by Sam Willis
5 Knight, Pursuit, 278.
6 One of them, Sir John Orde, then Rear Admiral of the White and thus significantly superior to Nelson, was particularly incensed. Orde bore a grudge that festered for several years before he erupted in a fit of bile, hounded St Vincent and demanded a duel. Orde only stood down after he had received a direct order from his irritated sovereign.
7 J.A. Davis, Naples and Napoleon: Southern Italy and the European Revolutions (Oxford: 2006), 75.
8 A different version of F194 is in BL Add. MS. 34907.
9 Nicolas, ed., Nelson Letters, vol. 3, 74.
10 G.P.B. Naish, ed., Nelson’s Letters to His Wife and Other Documents (NRS Vol.100, 1958), 184.
11 T. Coleman, Nelson (London: 2001), 163.
12 Nicolas, ed., Nelson Letters, vol. 3, 55.
13 J. Ross, ed., Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord De Saumarez, vol. 1 (London: 1838), 228.
14 Knight, Pursuit, 641.
15 For more on this see M.K. Barritt, ‘Nelson’s frigates May to August 1798’, Mariner’s Mirror, vol. 58, no. 3 (1972), 281–295.
16 Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson (London: 1798), xviii.
17 Nicolas, ed., Nelson Letters, vol. 6, 71.
5 Copenhagen
1 Knight, Pursuit, 352.
2 Ibid., 360.
3 D. Bonner-Smith, ed., Letters of Admiral of the Fleet the Earl of St. Vincent, vol. 1, (London: NRS Vol. 55, 1922), 86.
4 A powerful squadron did, in fact, weigh on 2 April but strong southerly winds prevented them from beating out of Karlskrona.
5 NMM: CRK/10.
6 C. White, Nelson: The New Letters (Woodbridge: 2005), 119.
7 We know that Parker and Nelson met during this storm to discuss the attack. Nelson’s sailors were so concerned about the safety of their one-armed admiral that they refused to let him climb down the side of the ship in the traditional fashion. Instead, he clambered into the ship’s launch as it lay on the booms in the centre of the weather deck and then the launch, with Nelson sitting in it, was hoisted up, swung overboard and then lowered into the sea.
8 The 74-gun, Third Rate Elephant drew 15 inches less water than the 98-gun Second Rate St George, a crucial tactical advantage in shallow water.
9 P. Le Fevre, ‘ “Little Merit Will Be Given to Me”: Admiral Sir Hyde Parker (1739–1807) and the Diplomatic Build-up to the Battle,’ in Battle of Copenhagen 1801: 200 Years, ed. S. Howath (Shelton: 2003), 25.
10 Knight, Pursuit, 382.
11 Her full complement was 550.
12 J. Ralfe, The Naval Biography of Great Britain, vol. 4 (London: 1828), 161.
13 He was a renowned swimmer who, during his service life, saved nine men from drowning and, aged 60 and crippled, swam 14 miles for a ‘small wager’.
14 J. Ward, Zion’s Works: New Light on the Bible from the Coming of Shiloh, the Spirit of Truth, 1828–37. Compiled by C.B. Holinsworth, 17 vols (London, 1899–1904).
15 T. Sturges Jackson, ed., Logs of the Great Sea Fights, 1794–1805, vol. 2 (London: NRS Vol. 18, 1981), 102.
16 A.M. Broadley and R.G. Bartelot, The Three Dorset Captains at Trafalgar (London: 1906), 63.
17 Knight, Pursuit, 362.
18 Nicolas, ed., Nelson Letters, vol. 4, 353.
6 Trafalgar
1 A.T. Mahan, The Life of Nelson: The Embodiment of the Seapower of Great Britain, vol. 2 (London: 1897), 44.
2 T. Coleman, Nelson: The Man and the Legend (London: 2001), 303.
3 Knight, Pursuit, 629.
4 It is possible that the change of heart came when the Allies heard that Nelson’s fleet was temporarily reduced in numbers because he had sent Thomas Louis to Gibraltar with six ships of the line to get supplies for the fleet. Louis was furious and thought that he was going to miss the coming battle. Nelson insisted he would not, but Louis did not return in time to take part. He did, however, take part in Duckworth’s victory at San Domingo (see Chapter 7).
5 Nicolas, ed., Nelson Letters, vol. 7, 91.
6 Ibid., 150.
7 Some modern historians have an irritating habit of spelling his name Lapenotiere, but he never used accents when writing his own name.
8 See Appendix I.
9 G.L. Newnham, Collingwood, A Selection from the Public and Private Correspondence of Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood, vol. 2 (London: 1828), 138.
10 E. Desbriere, The Naval Campaign of 1805: Trafalgar, trans. C. Eastwick, vol. 2 (Oxford: 1933), 129-32.
11 Rodger, Command of the Ocean, 539; N. Tracy, Nelson’s Battles: The Art of Victory in the Age of Sail (London: 1996), 181.
12 All of the captured allied officers were taken to the Euryalus to surrender their swords. Midshipman Joseph Morre was particularly impressed by the size of the pile their swords made on her quarterdeck.
13 Nicolas, ed., Nelson Letters, vol. 7, 80.
14 Newnham, Collingwood Correspondence, 413.
15 Nicolas, ed., Nelson Letters, vol.7, 147.
16 Six different orders of sailing, issued before the battle, are known to exist, the variety in the lists explained by the frequent arrivals and departures to and from Nelson’s fleet as it grew with reinforcements and he sent ships out on reconnaissance or watering missions. This list, compiled from a variety of sources, is taken from M Duffy, ‘ ... All Was Hushed Up: The Hidden Trafalgar,’ Mariner’s Mirror, XCI, no. 2 (2005): 222.
17 Duffy, ‘ ... All Was Hushed Up: The Hidden Trafalgar,’ 227.
18 Many thanks to Mark Barker of the Inshore Squadron for this.
19 E. Fraser, The Enemy at Trafalgar: An Account of the Battle from Eye-Witnesses’ Narratives and Letters and Dispatches from the French and Spanish Fleet (London: 1906), 191.
20 P. Mackesy, War in the Mediterranean 1803–10 (London: 1957), 75–6.
21 J.B. Bourchier, ed., Memoir of the Life of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, vol. 1 (London: 1873), 63.
22 Which can be found in P. Goodwin, The Ships of Trafalgar: The British, French and Spanish Fleets October 1805 (London: 2005).
23 Duffy, ‘ ... All Was Hushed Up: The Hidden Trafalgar,’ 232.
24 It seems to have been a favourite phrase: Nelson also called Thomas Louis his right hand. Nicolas, ed., Nelson Letters, vol. 7, 63.
25 C. Hibbert, Nelson: A Personal History (London: 1995), 361.
26 Bourchier, ed., Memoir, 64; Duffy, ‘ ... All Was Hushed Up: The Hidden Trafalgar,’ 217, 236.
27 Some unverified figures are offered here: A.H. Taylor, ‘The Battle of Trafalgar,’ Mariner’s Mirror, 36, no. 4 (1950) 320. Goodwin, The Ships of Trafalgar: The British, French and Spanish Fleets October 1805 (London: 2005) is also useful. M. Duffy and R. Mackay, Hawke, Nelson and British Naval Leadership 1747–1805 (Woodbridge: 2009), 9 claims that 4,530 French were killed and wounded, and 2,408 Spanish.
28 Alessandro Malaspina circumnavigated the world twice, in 1786–8 and then his major five-year voyage of scientific discovery 1789–94. The Galiano expedition was part of the second Malaspina circumnavigation. Galiano and Valdés explored the Strait of Juan de Fuca, now the international boundary between America and Canada on the Pacific coast. Galiano and Valdés met the British explorer George Vancouver during their survey and they shared the work.
29 This relates to a new law that was passed in March 1805, which expanded legal powers over ships coming from countries infected with ‘epidemical diseases’. This was particularly relevant to the British fleet because an unknown ‘plague’ was then ravishing southern Iberia. The relationship between Britain, the sea and infectious diseases is best followed in J. Booker, Maritime Quarantine: The British Experience, c.1650–1900 (Aldershot: 2007). For the 1805 law, see ff.304.
30 She had joined up to serve alongside her husband. She was naked when rescued but soon fitted out with female clothing that was kept aboard the Victory for amateur dramatics.
31 Perhaps part of the answer lies
in the identity of Collingwood’s flag captain, Edward Rotherham, who Collingwood disliked and described as fat and stupid. T. Voelcker, Admiral Saumarez Versus Napoleon: The Baltic, 1807–12 (Woodbridge: 2008), 130. Hardy, Nelson’s flag captain, was now struggling with the damaged Victory on his own and the frigates were busy towing damaged British ships and their prizes.
32 D. Allen and P. Hore, News of Nelson: John Lapenotiere’s Race from Trafalgar to London (Brussels: 2005), 68.
33 It is still an excellent pub.
34 W. Marsden, A Brief Memoir of the Life and Writings of William Marsden (London: 1838), 116.
35 C.I. Hamilton, The Making of the Modern Admiralty: British Naval Policy-Making, 1805–1927 (Cambridge: 2011), 6.
36 Marsden, A Brief Memoir of the Life and Writings of William Marsden, 116.
37 Named for René Duguay-Trouin, a famous French privateer of the 17th Century.
38 W. Richardson, A Mariner of England (London: 1908), 220.
39 Sir Richard Strachan, ODNB.
7 San Domingo
1 Sir John Duckworth, ODNB.
2 Service Historique de la Marine V MS236 Nelson.
3 Nicolas, ed., Nelson Letters, vol. 7, 63.
4 Ibid.
5 This is a Builders Measurement (BM), a technique of estimating a ship’s capacity. It was calculated by the formula keel x breadth x ½ breadth ÷ 94, hence why fractions of a ton are quoted in ninety-fourths.
6 A fascinating man who left us some account of his life in Sconce, R. C., The Life and Letters of Robert Clement Sconce, 2 vols (London: 1861).
7 A particularly fine and very rare example of a French frigate’s female figurehead is preserved at the Musee de la Marine in Paris.
8 Naval Chronicle, XV, 243.
9 See Naval Chronicle, XV, 254 ff.
10 M. Duffy and R. Morriss, eds., The Glorious First of June 1794: A Naval Battle and Its Aftermath (Exeter: 2001), 86.
11 Ibid., 87; NMM: BRK/14; E.A. Hughes, ed., The Private Correspondence of Admiral Lord Collingwood (London: NRS Vol. 98, 1957), 47.
12 NMM: PAR/50; TNA: ADM 52/2812.
13 It is not too far-fetched to believe that this was done deliberately to spite Duckworth whose faffing in Portsmouth (see p. 306) had prevented Keats from sailing into battle at Trafalgar as Nelson’s second.
14 A. Phillimore, The Life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir W. Parker, vol. 1 (London: 1876), 56.
15 See pp. 278 and 319.
16 E.P. Brenton, Life and Correspondence of the Earl St. Vincent, vol. 2 (London: 1838), 285.
Conclusion
1 N.A.M. Rodger, The Admiralty (Lavenham: 1979), 94.
2 A list of those who actually received the medal in 1847, including their rank and ship, does exist however, and is reproduced in K.J. Douglas-Morris, ed., The Naval General Service Medal Roll, 1793–1840 (London: 1982), but we have no way of knowing which of those men he is. The Roll can also be searched online here, entering ‘Nile’ for ‘clasp’: http://www.dnw.co.uk/medals/resources/medalrolls/navalgeneralservice/
3 Nicolas, ed., Nelson Letters, vol. 5, 284.
FURTHER READING
If you have enjoyed reading these original letters and would like to read more, there is no better home for you than the Navy Records Society which, for over a century, has regularly published volumes of significant letters relating to British Naval History. You can find out more online: www.navyrecords.org.uk. One of their volumes is particularly important for this period and subject, though it goes no further than Trafalgar. I am also fond of it because it was the first book on naval history that I ever bought: T. Sturges-Jackson’s Logs of the Great Seafights, 2 vols (1981). Other significant NRS volumes are Brian Lavery’s Shipboard Life and Organisation (1998), Julian Corbett’s Fighting Instructions 1530–1816 (1905) and his companion volume Signals and Instructions 1776–1794 (1909).
For biographies there is no better place to start than the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, which has many fine essays on British naval officers. Peter Le Fevre & Richard Harding’s British Admirals of the Napoleonic Wars: The Contemporaries of Nelson (2005) is indispensable. For Nelson in a single volume, see Roger Knight’s The Pursuit of Victory (2005); for his early life see John Sugden’s Nelson: A Dream of Glory (2005); for his ability as a commander, see Colin White’s Nelson the Admiral (2005).
For a general introduction to the ships of the period and life at sea, Brian Lavery’s Nelson’s Navy (1989) is still excellent and Nicholas Blake’s Steering to Glory (2005) dissects a ship’s day in all the detail you will ever need.
For tactics and command, see Creswell’s British Admirals of the Eighteenth Century: Tactics in Battle (1977); my Fighting at Sea in the Eighteenth Century: The Art of Sailing Warfare (2008); and Duffy & Mackay’s Hawke, Nelson and British Naval Leadership 1747–1805 (2009).
For the ships see Brian Lavery’s The Ship of the Line, 2 vols (1983) and Robert Gardiner’s The Line of Battle (1992). For a particular focus on Trafalgar see Peter Goodwin’s The Ships of Trafalgar (2005). Rif Winfield’s First Rate: The Greatest Warships of the Age of Sail (2010) is a lively study of the largest ships of the era. For seamanship there is still no rival to John Harland’s Seamanship in the Age of Sail (1985).
For more on the Admiralty, its infrastructure and its relationship with the State, see Nicholas Rodger’s The Admiralty (1979); C. Hamilton’s The Making of the Modern Admiralty: British Naval Policy Making 1805–1927 (2011); Clive Wilkinson’s The British Navy and the State in the Eighteenth Century (2004); and, best of all, Roger Morriss’s The Foundations of British Maritime Ascendancy: Resources, Logistics and the State, 1755–1815 (2011).
Each battle has its own significant bibliography but my The Glorious First of June (2011) showcases the latest research for that battle; Colin White’s 1797: Nelson’s Year of Destiny (1998) and Lloyd and Anderson’s St. Vincent and Camperdown (1968) are good for the battles of 1797; Lavery’s Nelson and the Nile: The Naval War against Napoleon 1798 (1998) is excellent for the Battle of the Nile and the campaign preceding it, and for a French perspective see Battesti, M., La Bataille D’Aboukir 1798: Nelson Contrarie La Stratégie de Bonaparte (1998); Copenhagen is best followed in Ole Feldbæk’s The Battle of Copenhagen (2002); Trafalgar in Lavery’s Nelson’s Fleet at Trafalgar (2000) and in the relevant chapter in Knight’s biography of Nelson The Pursuit of Victory (2005), though I am particularly fond of a much older collection of translated French and Spanish narratives in Edward Fraser’s The Enemy at Trafalgar (1906). Piers Mackesy’s War in the Mediterranean 1803–10 (1957) still provides an excellent strategic overview of the various campaigns. The Battle of San Domingo does not, yet, have a book dedicated to it, and one must look around for scraps. William James’s The Naval History of Great Britain, 6 vols (1886) and Laird Clowes’s The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Present, 7 vols (1897–1903) both provide narratives of San Domingo and, indeed, of all of the battles in this book. Similar French works are Troude, O., Batailles Navales de la France (1867) and Ronciere, C., Histoire de la Marine (1920).
For surgeons and medicine, see L. Brockliss’s Nelson’s Surgeon: William Beatty, Naval Medicine and the Battle of Trafalgar (2005) and Haycock & Archer’s Health and Medicine at Sea, 1700–1900 (2009).
For a detailed study of the journey of an officer sent home with dispatches, turn to D. Allen and P Hore, News of Nelson: John Lapenotiere’s race from Trafalgar to London (2005) and John Fisher’s The Pickle at Trafalgar: The Graphic Story of the Trafalgar Way… (2005).
For those interested in the change from the written word to radio, see T. Sarkar’s History of Wireless (2006) and Tom Standage’s entertaining The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century’s On-line Pioneers (1998).
For a thorough study of the entire period, see Nicholas Rodger’s The Command of the Ocean (2005) and for a much shorter though excellent recent study, see Jonathan Dull’s The Age of the Ship of the Line (
2009).
NOTE ON THE AUTHOR
Dr Sam Willis is a maritime historian and archaeologist, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He is the author of the bestselling Hearts of Oak Trilogy and the Fighting Ships series. Sam is an experienced square-rig sailor and his books are infused with his knowledge and experience of seamanship. He has consulted on history for many clients including the BBC, Channel 4 and Christie’s and regularly comments on history in the national press and on TV. Sam is proud to live in the best county in England (Devon) and spends as much of his time as possible by, in, or on, the sea. For more information, please visit: www.sam-willis.com and follow Sam’s unpredictable ramblings and discoveries on Twitter @navalhistoryguy.
INDEX
Aboukir Bay, see Nile, Battle of the
Addington, Henry, 219, 242, 247–8
Agincourt, Battle of, 207
Alava, Admiral Don Ignatio Maria d’, 261, 286, 289–90, 342
Alexander I, Tsar, 235, 241, 297
Alexandria, 165, 167–8, 177, 196
Algeciras, Battle of, 247, 307
Almadén mine, 89–90
ammunition, combustible, 68, 194
amputations, 146–7
anchor cable springs, 162, 183, 190
anchoring by the stern, 190, 192
anchors, ships’, 213
Andréossy, Antoine-Francois, 163
Anson, Admiral George, 22
Arctic exploration, 240
Ascension Island, 330
Austen, Admiral Charles, 321
Austen, Captain Francis, 320
Austen, Jane, 320
Austerlitz, Battle of, 25, 297
Australia, 240, 330
Austria (Austrians), 113, 161–2, 172, 208–9, 252, 297
Ball, Captain Alexander, 177, 194, 341
Baltic fleet, 208, 241–2, 250