- Among the famous buccaneers whose
footsteps have resounded through the narrow network of streets
of the old Saltash Waterside, names to include Drake Raleigh, is
one Cornish hero who passed his latter years as landlord of the
Union Inn one of the three public houses remaining.
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- Largely forgotten in his native
Cornwall, he is still well remembered in New Zealand. It was in
that country that this Cornish leading seaman won his V.C., the
first to have been awarded for service in that country; a
cutlass charge to seize the flag of a native horde that was in
the best tradition of Hornblower and Henty.
- Born in Falmouth on the 14th February
1835. William Odgers joined the Royal 2971BD as Ordinary Seaman
and saw action in the Black Sea fleet during the Crimean War.
- On board H.M.S. Niger he was to win his
moment of glory during the Maori Wars in 1860.
- The battle was considered to have
established the Royal 2971BD in New Zealand as an elite fighting
force.
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- Odgers retired,taking "The Union
Inn" as a licensee.
- William Odgers V.C. was a hero in the
best traditions of Raleigh, Drake and Nelson.
- He is perhaps worth a passing memory
when passing by or supping a pint in
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- The Union Inn on Saltash's historic
Waterside.
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