Mars in a single battle?) and got 8.5k views just on MaBride's article, on what was otherwise a fairly dry subject. The hook as it reads is accurate, I think it would be shame to let it go, but I'd bow to consensus on that. I'll try to find out more about the reason for Dorchester's return, and add it if I can, to make his status clear. Benea (talk) 21:41, 19 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]