Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "1805-club"

The Trafalgar Chronicle: New Series 2 by Peter Hore

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Royal Marines, whose history traces back to 1664, and the United States Marine Corps, first founded in 1775, gained distinction when the world was at war between 1792 and 1815. Past histories have often given short shrift to these sea soldiers, but here The 1805 Club allows them to take center stage. The various essays chosen for inclusion demonstrate the vital roles they played and illustrate why they participated in “every important action of fleet, afloat and ashore during the Great War.” (5) The contributors include navy and marine personnel, academics, researchers, writers, and historians.

The book opens with Julian Thompson’s “The Marines: The Early Days,” which explores the origins of the British Marines, how they became the Royal Marines, who they were, and what they did during their first 151 years. Anthony Bruce focuses on “The Marines in Boston, 1774-75,” with particular emphasis on the events leading up to and including the Battle of Bunker Hill, while Britt Zerbe examines their participation in the Battle of Trafalgar and their marginalized treatment in the age of sail in “That Matchless Victory: Trafalgar, the Royal Marines and Sea Battle in the Age of Nelson.”

In “Leathernecks: The US Marine Corps in the Age of the Barbary Pirates” Charles Neimeyer discusses the origins of their contemporary nickname and their activities in America’s war with Tripoli, which is immortalized in the “Marines’ Hymn.” Benjamin Armstrong also looks at this war, but his focus is on Commodore Edward Preble and naval diplomacy in “‘Against the Common Enemies’: American Allies and Partners in the First Barbary War.”

Two other essays discuss the naval officers who also held commissions in the Marines, even though they never served as marines themselves. John D. Bolt’s “The ‘Blue Colonels’ of Marines: Sinecure and Shaping the Royal Marine Identity” explains this practice and how Royal Marines viewed it, as well as how it affected their ability to advance through the ranks. David Clammer focuses on one particular officer, who was charged with defending England’s coastline from a French invasion in “Captain Ingram, the Sea Fencibles, the Signal Stations and the Defence of Dorset.”

“The Royal Marines Battalions in the War of 1812” by Alexander Craig looks at raids and encounters in the Chesapeake Bay and Canada, while Robert K. Sutcliff’s “The First Royal Marine Battalion’s Peninsular War 1810-1812” examines their activities in Portugal and Spain. Tom Fremantle explores the thirty-six-year career of “Captain Philip Gidley King, Royal Navy, Third Governor of New South Wales,” an ancestor who served on several ships before being sent to Botany Bay to establish a base for the convict colony.

Larrie D. Ferreriro discusses the French and Spanish navies in “The Rise and Fall of the Bourbon Armada, 1744-1805: From Toulon to Trafalgar,” while Jann M. Witt explores “Smuggling and Blockade Running during the Anglo-Danish War of 1807-14.”

Another author, Allan Adair, also writes about his ancestors. He focuses on two brothers – one a captain in the Royal Marines, the other a fourteen-year-old master’s mate – who participated in Trafalgar in “Loyal Au Mort: The Adairs at the Battle of Trafalgar.” Sim Comfort, on the other hand, turns his attention to a weapon and the man who wielded it in “The Royal Marine Uniform Sword by Blake, London, Provenanced to Captain Richard Welchman, Royal Marines.”

Two additional entries in this book provide glimpses into two men who were veterans of Trafalgar: “Marine Stephen Humphries 1786-1865” and “Captain James Cottell: The Pictorial Life of a Trafalgar Veteran.” Humphries’s account of Trafalgar, his first fight, his time as a prisoner of the French, and his participation in the march on Washington are from his memoir, one of the few written by a marine that has survived to the present day. In the other offering, John Rawlinson provides background to tie together Cottell’s life with the many sketches and watercolors that he made while at sea.

For me, these last two offerings are the most intriguing and absorbing, but all the essays enlighten readers and illuminate men who deserve more recognition, but rarely receive it. Excerpts from primary documentation are included in some, while resources consulted and other materials are listed in the endnotes. Recruiting posters, maps, portraits, paintings, and tables are among the illustrations included with the contributions. A center section of color plates, including Geoff Hunt’s painting of marines aboard a ship, further enriches the text. There is also a list of contributors with short biographies. As always, the yearbook shines a spotlight on tantalizing new naval research in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and this edition with its focus on the marines makes this a praiseworthy contribution to any library or historian fascinated with the Georgian Navy.




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The Trafalgar Chronicle: New Series 4: Dedicated to Naval History in the Nelson Era by Peter Hore

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The annual journal of The 1805 Club shares the latest research into Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson and his era. Each issue has a central theme, and this, the twenty-ninth such offering, focuses on his friends and contemporaries. The majority of those depicted in this volume come from families that remained loyal to the British Crown, during and after the American Revolution, even though their members lived in the American colonies at the outbreak of hostilities. Others opted to follow the road toward independence. These twenty-one essays also cover a breadth of distance, extending from Honduran islands to Australian shores and several places in between.

John Lehman’s “The Decaturs, the Lehmans and the Privateers” examines the American privateers during the Revolutionary War with particular emphasis on Captain Stephen Decatur, Senior of the Fair American, and his ship’s surgeon, George Lehman.

“The Summer Before Trafalgar” is Susan K. Smith’s survey of Benjamin Silliman, a college professor from America, who visited England in 1805. He kept a journal of his travels and special events, such as his opportunity to see Admiral Nelson and what happened when news of his final victory and death reached London.

With numerous connections to Irish officers, some of whom were mentors and others who were friends and colleagues, one might almost claim “Nelson Was an Irishman,” as Des Grant explains in his essay.

Since seamen faced many perils, it is no wonder that religion played a role in the everyday lives of the crew. Not all naval chaplains adhered to the stereotypical preacher, as The Reverend Lynda Sebbage discusses in “Sin Bo’suns in Nelson’s Ships.” One of her atypical examples is a chaplain who often found himself one step ahead of the authorities.

While men fought the conflicts, women also played their parts. Derek Morris and Kenneth Cozens look at what women of this era could and did do in “The Role of Women in London’s Sailortown in the Eighteenth Century.”

Harold E. ‘Pete’ Stark discusses “North America’s Seafaring Cities” in his essay of ports and how they evolved in North America, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. Not all served the same purpose. Nor were they equal in importance to the Royal Navy. But all played a role in Britain’s maritime economy.

“Loyalist Mariners during the American Revolution” is Thomas B. Allen’s offering. He covers the often-neglected Whaleboat War and includes the perspective of the common sailors – such as Jacob Nagle, one of the few sailors who shared their experiences – who fought.

Tom S. Iampietro shares the story of “Admiral George Augustus Westphal,” who lived longer than any other officer who served with Nelson at Trafalgar. Wounded himself in the battle, he was with the admiral when he died. T. Jeremy Waters, on the other hand, looks at Westphal’s brother, “Admiral Philip Westphal,” whose career was overshadowed by his younger sibling.

The man who holds the record for longest naval service is “Admiral of the Fleet Sir Provo William Parry Wallis.” Jeremy B. Utt outlines this man’s career from when Wallis’s name first appeared in a muster book when he was four years old to his time as Queen Victoria’s naval aide-de-camp.

Present at Nelson’s death, “Lieutenant Richard Bulkeley” was immortalized in Benjamin’s West’s depiction of the admiral’s death, as discussed in John R. Satterfield’s essay. He was a midshipman aboard Victory, where he spoke with Nelson before he died. His own life was cut short at the age of twenty-five.

Andrew A. Zellers-Frederick contributes two offerings in this volume. The first is about one of Nelson’s Canadian friends, “Admiral Sir Manley Dixon, KCB.” The second discusses “Rear-Admiral Thomas Tudor Tucker” of Bermuda, who survived the wreck of HMS Sceptre, participated in the navy’s experiment of adding citrus to grog rations, and was present when the Royal Navy captured the USS Essex, during the War of 1812.

Anna Kiefer reviews the career of “Captain William Gordon Rutherford, CB” of North Carolina, who enlisted in the Royal Navy more than once and also served with the Honourable East India Company. Barry Jolly reconsiders the career and life of “Rear-Admiral John Peyton” since he has often been confused with other family members. Rui Ribolhos Filipe’s “The Beach of the English Dead” considers the actions of Captain Conway Shipley, the first British officer to die in action during the Peninsular War. Rather than focus on a particular person, Mark West delves into the “Russians on the Tagus” and their connection to Portsmouth and the naval hospital at Haslar.

Anthony Cross analyzes the development of hot air balloons and their use during times of war in “Bringing Up Franklin’s Baby.” Anthony Bruce assesses another weapon in warfare, the navy’s use of “The Carronade.”

The final two essays return to the Caribbean. Rear-Admiral Michael Harris investigates the “Battle of St. George’s Cay, 10 September 1798,” which also has ties to British seafarers and buccaneers. Douglas Hamilton probes the extraordinary career of “Captain John Perkins,” a black officer and former slave assigned to protect British colonies involved in slavery.

In addition to these articles, black-and-white illustrations, tables, and maps are found throughout the book. There is also a section of color plates depicting ships, campaigns, and commentary involving the Royal Navy. While notes are included, no index is provided.

This latest offering of The Trafalgar Chronicles educates, clarifies, and demystifies the Nelson Era. Its focus is broader than some previous issues, but this serves to immerse readers in a wider swath of topics that might otherwise be missed. The fourth volume in the new series is a compelling review of the variety and depth of research being conducted and readers will meet people and visit places that are more often than not forgotten in history books.




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The Trafalgar Chronicle: Dedicated to Naval History in the Nelson Era: New Series 5 by Sean Heuvel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Do visual portrayals of Horatio Nelson do him justice? Are they realistic, or do they stem from their creators’ imagination and interpretation of him? How authentic is literature’s depiction of the Georgian navy and the men and women who served in one capacity or another? These are themes explored in the latest yearbook of The 1805 Club.

Using his medical expertise, Gerald Stule opens with “Representations of Horatio Nelson in the Visual Arts: Heroic Portraiture Versus Historical Reality from a Medical Perspective.” He examines the visual depictions of Nelson, his ailments, and his battle injuries in various mediums to show whether the portrayals are correct, how they may have affected Nelson, and how they shaped his image as a flawed, courageous hero who deserved his countrymen’s veneration.

Andrew Venn utilizes eyewitness accounts of Nelson’s tragic demise and compares them to two paintings of the admiral’s final moments in “William Beatty, Arthur Devis and the Death of Lord Nelson in Early Nineteenth-Century Literature and Art.” This allows Venn to demonstrate how this event impacted the legend surrounding Nelson’s death and how we perceive these events today.

“Nelson has more faces than a clock factory, but nobody today can be certain about what he really looked like.” (45) He has long been a favorite subject to portray, whether these depictions be fulsome or disparaging. This is the subject of cartoonist Pete Turner’s “Nelson in Caricature and Cartoon.”

In 1748, an author and former sailor penned a novel that became a big success. Its contents and his descriptions of the Georgian navy influenced many subsequent writers of the 18th century, even if those depictions weren’t as authentic as historical accounts show. Anthony Bruce discusses The Adventures of Roderick Random in “Tobias Smollet and the Early Georgian Navy.”

In spite of the fact that women played significant roles in the lives of Georgian navy men, historical novelists often portray them as peripheral entities. As Linda Collison points out in “Beyond Lady Barbara: Women as Portrayed in British Naval Fiction,” this often misleads readers into thinking that women played less than significant roles both at home and at sea.

It is during the Georgian era that the fouled anchor is introduced on the uniforms naval officers wore. Its popularity as a decorative item blossomed thereafter. Lily Style, an expert on Emma Hamilton and a direct descendant of her union with Horatio Nelson, explores the use of this symbol in “The Rise of the Fouled Anchor: The Visual Codification of the Royal Navy During the 1700s.”

France is often depicted as the ally who came to the aid of the American colonists in their bid to gain their freedom from Great Britain, but Chipp Reid reveals that Spain also played a significant role in the revolution. He also explains why few people are aware of this connection in “Spain and American Independence: The Best-Kept Secret of the Georgian Age.”

In addition to these thematic essays, the new editors of The Trafalgar Chronicle have chosen to include biographical portraits and three historic papers pertaining to the navy during the Georgian era. These include:

“Sir Andrew Pellet Green: Vice Admiral Thomas Fremantle’s Protégé” by Charles Fremantle
“Commander Sir James Pearl” by Sean Heuvel
“Captain John Houlton Marshall” by John Rodgaard and Lisa Heuvel
“Captain Ralph Willett Miller” by Gerald Holland
“The Popham Code Controversy” by Chris Coehlo
“Cornwallis, a Woman Named Cuba, and the Caribbean” by Barry Jolly
“A Second Naval War: The Immediate Effects of the American War on Royal Navy Operations, June 1812-July 1812” by Samantha Cavell

When combined with black and white illustrations, a few graphs and tables, and a center section of color plates, these essays are entertaining and, at times, fascinating. All the contributors are eminently qualified and, as always, The Trafalgar Chronicle provides informative glimpses into new research that leave indelible impressions on readers.



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The Trafalgar Chronicle: Dedicated to Naval History in the Nelson Era: New Series 8 by Judy Pearson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The 1805 Club annually publishes The Trafalgar Chronicle, a collection of articles about the age of sail between 1714 and 1835. Each issue focuses on a particular subject; this time around the “The Navies of the Georgian Era – An International Perspective” is the theme. Thirteen contributors from six countries showcase different navies prominent during this time period. What they share allows readers to see how fighting at sea was only one aspect of gaining the upper hand in each nation’s desire for naval superiority.

Anthony Bruce writes about “The Battles of Cape Finisterre, 1747.” The Western Squadron had a three-pronged mission during its cruises: protect commercial ships, defend against invasion, and keep watch over the French. In this particular year, the Royal Navy engaged the enemy twice at Cape Finisterre. Vice Admiral George Anson was in command during the first encounter while Rear Admiral Edward Hawke, the second.

Nicholas James Kaizer examines sea engagements involving individual vessels, particularly sloops, in “Hornet versus Peacock,/i>: The Lost Historical Significance of the Single-Ship Actions of the War of 1812.” These engagements may have lacked critical impact during the conflict, but the losses point out key weaknesses in competency and command. Change became inevitable because of these defeats and the resultant inquiries.

The East India Company couldn’t fully control the regions in which its ships sailed. To compensate for this, a fleet of ghurabs and galivats was formed to assist the Royal Navy in protecting English commerce in the Indian Ocean. Saikat Mondal explores the “Bombay Marine, the Vanguard and Precursor of the Royal Indian Navy.” He also talks about Kanhoji Angre, a man of great importance in the Indian Navy’s history but whom the English saw as a pirate. Also discussed is the Bombay Marine’s fight against piracy during the 19th century.

When Peter the Great decided to bring Russia into the 18th century, one of his reforms resulted in the formation of the Russian Navy. As time passed, the fleet deteriorated. Catherine the Great provided the necessities to make the Russian navy a force to be reckoned with. Kenneth Flemming examines this history and the roles Russia’s Navy played during various conflicts of the period in “Russian Naval Power during the Eighteenth Century.”

Although Vice Admiral James Saumarez fought when necessary, armed engagements weren’t necessarily the best way to handle volatile situations. Andrew Venn demonstrates this in “Diplomacy, Restraint and Protection: The Actions of Saumarez’s Baltic Fleet 1808-1812.”

While the above essays pertain specifically to the book’s theme, the second set of chapters are from The Baltic Cauldron: Two Navies and the Fight for Freedom. This book was published in celebration of the Royal Swedish Navy’s 500th anniversary. Peter Hore, a previous editor of The Trafalgar Chronicle and a retired officer of the British Royal Navy (RN), talks about “The Baltic Fleet 1715-1727 and Sir John Norris” and “Swedes at Trafalgar.” Christopher Hägg, a retired officer of the Royal Swedish Navy (RSN) and marine artist who did the cover art for this annual, discusses “Vice Admiral Lord Nelson Threatens the Swedish Fleet in Karlskrona 1801.” These chapters not only look at the history of the RSN but also its interactions with the RN in different capacities. Among topics covered are the Battle of Copenhagen, Swedes who served on RN ships during the Battle of Trafalgar, and the privateers commissioned by Swedish monarchs.

The third section of this Trafalgar Chronicle concerns biographical portraits. Andrew Field writes about Captain Charles Cunningham and how he extricated his ship and his men from the Nore Mutiny in “‘An Officer of Great Merit’.” Hilary L. Rubenstein examines two admirals who served during the reign of George III in “Rodney and Kempenfelt: How They Were Related.” Judith Pearson, one of the book’s editors, shares a discovery of remains found during the renovation of a church in Bermuda and her search to learn more in “A Dead Captain and a Sunken Ship: The Fates of Sir Jacob Wheate and HMS Cerberus in Bermuda.”

The last section of this annual concerns articles of general interest to readers. First up is Mark Barton’s “Duke of Clarence Swords,” the presentation swords awarded to RN officers and how the duke (and future King William IV) decided who was worthy of such honors. George R. Bandurek traces what happened to the first British vessel captured during the War of 1812 in “HM Schooner Whiting After Her Capture in 1812: The Cartagena Privateer San Francisco de Paula.”

One quote often associated with Horatio Nelson is ““The conduct of all privateers is, as far as I have seen, so near Piracy, that I only wonder any civilized nation can allow them.” Ryan C. Walker analyzes what Nelson truly thought of pirates and privateers and where the quote originated in the last essay of the collection, “‘I only wonder any civilised nation can allow them’: Nelson’s Actual Opinion of Privateer.”

In addition to the notes that accompany the various articles, the reprinted chapters from The Baltic Cauldron include titles of books for further reading. There are illustrations, both black and white and color, found throughout the book, as well as a section of color plates. These include portraits, paintings, maps, and informational charts.

I usually prefer to read the print book of this annual, but review copies were only available in electronic format this time. For readers unfamiliar with reading the ebook format, I do caution where you press to turn pages. There are links to the endnotes and if your finger lands on one of these numbers, the book automatically pages to the specific endnote. This can be disconcerting initially, but there is usually a way to easily return to where you left off reading. The ebook is remarkably well done in layout, formatting, and editing. The only exception to the editing came when I noticed that words beginning with “d,” such as Danes or Dr (abbreviation for doctor in front of a name), were uniformly not capitalized.

Always informative, this edition of the Trafalgar Chronicle will be of interest to readers who enjoy naval history as well as piratical or privateering history. All are captivating reads, while a few particularly held my attention. Many English histories present Kanhoji Angre in the negative light of piracy. Saikat Mondal skillfully shows the flipside of that coin, that Angre was a great Indian admiral. The inclusion of how the Bombay Marine helped suppress piracy in later years is equally compelling. Having read several fictional portrayals of the Nore Mutiny, I was wonderfully surprised to learn about how one captain kept his crew and ship safe despite the overwhelming odds for his men to join the mutineers. Walker’s analysis of Nelson’s quote is also very revealing and makes an interesting case for not taking things at face value. The Trafalgar Chronicle New Series 8 is highly recommended, entertaining, and enlightening.


(This review originally appeared at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/TrafalgarC...)




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