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The Crimean War’s White Sea Theatre - 1854
The Crimean War (1854 – 56) is most remembered for images of the charge of Britain’s Light Brigade at Balaclava, the privations suffered by the ill-equipped besiegers of Sevastopol through a deadly...
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A picture that could inspire half-a-dozen novels
Like everybody who writes novels I’m frequently asked “Where do you get the ideas from?”There’s no easy answer and I suspect that the process varies considerably between writers. One is usually drawing...
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Two Wasps - glory and tragedy in the War of 1812
The name Wasp is one of the oldest and most illustrious names given to ships in the United States Navy. The earliest, a schooner purchased by the Continental Navy in late 1775, was one of the first...
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Crimean War 1854 - Action at the Danube Mouth
The war fought by Britain, France, Turkey and Piedmont in 1854-56 is normally referred to as the “Crimean War” since it was in the Crimea, on the northern shores of the Black Sea, where most of the...
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Loss of Hospital Ship Anglia 17th November 1915
It has been very noticeable over the last year that though commemoration of the First World War opened with a fanfare – and in Britain at least focussed on the Western Front to the exclusion of all...
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First Blood 1778: Belle Poule and HMS Arethusa
In reading about the classic Age of Fighting Sail – roughly 1700 to 1830 – one is struck by the fact that encounters between the British and French navies had an almost monotonous aspect in that the...
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Bermuda’s Floating Dry Dock 1869
RMS Cedric - a giant in 1901One of the more attractive aspects of the Victorian Age was the willingness to take on large and often unprecedented engineering challenges. This was perhaps never more so...
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The Indestructible Admiral Nesbit Willoughby (1777–1849)
It is only in the last few days, while perusing a publication of mid-19th Century vintage that I came across a reference to Admiral Sir Nesbit Josiah Willoughby (1777–1849) who “has so lately departed...
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The Wit and Wisdom of Admiral “Jacky” Fisher
Fisher in 1902 - cartoon by "Spy"Few men can have had a greater influence on naval warfare than John Fisher (1841 – 1920), later Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher. This formidable figure, a human...
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The Original Nelson’s Column, Portsdown Hill
Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square has been a landmark in London since it was completed in 1843. It is just under 170 feet tall (including the statue of Nelson himself at the top) and the four sides...
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HMS Quebec off Nordeney: Small Boat Action 1811
When reading of the Royal Navy’s role in the Napoleonic Wars one is always struck by the dogged determination with which a blockade of the French and French-controlled coasts of Europe was maintained...
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Hazards of suppressing the Slave Trade, 1847
Britain’s legal abolition of her slave trade in 1807 is one of the most admirable actions in her history, making it illegal for British subjects to deal in slaves or to carry them in British ships. The...
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The Two Tragedies of the SS Orteric
The 9thof December will be the 100th anniversary of the torpedoing in the Eastern Mediterranean of the SS Orteric. This 6,535-ton, 460-feet cargo and passenger liner was a relatively new ship, built...
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HMS Dart & Désirée 1800
Fireships were for many centuries to be some of the most dramatic and devastating of all naval weapons, albeit that they were difficult to deploy and dangerous to their crews. The most effective and...
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“Bring me out the enemy’s ship if you can…” 1796
Close blockade of the coasts of French-occupied countries in the Napoleonic era was the most important weapon in Britain’s armoury. It may indeed also have been the single most important factor in...
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HMS Flora 1780: the Carronade's arrival
In sea battles from the 1780s to the end of the Napoleonic Wars a decisive factor was often the use of the carronade. Few of these guns were carried on any one ship, and they were not counted in a...
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The Human Price: Mrs. Phelan on HMS Swallow
Some recent articles on this blog have dealt with inshore-operations of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Characterised by aggressive daring, they were critical in hampering – and often...
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Christmas to New Year at Sea - 1915
It is remarkable in the course of this year how little attention has been paid in the media, in popular memory or in large-scale centenary- commemorations to the events of 1915, the first full year of...
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13 Favourites from a Year of Blogging: 2015
I got somewhat of a surprise when I checked today how many articles I had published on this blog in 2015. The total came to 97, not counting this one, and considering that each article averages 1200...
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The Imperial German Navy vs. Haiti, 1897 and 1902
The Imperial German Navy that went to war in 1914 was essentially a creation of previous four decades. One tends to think of it in terms of its squadrons of superbly engineered battleships and...
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