by Roy Adkins
Spartan
Spartiate
Speculator
Speedy XXI-XXVI; renamed
Saint Pierre
Spencer, Georgiana
Spencer, Richard
Spithead
splinters
‘squadron’ (definition)
Star-Spangled Banner, The
Statira
steam power
Stewart, William
‘stink-pots’
Stirling, Charles
‘stone ships’
Stopford, Robert
Strachan, John
Strachan, Richard: captures French prisoners in American waters; as commander of Scheldt naval operation ; and Flushing bombardment ; opposes Chatham’s plan to retreat
Strangford, Percy Smythe, Viscount
straw work (by prisoners)
submarines
Suez
Sulphur
Sulu Sea
Superb
surgeons; Nelson and; see also MaGrath, George
Surprize
Sweden
Swiftsure
Syracuse, Sicily
Syria; see also Acre
Table Bay
Tagus, River
tea
technology, new
Temple prison: demolished after Smith’s ‘prophecy’; Pichegru’s murder in; Smith’s escape from; Wright’s escape from; Wright’s second imprisonment and death in ; Yorke visits
Theseus
Thesiger, Frederick
Thomas
Thomas, Charles Morgan
Thunder
thunderstorms
Tigre
Tilsit, Treaty of
Times, The: American prisoners’ hatred of ; on British retreat from Spain ; on capture of Buoy Boat of Portsmouth ; on capture of Linois; on Cochrane; on condition of evacuated troops; on Josephine’s death; on Mary Way’s injury; on Napoleon’s appearance and fate after capture; on Nelson; reports fate of Baltic ships; satirical ‘Hamlet’ speech on Napoleon’s invasion plans; on Scheldt expedition; on Smith ; on war with America; on a woman’s attempt to join the navy; on wreck of Anson ; on Wright’s death
Timoleon
Tippoo Saib
Tiverton, Devon
tobacco
Tobago
Tonnant
Tonnerre
Torbay, Devon
Torey, Henry
torpedoes
Toulon, France; British
blockades of; siege of
tourists
trade; American
embargo; navy’s ability to control
Trafalgar, Battle of ; Nelson’s signal
Transport Board
transport ships; of Napoleon, in Egypt
expedition; and retreat from Spain
Treacher, Mary
treasure ships
Tremayne, John Hearle
Trident
Trieste, Italy
Trinidad
Tromelin, Jean de see Bromley, John
Troubridge, Thomas
Troy
Tucker, Edward
Turkey; see also Constantinople; Ottoman Empire
Tuthill, Christopher
Tyneside
Ulysses
Undaunted
Unité
United Provinces see Holland
United States
United States of America: British blockades of; British impressment policy resented; Chesapeake-Leopard incident; Jefferson buys land from Napoleon; navy; neutrality questioned ; perceived navigation skills; prisoners from; privateers; slavery; trade disputes with Britain ; Treaty of Ghent ; war with Britain ; see also American War of Independence; Army, American; Baltimore; Embargo Act; New Orleans; Washington
Ussher, Thomas
Valenciennes prison
Valetta, Malta
Valeureuse
Valiant
‘van’ (definition)
Vanguard
Veere, United Provinces (Holland)
Venerable
Vengeance (hulk)
Venice, Italy
Verdun, France; debts of prisoners to townspeople; O’Brien’s escape from; O’Brien’s return visit to; parole conditions ; release of prisoners
Victory
Vienna, Congress of
Vigilant (hulk)
Vigo
Villaret de Joyeuse, Louis-Thomas
Ville de Varsovie
Villeneuve, Pierre Charles de
Villeré, Gabriel
Vimiero, Battle of
Vincejo
Vis see Lissa
Volage
Volontaire
volunteers
Wagram, Battle of
Wainwright, John
Walcheren ; Cochrane denied role in; malaria on; map; prisoners captured
Wallis, James
Wallis, Provo
Wallis, Thomas
Walmer, Kent
Walsh, Henry
Walters, Samuel
Warden, William
Ware, William
Warren, John Borlase
Washington, USA
Waterhouse, Benjamin
Waterloo, Battle of
Watt, George
Way, Mary
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of ; in Denmark ; horse; on maritime supremacy ; at Waterloo
West Indies: andtreaty; Battle of San Domingo; British efforts to recapture territory; French expedition to; privateers ; Scandinavian colonies; troops from; unhealthiness; see also Diamond Rock; Guadeloupe
Westcott, George Blagden
Wetherell, John
Wheeler, William
Whitbread, Samuel
White, Christiann
White House
Whitehurst, Frederick
Whiting
Whitworth, Charles
widows
Wilberforce, William
Wilkie, David
Wilkinson, Philip
Willaumez, Jean-Baptiste-Philibert
Willington
Wills, Thomas George
Willyams, Cooper
Wilson, Robert Mercer
Wincanton, Somerset
wind patterns
Windsor Castle
Wingo
Wolfe, George
women: in attacks on press-gangs; attempts to enlist by; as camp followers in Spain; in disasters at sea ; as passengers; on prison hulks; prostitutes; sailors’ wives ; soldiers’ wives ; widows
Wrangle, Joseph
wreckers
Wright, John Rogerson
Wright, John Wesley ; death
Wybourn, Thomas Marmaduke
Wynne, Betsey
Yarmouth, Francis Charles Seymour-Conway, Lord
yellow fever
Yeo, James Lucas
Yorke, Henry Redhead
Young, George
Zealous
1 A small warship, usually carrying from fourteen to eighteen guns, commanded by a ‘master and commander’ with the courtesy title ‘captain’.
2 Loaded with two or three cannonballs.
3 Striking the colours (lowering the flag) was a recognised signal that a ship had surrendered.
4 Napoleon adopted his first name as the title Napoleon I when he was crowned Emperor of the French in 1805. Before that he was generally known by his family name, Bonaparte, often with his military rank, as General Bonaparte. To avoid confusion, Napoleon is used throughout this book.
5 The largest warships were known as ‘ships of the line’, because these were the battleships, carrying at least sixty-four guns (cannons) that traditionally formed the line of battle. The word ‘battleship’ is an abbreviation of ‘line of battle ship’.
6 At this time in Britain there was no real difference between the terms ‘squadron’ and ‘fleet’ except in reference to ‘the Fleet’ as a whole, which was divided into three squadrons (the red, white and blue). Generally, the terms were interchangeable, and have been used as such throu
ghout this book.
7 A fathom was 6 feet.
8 A brig was a small, two-masted vessel mainly used for running errands.
9 A league was 6116 yards - equivalent to 3 nautical miles. A nautical mile was equivalent to 6116 feet, but is now a distance of 6080 feet.
10 A glass or cup filled to the brim.
11 Van is short for vanguard - the leading ships of a line or fleet.
12 Gun [cannon] shot was a distance of about 1000 yards.
13 Pistol shot was a distance of about 25 yards.
14 Make some sails shorter, so reducing the overall area of sail exposed to the wind and thus slow down.
15 The left-hand side of a ship, later known as the port side.
16 The quarterdeck was the aftermost deck and the place from where officers controlled the ship. ‡ He had lost the sight in his right eye at the siege of Calvi in Corsica on 12 July 1794, when the eye was grazed by gravel thrown up by a cannonball that struck the rampart in front of him.
17 Lowering or ‘striking’ the flag (‘colours’) was an accepted signal of surrender: hence the expression ‘nailing one’s colours to the mast’, indicating a refusal to surrender.
18 His left arm. His right arm was amputated in July the previous year after he was wounded by a musket-ball.
19 Ferdinand IV of Naples. His kingdom consisted of Sicily and a wide area surrounding the city of Naples.
20 A captain appointed commander-in-chief of a squadron.
21 Instead of horses, people dragged the carriage themselves as a mark of respect.
22 By the historian Elizabeth Sparrow (1999, pp.223-40; 2001).
23 Signal number 16 was ‘engage the enemy more closely’.
24 Some people believe that the blind eye incident never happened, but was a later embellishment by Stewart. In another report he merely says that Nelson ignored the signal, but ‘at the very time observed, that he was determined to “give it to them till they should be sick of it; and that if three hours would not do, he would be responsible that four hours’ such fire as we were then keeping up would do for them”’ (Stewart 1801, p.24).
25 Holystones were rectangular stones for scrubbing the maindeck and came in three sizes. The largest had rings fitted at each end to which ropes were attached. These were pulled to and fro across open areas. Smaller stones, called ‘bibles’ because of their size, were used in more confined areas by sailors kneeling down to push the stones backwards and forwards by hand. In tight corners, hand-sized stones called ‘prayer books’ were used. Before holystoning, the deck was wetted and sprinkled with sand, and afterwards rinsed off with sea-water.
26 Captain Adrien-Louis Gourdon.
27 Caulking was the process of making a ship watertight by filling the gaps between the planks of the hull. Into these gaps, called seams, was hammered a tangled mass of tarred hemp fibres, made from shredded rope, called oakum. Over this a waterproof layer of melted pitch or resin was applied.
28 Also known as Little Givet. Great Givet was on the other side of the river.
29 France was a favourite destination for those fleeing the threat of the debtors’ prison.
30 This was the lowest rank of commissioned officer in the French Navy, roughly equivalent to a midshipman. The next rank was lieutenant. Above this was the capitaine de frégate, who had less than three years’ seniority and was subordinate to a capitaine de vaisseau, the equivalent of a senior captain in the British Navy. From capitaine, French officers were promoted to contre-amiral (rear-admiral), vice-amiral (vice-admiral) and then amiral (admiral).
31 The English name for a submarine at this time was ‘plunger’ or ‘diving boat’.
32 Also spelled Johnston.
33 Roads, short for roadstead, is a safe anchorage near the shore.
34 The anchorage off Deal in Kent.
35 Fort Diamond or Diamond Battery was the name given to the gun battery on the summit of Diamond Rock.
36 This ‘battery’, named after Samuel Hood, was a single 24-pounder cannon sited in a cave.
37 William Pitt, the Prime Minister.
38 For a gripping narrative of the battle illustrated by vivid accounts from eyewitnesses, see Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle by Roy Adkins.
39 The sheltered anchorage between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.
40 Common sailors, whose berth was the forecastle, in front of (before) the foremast.
41 H.C.S. stood for ‘Honourable Company’s Ship’, the East India Company being ‘The Honourable East India Company’.
42 A temporary mast to replace a damaged or broken one.
43 Protégés of Popham who followed him from ship to ship; most senior officers had such a group who relied on their favour for promotion.
44 Vor Frue Kirke (Church of Our Lady), rebuilt after the great fire of 1728.
45 A privateer was a privately owned vessel of war that had an official commission from a state authorising the capture and destruction of enemy ships on its behalf, in the same way as a naval ship. A pirate had no legal sanction and preyed upon ships of all countries.
46 To ‘cut out’ means to capture one or more ships from an enemy port in a surprise attack, usually at night, often by boarding from boats.
47 Transport vessels carried soldiers and stores, mainly to places overseas. Merchant ships were usually hired for this role.
48 A chasse-marée, French for ‘chase-tide’, was a three-masted coasting ship particularly favoured by privateers and smugglers.
49 Not to be confused with the Danish island of Zealand.
50 Member of Parliament for the City of London and formerly the mayor.
51 The gun knocked off the wooden carriage.
52 The Blake was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Lord Gardner, and the other flagship was the St Domingo with Strachan on board.
53 Treaty of Schönbrunn, on 14 October 1809.
54 A sea-going equivalent of the militia, drawn from fishermen and boatmen, for defending the coast against invasion.
55 The cannon being dragged into position and fired by gun crews from the fleet.
56 Now a noted yachting centre, Marblehead played a major role in the War of Independence and claims to be the ‘Birthplace of the American Navy’, from the time that privateers from this port were used to attack British supply ships.
57 ‘Proa’ is a general Malayan word for ‘ship’ that was used by Europeans for a pirate vessel. Usually they were powered by a large triangular sail and carried an outrigger for stability.
58 Henry William Paget, who was later to lose his leg to a cannonball that narrowly missed Wellington at Waterloo.
59 Originally called the Republican Party, this became the Democratic-Republican Party and later the Democratic Party. Not to be confused with the modern Republican Party founded in 1854.
60 Pronounced ‘Brook’.
61 Barrister and literary scholar, son of the more famous James Boswell.
62 Lieutenant Evans, Deputy Assistant Quarter-Master General.
63 The large flood-protection banks alongside the river were called levees.
64 His memoirs are by Benjamin Waterhouse, but from various records Ira Dye (1987, p.316) has convincingly shown he was not the prisoner, who was more likely to be Torey, but his story was recorded by Waterhouse.
65 The three-headed dog who guarded Hades, and a reference to Captain Shortland.