For over a century the massive seven-volume Dispatches and Letters of Vice-Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson published by Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas in 1846 was taken to be almost complete, and formed the essential background to most Nelson biographies. However, although Nicolas had sourced his text from original documents, this had not been possible in every… Read Abstract »
The papers relating to Admiral Edward Vernon are intended to give an estimate of his contribution to naval strategy and tactics. They are divided between his command in the West Indies from 1739 and 1742 and command in the English Channel in 1745. Preparation for war with Spain was made in June 1739 and Vernon… Read Abstract »
This volume attempts to rescue Nelson’s second-in-command at Trafalgar from the comparative obscurity that had overtaken him since the close of the nineteenth century. Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood (1748-1810), lionised for his role at Trafalgar by his contemporaries and by Victorians, had become widely viewed in the first half of the twentieth century as a naval… Read Abstract »
Sir William Henry Dillon (1780-1857) was born in Birmingham, the illegitimate son of the distinguished writer and traveller John Talbot Dillon (1734-1806), a baron of the Holy Roman Empire. The elder Dillon had briefly served in the Royal Navy, apparently obtaining his discharge in a fit of pique after being ejected, when a midshipman, from… Read Abstract »
George Keith Elphinstone, Lord Keith (1746-1823) was a Scottish naval officer who entered the navy as a penurious midshipman towards the end of the Seven Years War. He had a long career at sea, during which he missed taking part in any major battle, but held major commands throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (except… Read Abstract »
Sir William Henry Dillon (1780-1857) was born in Birmingham, the illegitimate son of the distinguished writer and traveller John Talbot Dillon (1734-1806), a baron of the Holy Roman Empire. The elder Dillon had briefly served in the Royal Navy, apparently obtaining his discharge in a fit of pique after being ejected, when a midshipman, from… Read Abstract »
Published in this volume are various Spanish documents concerning the Armada; a journal of one of Blake’s officers in the mid seventeenth century; Boscawen’s letters to his wife; the account of a Swedish officer who served in the French Navy during the Seven Years War; selections from the Hood papers regarding Prince William’s service in… Read Abstract »
These documents were selected by Rear-Admiral Thursfield for the light they throw on life afloat in the Navy of the Napoleonic era rather than for their contribution to the history of the operations in which their authors took part. They comprise four ‘Journals’, based mainly on dairies kept at the time and written up at… Read Abstract »
George Keith Elphinstone, Lord Keith (1746-1823) was a Scottish naval officer who entered the navy as a penurious midshipman towards the end of the Seven Years War. He had a long career at sea, during which he missed taking part in any major battle, but held major commands throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (except… Read Abstract »
Henry Pattee Byng (1699-1747) was Sir George Byng’s eldest son and became the second Viscount Torrington on his father’s death in 1733 (see volumes 67, 68 and 70). This very detailed journal is concerned only with the Sicilian Campaign between 1718 and 1720. The very young Pattee Byng had spent time as an army officer… Read Abstract »
Captain Boteler (1796-1885) came from a naval family, entering the navy as a Volunteer, First Class in 1808, was made lieutenant in September 1815, commander in 1830 and captain in 1851. He left the navy in 1830. These recollections, full of well-told naval anecdote, were written in old age, and published only for private circulation…. Read Abstract »
Samuel Barrington (1729-1800), a son of the first Viscount Barrington, entered the Royal Navy in 1740. He was posted in 1747 and eventually was promoted to Admiral in 1787. Papers in the possession of Barrington’s collateral descendants form these two volumes and cover his naval career. They comprise order books (1747-71), a private letter book… Read Abstract »
The Fourth Earl of Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty (for the third time in his long career) from 1771 to 1782. Blamed by the Whig opposition for many of the disasters of the American War, he was additionally loaded by 19th-century Whig historians with the false image of a corrupt libertine. It was… Read Abstract »
Samuel Barrington (1729-1800), a son of the first Viscount Barrington, entered the Royal Navy in 1740. He was posted in 1747 and eventually was promoted to Admiral in 1787. Papers in the possession of Barrington’s collateral descendants form these two volumes and cover his naval career. They comprise order books (1747-71), a private letter book… Read Abstract »
The Fourth Earl of Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty (for the third time in his long career) from 1771 to 1782. Blamed by the Whig opposition for many of the disasters of the American War, he was additionally loaded by 19th-century Whig historians with the false image of a corrupt libertine. It was… Read Abstract »
The first part of the volume contains a selection from the correspondence and papers of Lt Robert Tomlinson between 1768 and 1796, together with his essays on naval manning and timber preservation. Robert Tomlinson was a protégé and loyal supporter of Sir Edward (later Lord) Hawke. He provided the parliamentary opposition with evidence with which… Read Abstract »
The Fourth Earl of Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty (for the third time in his long career) from 1771 to 1782. Blamed by the Whig opposition for many of the disasters of the American War, he was additionally loaded by 19th-century Whig historians with the false image of a corrupt libertine. It was… Read Abstract »
The full title of these three volumes is misleading. The project to publish the papers of Sir George Byng (1663-1733) and his fourth son John (1704-1757) was never completed. Brian Tunstall completed three volumes, but the latest document to appear in the third volume was only dated 1717. An intended fourth volume of the papers,… Read Abstract »
The Fourth Earl of Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty (for the third time in his long career) from 1771 to 1782. Blamed by the Whig opposition for many of the disasters of the American War, he was additionally loaded by 19th-century Whig historians with the false image of a corrupt libertine. It was… Read Abstract »
This Miscellany contains several documents that were in private ownership and range from 1656 to 1815 and are mainly related to naval operations. There are documents relating to the raid on the Dutch coast in 1666 and letters from Blake to Montague on operational matters in 1756; a discussion on whether to prosecute the likely… Read Abstract »
George Keith Elphinstone, Lord Keith (1746-1823) was a Scottish naval officer who entered the navy as a penurious midshipman towards the end of the Seven Years War. He had a long career at sea, during which he missed taking part in any major battle, but held major commands throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (except… Read Abstract »
These volumes present letters and other documents of St Vincent’s period as First Lord of the Admiralty, the most controversial and politically-heated of any during the time of the sailing navy. They are taken from his out-letter books, and do not include the replies. Unusually for Society volumes, the editor selected only a part of… Read Abstract »
Spencer was First Lord of the Admiralty 1794-1801, virtually throughout the wars against Revolutionary France, and his correspondence with officers and politicians is of central importance to the naval history of the times. These volumes continue Spencer’s correspondence up to 1801 when he left office with the fall of Pitt’s ministry. This includes St Vincent… Read Abstract »
Spencer was First Lord of the Admiralty 1794-1801, virtually throughout the wars against Revolutionary France, and his correspondence with officers and politicians is of central importance to the naval history of the times. These volumes continue Spencer’s correspondence up to 1801 when he left office with the fall of Pitt’s ministry. Topics include Admiral Bruix’s… Read Abstract »
During the Spithead Mutiny of 1797, the crew of HMS Mars created their own court, tried one of their shipmates and sentenced him to ....
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This post presents the physical description of seaman John Teede’s tattoos as a rare and intimate glimpse into an eighteenth-century ....
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This letter continues our series of correspondence from John Yule to his wife Eliza. An archive of 100 letters survive from Yule and ....
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This posts continues our extracts from the colourful diaries of David Talbot, impressed to HMS Calliope in December 1809. He had newly ....
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