Buried inside Spalding Parish Church is Captain John Perry a traveller and later a great engineer who died in Spalding after having been employed to improve the drainage of the area of Deeping Fen.
He was born in 1670 into a wealthy family in Gloucestershire and entered the Navy in 1690 as lieutenant on the ship Montague. He had only been on board a few weeks when he lost the use of his right arm from a wound received during an engagement with French pirates. He continued to serve on the ship and in 1693 superintended its repair in Portsmouth harbour where he devised an engine for throwing out water from deep sluices.
In 1693 Perry received his first command of a ship the fire ship Cygnet that accompanied the man-of-war Diamond commanded by Captain Wickham. The purpose of a fire ship was to set it on fire and ram it into the line of enemy ships a tactic used effectively by Francis Drake against the Spanish Armada. So basically it was a fairly shit job. On 20th September they were attacked by two French privateers and forced to surrender both vessels. Both Captain Wickham and Captain Perry were court martialled for their surrender with each blaming the other for the surrender. It was held that Captain Perry had committed a dereliction of duty by not setting fire to his ship and was sentenced a fine of £1000 and ten years imprisonment.
Whilst in prison he wrote a pamphlet entitled “Regulations for Seamen” and informed of its appendix gave a long statement of his case. This appears to have been a factor in him obtaining a release in 1698 when he was introduced to Czar Peter visiting England from Russia. Czar Peter offered him the role of engineering waterways and naval works in Russia for an annual salary of £300. Perry arrived in Volga in summer of 1698. The job did not go well. He was asked to establish a navigable canal between the rivers Volga and Don, but lack of resources and money, including his own pay made the job slow. In 1701 he received the title Comptroller of Russian Maritime Works as he was summoned to Moscow and ordered to Voronej to establish a dock on its river and to survey for a canal from the city Voronej to the river Don. In 1711 he was asked to produce plans for a canal between St Petersburg and the Volga which he did and set up and establish the start of these works. But as Czar Peter was still not paying him he stormed off to Moscow to have it out with the Czar. This was possibly not a good idea as after the quarrel he had to seek the sanctuary of the English ambassador before returning to England. In 14 years he only ever received one payment of £300. In 1716 he published a book entitled “The State of Russia under the present Tsar” that basically details how poorly run it was and what a shit Czar Peter was.
In 1714 there had been a breach of the Thames at Dagenham that put trade to and from the Capital in jeopardy as debris from the breach was blocking the Thames. He tendered for the job for £25,000 but was undercut by a competitor bidding £16,000. The competitor found the task too difficult and Perry took over. The job took five years to complete and ran over budget requiring a further £15,000 from Parliament and local gentry presented him with £1000 as a reward for appreciation of his work in protecting their incomes. Whilst the work made him no money he did publish a book on how he repaired the breach and this brought in some income as well as work constructing a harbour at Rye.
In 1729 he undertook drainage works for Deeping Fen with payment in the form of 5,929 acres of land that had been forfeit for non- payment of drainage rates and him paying their treasurer £4000 whilst undertaking to drain the Fen and ensure the land was capable of agricultural use. He died three years into his work and was buried in Spalding Parish Church.
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