I don't know of other members of the forum with Bellerophon connections - I guess they would have chipped in by now.
But how about this connection:
This is just a hunch, but I think it is quite likely that William Jewell named his son William
Franklin Niblet Jewell after
John Franklin, fellow midshipman in the Bellerophon. John Franklin was signal midshipman in the Battle of Trafalgar. William Jewell and John Franklin also served together in the Bedford, escorting the Portugese royal family to Brazil. This John Franklin is none other than Sir John Franklin of North West Passage fame (also governor of Van Diemen’s Land).
I may well be wrong, and I must admit to being drawn to the idea because my own ancestor Charles Mansfield also named his two sons after fellow midshipmen of the first ship in which he saw action. It would have been a time when lasting friendships were formed.
There’s always a chance that there may be letters of Franklin’s that mention William Jewell. There are some papers on microfilm available in Australia. See entry 181 here:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NK43 ... q=&f=false
William Jewell and John Franklin were both born in 1786, and both died in 1847 – perhaps in rather different circumstances! Both only just survived long enough to claim their Naval General Service Medal, which was first issued in 1847, and only to those still alive to claim it.
By the way, I have only been researching naval history in any detail for the last four years, so don't rely too much on my posts!