by Roy Adkins
56 Gleig 1826, p.332.
57 Journal of Midshipman Bluett, Royal Naval Museum Manuscript: 1995/48.
58 Smith (ed.) 1910, p.249.
21: SWANSONG1 Morning Chronicle, 3 January 1815.
2 Napier 1862, pp.91-2.
3 Napier 1862, p.93.
4 Journal of Midshipman Bluett, Royal Naval Museum Manuscript: 1995/48.
5 Journal of Midshipman Bluett, Royal Naval Museum Manuscript: 1995/48.
6 Brooks (ed.) 1926, p.79.
7 Waterhouse 1911, p.184.
8 Palmer 1914, p.118.
9 Palmer 1914, p.119.
10 Waterhouse 1911, p.186.
11 Pierce 1937, p.26.
12 Palmer 1914, p.125.
13 Palmer 1914, pp.126-7.
14 Waterhouse 1911, p.187.
15 Maclachlan 1869, p.186.
16 Hyde de Neuville 1914, vol. 2, pp.1-2.
17 Hyde de Neuville 1914, vol. 2, p.2.
18 Scott 1828, p.664.
19 Hyde de Neuville 1914, vol. 2, pp.2-3.
20 Anon. 1895, p.66.
21 Maclachlan 1869, p.319.
22 The Times, 26 January 1815.
23 Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post, 2 February 1815.
24 Pierce 1937, pp.29-30.
25 Nicolas 1846, vol 6, p.36.
26 Andrews 1815, pp.245-6.
27 Waterhouse 1911, pp.176, 179.
28 Waterhouse 1911, p.177.
29 Waterhouse 1911, p.215.
30 Waterhouse 1911, p.205.
31 Palmer 1914, p.154.
32 Waterhouse 1911, p.206.
33 Maclachlan 1869, pp.388-9.
34 Maclachlan 1869, p.393.
35 Anon. 1895, p.117.
36 Waterhouse 1911, p.217.
37 Pierce 1937, p.36.
38 Waterhouse 1911, p.217.
39 Waterhouse 1911, p.217.
40 Waterhouse 1911, p.214.
41 Waterhouse 1911, pp.212-13.
42 Waterhouse 1911, p.214.
43 Waterhouse 1911, p.215.
44 Waterhouse 1911, p.216.
45 Pierce 1937, pp.38-9.
46 Pierce 1937, p.40.
47 Palmer 1914, pp.180-1.
48 Pierce 1937, p.41.
49 Pierce 1937, p.41.
50 Waterhouse 1911, p.264.
51 Waterhouse 1911, p.268.
52 Pierce 1937, p.52.
53 Pierce 1937, p.59.
54 Barrow 1848, vol. 2, pp.394-5.
55 Ross-Lewin 1904, p.291.
22: THE TURN OF FORTUNE’S WHEEL1 O’Meara 1822, vol. 1, p.412.
2 Smart 1908a, p.321.
3 Smart 1908a, p.321.
4 Smart 1908a, p.322.
5 Smart 1908a, p.322.
6 Smart 1908a, p.322.
7 Smart 1908a, p.322.
8 Smart 1908a, p.322.
9 Smart 1908a, p.322.
10 Smart 1908b, p.382.
11 Smart 1908b, p.382.
12 Smart 1908b, p.382.
13 Smart 1908b, p.382.
14 Smart 1908b, p.382.
15 Shorter (ed.) 1908, p.300.
16 Shorter (ed.) 1908, p.311.
17 Shorter (ed.) 1908, p.312.
18 Smart 1908b, p.383.
19 Shorter (ed.) 1908, p.36.
20 Shorter (ed.) 1908, p.36.
21 Woolmer’s Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 29 July 1815.
22 The Times, 29 July 1815.
23 The Times, 26 July 1815.
24 Smart 1908b, p.384.
25 Hoffman 1901, p.334.
26 O’Brien 1839, vol. 2, pp.355-6.
27 O’Brien 1839, vol. 2, pp.358-9.
28 O’Brien 1839, vol. 2, p.395.
29 O’Brien 1839, vol. 2, pp.397-8.
30 O’Brien 1839, vol. 2, pp.398-9.
31 O’Brien 1839, vol. 2, p.410.
32 O’Brien 1839, vol. 2, p.411.
33 O’Brien 1839, vol. 2, p.412.
34 Boys 1864, p.298.
35 Boys 1864, p.299.
36 Boys 1864, p.301.
37 Boys 1864, p.302.
38 Boys 1864, pp.302-4.
39 Boys 1864, p.305.
40 Boys 1864, p.306.
41 Boys 1864, pp.306-7.
42 Boys 1864, pp.309-10.
43 Boys 1864, pp.313-14.
44 Boys 1864, p.315.
45 Howard 1839, vol. 2, p.309.
SELECTED READING
Many books have been written about naval warfare in the Napoleonic period, and the majority concentrate on the later years of Nelson’s life. Apart from a few books about the war with America from 1812 to 1815, there is little coverage of events after 1805. The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815 by N. A. M. Rodger discusses the whole period in detail in a single scholarly volume, as does Peter Padfield’s Maritime Power and the Struggle for Freedom: Naval Campaigns that shaped the modern world 1788-1851. The Victory of Seapower: Winning the Napoleonic War 1806-1814 by Richard Woodman is also a well-illustrated introduction to the period, and his Sea Warriors describes the warfare of frigate captains from 1792 to 1815. Wellington’s Navy: Sea Power and the Peninsular War, 1807-1814 by Christopher D. Hall deals with the British Navy’s involvement with the war in Spain and Portugal. For the period up to 1805, many of the major battles and minor incidents are covered in biographies of Nelson.
Battles and Expeditions: Up-to-date coverage of the Battle of the Nile is given in Nelson and the Nile: The Naval War against Bonaparte 1798 by Brian Lavery. Being a land battle won by a naval officer, the siege of Acre is covered by books about Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt and campaign in Syria, such as Bonaparte in Egypt by J. Christopher Herold. For the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, The Great Gamble by Dudley Pope remains the most comprehensive overview, while The Battle of Copenhagen 1801: Nelson and the Danes by Ole Feldbaek gives a Danish perspective.
The fight for Diamond Rock is detailed in His Majesty’s Sloop-of-War Diamond Rock by Vivian Stuart and George T. Eggleston. Of the many books on the Battle of Trafalgar, the first choice has to be Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle by Roy Adkins. Also recommended is Trafalgar: the men, the battle, the storm by Tim Clayton and Phil Craig. For those interested in facts and figures rather than a narrative, The Trafalgar Companion by Mark Adkin is an excellent reference book. The Grand Expedition: The British Invasion of Holland in 1809 by Gordon C. Bond covers the Walcheren Expedition.
For the war of 1812 with America, The British at the Gates: The New Orleans Campaign in the War of 1812 by Robin Reilly provides a readable discussion of the war as a whole, although mainly concerned with the Battle of New Orleans. The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict by Donald R. Hickey is a good, modern account of the conflict that also examines the American reasons for the war. The Naval War of 1812 by Theodore Roosevelt is a classic account full of facts and figures, and The Naval War of 1812 edited by Robert Gardiner is a well-illustrated introduction.
Biographies: Of the innumerable biographies of Nelson, mention must be made of Nelson: Love & Fame by Edgar Vincent, The Pursuit of Victory: The Life and Achievement of Horatio Nelson by Roger Knight and Nelson: Britannia’s God of War by Andrew Lambert. For a rounded view, it is also necessary to read Nelson’s Women by Tom Pocock, Fields of Fire: A Life of Sir William Hamilton by David Constantine and Beloved Emma: The Life of Emma, Lady Hamilton by Flora Fraser.
Other biographies of prominent figures of the period include Cochrane: Britannia’s Last Sea King by Donald Thomas, The Audacious Admiral Cochrane: The True Life of a Naval Legend by Brian Vale, Frigate Commander by Tom Wareham (on Graham Moore), The Real Hornblower: The Life and Times of Admiral Sir James Gordon, GCB by Bryan Perrett, The Man who burned the White House: Admiral Sir George Cockburn 1772-1853 by James Pack, Admiral Collingwood: Nelson’s Own Hero by Max Adams, A Thirst for Glory: The Life of Admiral Sir Sidney Smith by Tom Pocock, Beware of Heroes: Admiral Sir Sidney Smith’s War against Napoleon by Peter Shankland and Remember Nelson: The Life of Captain
Sir William Hoste by Tom Pocock. Marooned by James Derriman tells the story of Robert Jeffery.
The life of Napoleon has also had many biographers, but Napoleon Bonaparte by Alan Schom and Napoleon: A Biography by Frank McLynn are particularly readable, as is Napoleon and Josephine: An Improbable Marriage by Evangeline Bruce.
Ships: Several of the ships of this period have had books devoted to them, including H.M.S. Victory by Kenneth Fenwick, Nelson’s Favourite: HMS Agamemnon at War 1781-1809 by Anthony Deane, Billy Ruffian: The Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon, The Biography of a Ship of the Line, 1782-1836 by David Cordingly and The First Bellerophon by C. A. Pengelly. The Construction and Fitting of the Sailing Man of War 1650-1850 by Peter Goodwin gives detailed and well-illustrated coverage of battleships, while Navies of the Napoleonic Era by Otto von Pivka gives facts and figures about all the ships and sailors of the period.
How they lived: Stephen Biesty’s Cross-Sections: Man-of-War by Stephen Biesty and Richard Platt is an excellent visual primer of life in the British Navy during the Napoleonic period, while Life in Nelson’s Navy by Dudley Pope, A Social History of the Navy 1793-1815 by Michael Lewis and Sea Life in Nelson’s Time by John Masefield give vivid accounts of the frequent privations and infrequent pleasures of a sailor’s life. Heart of Oak: A Sailor’s Life in Nelson’s Navy by James McGuane is an excellent photographic essay based on objects surviving from that period, and Medicine Under Sail by Zachary Friedenberg gives an overview of naval surgeons and the problems they faced. The pleasures and perils of food are covered in Feeding Nelson’s Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era by Janet Macdonald. A handy and readable reference is The Illustrated Companion to Nelson’s Navy by Nicholas Blake and Richard Lawrence. More academic but nevertheless accessible accounts are to be found in Nelson’s Navy: The Ships, Men and Organisation 1793-1815 by Brian Lavery and The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy by N. A. M. Rodger.
Research into the experiences of women aboard navy ships has only been done systematically in recent years. Some information about such women can be found in Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail by Suzanne Stark, Heroines & Harlots: Women at Sea in the Great Age of Sail by David Cordingly and She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea by Joan Druett.
Strategy, tactics, intelligence: There are many books that examine the naval strategy and tactics of the period, including Nelson’s War by Peter Padfield, Nelson against Napoleon: From the Nile to Copenhagen, 1798-1801 edited by Robert Gardiner, The Campaign of Trafalgar 1803-1805 edited by Robert Gardiner and Nelson’s Battles: The Art of Victory in the Age of Sail by Nicholas Tracy. Seamanship in the Age of Sail by John Harland with Mark Myers is a well-illustrated account of its subject that provides an understanding of the possibilities and limitations of ship-to-ship warfare. Secret Service: British Agents in France 1792-1815 by Elizabeth Sparrow is an excellent account of the espionage of the period, which is also covered by Most Secret and Confidential: Intelligence in the Age of Nelson by Steven Maffeo.
Fiction: Apart from non-fiction books about naval warfare during the Napoleonic period, there is a growing number of novels on the subject. The Jack Aubrey series by Patrick O’Brian, of which the first is Master and Commander, gives an accurate portrayal of naval warfare and conveys a flavour of how different late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century society is from that of today. Also to be recommended is the Thomas Kydd series of novels by Julian Stockwin (the first one is simply called Kydd), which chronicles the lives and adventures of ordinary seamen rather than concentrating on the officers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
This is not a comprehensive list of all the books, articles and archives that we consulted during the preparation of this book, but includes the sources cited in the notes and those in the selected reading.
Abell, F. 1914 Prisoners of War in Britain 1756 to 1815: A Record of their lives, their romance and their sufferings (Oxford, London)
Adams, M. 2005 Admiral Collingwood: Nelson’s Own Hero (London)
Adkin, M. 2005 The Trafalgar Companion (London)
Adkins, R. 2004 Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle (London)
Alger, J. G. 1904 Napoleon’s British Visitors and Captives 1801-1815 (London)
Andrews, C. 1815 The Prisoners’ Memoirs, or, Dartmoor Prison; containing a complete and partial history of the entire captivity of the Americans in England (New York)
Anon 1810 A Collection of Papers relating to the Expedition to the Scheldt, presented to Parliament in 1810 (London)
Anon 1827 Vicissitudes in the Life of a Scottish Soldier. Written by Himself (London)
Anon 1828 ‘Journal of a Soldier of the Seventy-First Regiment, (Highland Light Infantry) from 1806 to 1815’, in Memorials of the Late War, vol. 1 (Edinburgh)
Anon 1895 Napoleon’s Last Voyages. Being the Diaries of Admiral Sir Thomas Ussher, R.N., K.C.B. (On Board the "Undaunted ”), and John R. Glover, Secretary to Rear Admiral Cockburn (On Board the "Northumberland ”) (London)
Anon 1955 Napoleon Banished. The Journeys to Elba and St. Helena recorded in the Letters and Journal of two British naval officers: Captain Thomas Ussher and Lieutenant Nelson Mills (London)
Ashton, J. 1906 The Dawn of the XIXth Century in England: A Social Sketch of the Times (London)
Barrett, R. J. 1841 ‘Naval Recollections of the Late American War, No. 1’, United Services Journal and Naval and Military Magazine, pp.455-67
Barrow, J. 1848 The Life and Correspondence of Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith G.C.B., volumes 1 and 2 (London)
Biesty, S. and Platt, R. 1993 Stephen Biesty’s Cross-Sections: Man of War (London)
Blake, N. and Lawrence, R. 1999 The Illustrated Companion to Nelson’s Navy (London)
Bond, G. C. 1979 The Grand Expedition: The British Invasion of Holland in 1809 (Athens, Georgia)
Bonnefoux, P.- M.-J. de 1900 Mémoires du Bon de Bonnefoux, capitaine de vaisseau 1782-1855 (Paris)
Boswall, J. D. 1833 ‘Narrative of the Capture of the Diamond Rock, effected by Sir Samuel Hood, in the Centaur’, United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine, part II, pp.210-15.
Bourchier, J. 1873 Memoir of the Life of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, volume 1 (London)
Bourrienne, L. 1829 Mémoires de M. Bourrienne, Ministre d’état sur Napoléon, vols. 2-4 (Paris)
Bowers, W. 1833 Naval Adventures During Thirty-Five Years’ Service by Lieut. W. Bowers, R.N., volume 1 (London)
Boys, E. 1864 (4th edn) Narrative of a captivity, escape, and adventures in France and Flanders during the war (London)
Brenton, E. P. 1838 Life and Correspondence of John, Earl of St. Vincent, vol. II (London)
Brett-James, A. (ed.) 1981 Escape from the French: Captain Hewson’s Narrative (1803-1809) (Exeter)
Brighton, J. G. 1866 Admiral Sir P.B.V. Broke, Bart., K.C.B., &c.: A Memoir (London)
Brooks, G. S. (ed.) 1926 James Durand: An Able Seaman of 1812 (New Haven)
Bruce, E. 1995 Napoleon and Josephine: An Improbable Marriage (London)
Burney, F. 1846 Diary and Letters of Madame D’Arblay, Author of Evelina, Cecilia &c., Edited by her Niece, volume 6 (London)
Burrows, H. (ed.) 1927 The Perilous Adventures and Vicissitudes of a Naval Officer 1801-1812: Being Part of the Memoirs of Admiral George Vernon Jackson (1787-1876) (Edinburgh, London)
Chambers, C. 1928 ‘The Journal of Surgeon Charles Chambers of H.M. Fireship Prometheus’, pp.367-466 in Perrin, W. G. (ed.) 1928 Naval Miscellany III (London)
Choyce, J. 1891 The Log of a Jack Tar; or, the Life of James Choyce, Master Mariner (London)
Clayton, T. and Craig, P. 2004 Trafalgar: the men, the battle, the storm (London)
Cockayne, G. E. 1916 The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Volume IV (London)
Collingwood, G. L. N. 1829 A Selection from the Public and Private Correspondence of Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood: Interspersed with Memoirs of h
is Life (London)
Constantine, D. 2001 Fields of Fire: A Life of Sir William Hamilton (London)
Cooper, J. S. 1869 Rough Notes of Seven Campaigns in Portugal, Spain, France, and America, during the years 1809-10-11-12-13-14-15 (London, Carlisle)
Cordingly, D. 2001 Heroines & Harlots: Women at Sea in the Great Age of Sail (London)
Cordingly, D. 2003 Billy Ruffian. The Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon. The Biography of a Ship of the Line, 1782-1836 (London)
Crawford, A. 1851 Reminiscences of a Naval Officer during the late war with sketches and anecdotes of distinguished commanders, vol. 1 (London)
Curling, H. (ed.) 1828 Recollections of Rifleman Harris (London)
Curling, H. (ed.) 1848 Recollections of Rifleman Harris (Old 95th.) with anecdotes of his officers and comrades (London)
Darton, J. F. H. (ed.) 1910 The Life and Times of Mrs. Sherwood (1775-1851): From the Diaries of Captain and Mrs. Sherwood (London)
Deane, A. 1996 Nelson’s Favourite: HMS Agamemnon at War 1781-1809 (London)
Derriman, J. 1991 Marooned: The Story of a Cornish Seaman (Emsworth)
Desbrière, E. 1907 La Campagne Maritime de 1805: Trafalgar (Paris)
Des Touches, G. 1905 ‘Souvenirs d’un marin de la République’, Revue des Deux Mondes 28, pp.177-201, 407-36
Desvernois, N. P. 1898 Mémoires du Général Bon Desvernois (Paris)
Druett, J. 2000 She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea (New York, London)
Dundonald, Thomas (tenth Earl of) 1861 The Autobiography of a Seaman, Volume 1 (London)
Du Petit Thouars, B. 1937 Aristide Aubert du Petit Thouars. Héros d’Aboukir 1760-1798. Lettres et documents inédits (Paris)
Dye, I. 1987 ‘American Prisoners of War, 1812-1815’, pp.293-320 in Ships, Seafaring and Society: Essays in Maritime History (ed. T. J. Runyan) (Detroit)
Elliot, G. 1863 (reprinted 1891) Memoir of Admiral the Honble. Sir George Elliot written for his children (London)
Evelyn, J. 1674 Navigation and Commerce, Their Original and Progress. Containing A succinct Account of Traffick in General; its Benefits and Improvements: of Discoveries, Wars and Conflicts at Sea, from the Original of Navigation to this Day; with special Regard to the English Nation; Their severall Voyages and Expeditions, to the Beginning of our late Differences with HOLLAND; In which His Majesties Title to the DOMINION of the SEA is Asserted, against the Novel, and later Pretenders (London)