#naval anecdots

[ltwilliammowett]

Lady of Trafalgar

When during the battle of trafalgar the boats went out to collect possible survivors, the crew of the HMS Pickle’s boat didn’t believe their eyes as they fished a naked woman out of the water.

Lady of Trafalgar by Patrick O’Brien, 2019

But so a certain Jack Nastyface wrote the following:

“Among those who were thus preserved from a watery grave was a young Frenchwoman who was brought aboard our ship in a state of complete nakedness. Although it was in the heat of battle, yet she received every assistance which was at that time in our power; and her distress of mind was soothed as well as we could; until the officers got to their chests, from whence they furnished her with needles and thread to convert sheets into chemises and curtains from their cots to make somewhat of a gown and other garments so that by degrees she was made as comfortable as circumstances would admit; for we all tried who would be most kind to her”. It turned out that the young woman concerned was a survivor of the French Achille and was the wife of one of that ships crew who could not bear to be separated from him when he was ordered to sea. Disguising herself as a boy, she had entered the ship with him and had served at his side until she was told that he had been killed during the battle. Her reaction to his apparent death gave her away.

Lady of Trafalgar, by Patrick O’Brien, 2017

The rescue of the Frenchwoman was described by Captain Moorsom in a letter to his father dated 4th December 1805:

“When the Achille was burning, she (Jeanette) got out of the gunroom port and sat on the rudder chains till some melted lead ran down upon her and forced her to strip and leap off. She swam to a spar where several men were, but one of them bit and kicked her till she was obliged to quit and get to another which supported her til she was taken by The Pickle and sent on board the Revenge. Amongst the men she was lucky enough to find her husband. We were not wanting in civility to the lady. I ordered her two Purser’s shirts to make a petticoat; and other of the officers found something to clothe her*; in a few hours, Jeanette was perfectly happy.”

*One of Revenge’s lieutenants gave Jeanette a length of blue sprigged muslin he had intended for his wife and the Chaplain gave her a pair of his old shoes. Jeanette, originally a dressmaker, quickly made herself a jacket and dress in the Flemish fashion. Additionally she was given a blanket, two pairs of white stockings and two silk handkerchiefs.

Anecdote at the Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805 by William Heath

Each of the officers in HMS Revenge gave the woman a silver dollar and when the ship limped into Gibraltar after enduring the storm which followed the battle, the woman and her husband were put into a Cartel ship which took them both to Spain.

Sources

Tales from the Front Line: Trafalgar, by Peter Warwick 2012

History for Common Entrance: Britain and Empire 1750-1914, by Bob Pace 2014

Voices from the Battle of Trafalgar, by Peter Warwick 2005

Chronicles of the Sea: Or, Faithful Narratives of Shipwrecks, Fires ..., Band 2

[ltwilliammowett]

She doesn’t fit or HMS Victory is a bit to wide

HMS Victory has gone through quite a lot in her life. And we almost didn't have her today, as Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy gave his order to wreck her. Thank God there was his wife who had saved this old lady.

HMS Victory, by Geoff Hunt

But she almost didn't even begin her successful career. In 1759 construction began in Chatham and her keel was made of elm logs. She was the pride of the old dry dock of Chatham where other very successful and famous ships were built. And after six years came the big day, 7 May 1765, when she was to be launched and named Victory in memory of the Annus Mirabilis (1759 was the year, in which the Royal Navy, during the Seven Years War, had the most victories). She had cost £63,176 and 3 shillings, the equivalent of £7.92 million today.

At the day before her launch, she had been lavishly decorated with flags and banners and the shipyard workers would release her into the water at the next day. Harlty Larkin also had this in mind as he went to bed, he was the "foreman afloat" and therefore responsible for the launch. Whether it was nervousness or something else but something let him not sleep, and then he knew what it was. He ran to the gate, through which the Victory was to be released, and after he had measured, he panicked, she was too big. Even if it was only 9.5 inches she would get stuck and that would have terrible consequences. Not only would it be embarrassing to see her stuck half and half outside and half inside. If she couldn't have been released quickly, she would have been put into the Medway at low tide, and the sinking tide would have left her high and dry and almost certainly broken her back - an amazingly costly failure.

HMS Victory anchored off the Isle of Wight, 4th December 1806, by John Wilson Carmichael 1847

Larkin immediately informed master shipwright John Allin, which was in bed with attacks of a bilious disordee which made him unable to act. He wanted to cancel everything but Larkin had another plan. He woked up all the men he could find and started to take away as much wood as possible from the gates to make way for her.

The big day came and the Victory made her way through the battered gate. Even though it probably squeaked very loud and she had considerable damages on her hull, said nobody anything about that. Victory barely missed the seven-year war for which she was built and sat at anchor in the Medway for years until her potential was recognized and she was finally ready to go into service.

The Battle of Trafalgar, a composite of several moments during the battle, by J. M. W. Turner

The inglorious launch of the Victory might have been forgotten, as Allin was soon to retire for health reasons, except that the unsung hero Hartly Larkin wrote the story of "the terrible consequences that must inevitably have befallen the ship" and asked the Navy for a reward "because he has a large family". The letter was put away with the note "No notice to be taken of this application", and is still in the archives of Chatham today.  Poor Larkin asked to be allowed to retire with a small pension in 1779 and died in 1803, so he never lived to see the day of glory of the ship he had saved.

Shipwright Hartley Larkin describing how he saved HMS Victory during her launch, discovered by Brian Lavery

[ltwilliammowett]

Friday sail, Friday fail

Sailors are very superstitious, so it's not surprising if you read something  strange that is supposed to bring bad luck but also luck. Here is a small list.

It was a good day to sail and come back home a Wednesday. Because Wednesday was dedicated to the old Anglo-Saxon patron of sailors. But never on a Friday. Friday was a fundamentally unlucky day, whether it was the 13th or not. There was, for example, never a ship with the name Friday.

But what also brought misfortune were women. They made the ship jealous, tempted her (the ship) to sail into shallows, conjured up storms and made men jealous. Also bananas brought bad luck and were therefore forbidden on board. The same goes for whistling, because that also brings storms. Rather the background was that the whistling could drown out the orders of the boatswain and thus orders would be overheard.

Killing an albatross, very bad idea. Welcome were black cats, and dolphins. They protect the ship and make sure the passage is safe. You have to roll up the rope clockwise, lose a mop or bucket over board, not good then a curse is on the ship. A horseshoe on the mast will ward off storms, and so on. A miracle that men have sailed.  

[ltwilliammowett]

Can you lean me some ammuniniton?

In November 1714 a young Norwegian Master and Commander of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy had to face a court martial of a special kind, accused of having betrayed secrets to the enemy.

Peter Jansen Wessel Tordenskiold was just 24 years old when he sailed the Baltic Sea with his ship the Løvendals Gallej, a frigate with 18 guns. He was hoping for Swedish privateers and therefore sailed under the Dutch flag for safety reasons when he actually encountered a ship. It was the De Olbing Galley, a frigate of English design with 28 guns. But she was built for the Swedes and should now be brought to Götheborg under Captain Bactmann and an English crew. Since England and the Netherlands were not at war, Bactmann simply sailed past. But Wessel raised the Danish flag and began to fire. The two fought each other half the day and only took a break at night before continuing the next morning. But after 14 hours of fighting and a quite destroyed ship Wessel realized that he had no more ammunition. But instead of retreating, Wessel sent a messenger to the British and asked if they could lend him some ammunition, then they could continue their little duel.

Bactmann, both shocked and amused, refused. Both parted peacefully after they had both raised their glasses and drunk to the other. However, benders limped into their harbours in a very pitiful state.

On guns and cups, shows the moment were Wessel and Bactmann raised their glasses after their fight, by Christian Ferdinand Andreas Mølsted 1925

Wessel was then court-martialed because he had told the enemy how much ammunition was on a frigate of his rank. Wessel denied and told his story to the king, who could not believe what he heard and acquitted him. Wessel was even cheeky enough to ask for a promotion, which he got. But he did not stay on earth for a long time because he was killed during a duel on 12 November 1720. He was only 30 years old.

[ltwilliammowett]

Armless Jokes

Nelson sometimes joked about his affliction. On his arrival in Great Yarmouth in November 1800 the landlady of the "Wrestlers Arms" asked permission to rename her pub the "Nelson Arms" in his honour. " That would be absurd, seeing I have but one," he replied. And when, at a levée at St. James Palace, George III referred to his having lost his right arm. Nelson came back swiftly, " But not my right hand," and, turning to one of his companions, told the King, "I have the honour of presenting Captain Berry.

Rear-Admiral of the White Sir Edward Berry, 1st Baronet, by John Singleton Copley, 1815

Nelson sometimes experienced the sensation of a phantom arm. He nicknamed the stump his " fin", and it was said that it twitched if he was agitated or angry. Officers would then warn: " The admiral is working his fin, do not cross his hawse."

[ltwilliammowett]

Captain Pellew and the Dutton

On 26 January 1796 Captain Edward Pellew of HMS Indefatigable, dressed in splendid full dressed uniform, and accompanied by his wife, was on his way to a formal dinner in Plymouth with Doctor Hawker, vicar of Charles Church . Their route took them past the open space above the sea cliffs kown as the Hoe. Despite stormy weather crowds were gathered on the Hoe gesturing excitly out ot sea. Pellew stopped his carriage and went to investigate. It soon become clear the Dutton ( she was a former EIC ship) a troopship bound for the West Indies, had run on to rocks. Lying broadside against smashing waves she had lost her masts and was listing badly; the imminent loss of all aboard seemed in no doubt.

The Wreck of the ex East Indiaman 'Dutton' in Plymouth Sound, 26 January 1796 by Thomas Luny 1821

Pellew urged the onlookers to help (including the officers of Dutton, who enraged Pellew at having abandoned the passengers to their fate)- but nobody was willing to risk his life in the seething waters. The situation was desperate, so Pellew decided to go it alone. Quickly discarding his fine attire he threw himself into the sea and seizing the hawser ( a large ship’s rope) that the officers used to save themselves, and which was still attached to the ship, hauled himself hand over hand out to the stricken vessel. When he reached Dutton he clambered on deck and drew his sword. Assuming command, he told the frightened passengers three things: that they would all be saved if they quietly obeyed his orders, that he would be the last to quit the wreck- and that he would run through anyone who disobeyed him.

The Wreck of the Dutton, An East Indiaman by Samuel Prout, ca. 1815

Order was swiftly brought to the chaos aboard, despite the fact that many of the soldiers, believing ther end was near, had resorted to drink and were on a sorry state of inebriation. Pellew managed, with help from young Irishman Jeremiah Coghlan, to get two additional hawsers ashore and contrived an ingenious endless rope cradle to convey passengers to safety . Others were taken off in boats that rescuers had eventually managed to bring alongside. Almost all of the 500 men, women and children aboard were saved, including a three weeks old baby. Just between 2 and 20 were lost. Dutton had broken her back and was a total loss. The wreck was sold for £850. For this feat he was created a baronet on 18 March 1796, he was 39 years old at this time.

[ltwilliammowett]

The L’Orient Coffin

One of the most unusual battle trophies of all time must be the coffin made from the wreckage of the French flagship L’Orient that blew up at hte Battle of the Nile in 1798.

The Burning of L’Orient- 1798 by Edwin Galea

It was presented to Nelson by Captain Hallowell of HMS Swiftsure on 23 March 1799. Hallowell had retrieved a large section of her mainmast and instructed his carpenter to fashion it into a macabre gift. Nothing as used in its that had not come from L’Orient and an accompanying note certified to this fact. It is not clear why Hallowell had this coffin made in the first place, nor why he waited ten months before he sent it to Nelson. The two were friends who had seen service together, and perhaps Hallowell feared the effect of all the praise showered on Nelson after his celebrated victory at the Nile.

A covering letter sent with the coffin stated: “My Lord, herewith I send you a coffin made of of the L’Orient’s mainmast that when you are tired of this life you may be buried in one of your own trophies- may that period be far distant is the sincere wish of your obedient servant”

Nelson’s coffin, 1799

While his officers were appalled, Nelson was amused and for some time he had the coffin standing upright against the bulkhead of his cabin, behind the chair he sat on for dinner. Subsequently it accompanied him as part of his luggage during his long overland journey home to England with Emma and William Hamilton in 1800. In London it was stored with Nelson’s agents, Messrs Marsh, Page and Creed. During a brief period of leave in the autumn of 1805, just before the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson visited them and instructed that the certificate of authenticity be engraved on the lid, adding “ I think it is highly probable that I may want it on my return.” Was this cryptic comment a presentiment of his early death ?

[ltwilliammowett]

Captain, spare that Pig

On occasion seamen made a special pet of one of the animals destined for the table. In the brig Onyx in the late 1820′s the crew grew attached to a piglet that travelled with them from Portsmouth to the West Indies.

“The Pig Must be caught” by Christian Mølsted, 1900. This is not the Onyx, it is the forecastle of the Danish steam frigate Jylland, but it fits...

When they learnt that the pig, by now grown, was about to be butchered, a group of seamen took the brave step of sending a deptutation to the captain to plead for its life. “ You see, Sir, “ they told him, “ He is just like one of us ; he knows us all and takes his grog daily lke any Christian.” The porker was spared the cooking pot.