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HMS Nymphe versus Cléopâtre 1793
Guest Blog by Geri WaltonGeri WaltonIt is my pleasure to host historian Geri Walton on my blog today. Geri is a specialist on the late 18th century. I find her splendidly researched website a huge...
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Captain Trollope and the Carronades – Part 1
Carronade on slide mountingCarronades – large-calibre, short-range cannon throwing very heavy shot – were a game-changing weapon when introduced in the 1780s (Clickhere for the article “HMS Flora...
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SMS Iltis – a gunboat, a pope and a confrontation in the Pacific
In the first two decades of the new German Empire, after its proclamation in 1870, and before Germany embarked on construction of the world's second-largest navy in the world, German naval units were...
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Captain Trollope and the Carronades – Part 2: HMS Glatton
Henry TrollopeA week ago, in the blog of 1st November, we met the “carronade crazy” Royal Navy officer Henry Trollope (1756-1839). His career was a distinguished one – he rose to full Admiral – but his...
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Nelson's Ship Smasher - the 32 Pounder
This article was first published exactly two years ago but it is, I believe, one of my best. I hope you like it if you did not see it then!The fact that often strikes one regarding even the largest...
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The Princess Alice Disaster 1878
This article, one of the earliest on my blog, was first published almost exactly three years ago. I find it fascinating in that the incident in question not only occurred in the period I write about in...
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Frigate Duel 1782: HMS Santa Margarita and L’Amazone
In reading about warfare in the Age of Fighting Sail one is invariably impressed by the aggression and sheer bloody-minded will to win that characterised the Royal Navy. These were the factors that...
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"The Royal Family” at War 1747
In 1747, at the height of the War of Austrian Succession, when Britain was (once more) at war with France and Spain, the departure of a Spanish warship from the Americas was to trigger a series of...
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The humbling of “General Hyena” 1850
It’s always gratifying to see a bully and tyrant cut down to size and a particularly satisfying example of this occurred in London in 1850, even if the retribution meted out was disproportionately...
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HMS Mediator at odds of Five to One, 1782
In a recent blog about Captain Henry Trollope and HMS Glatton, we saw a single Royal Navy warship engage eight enemy vessels successfully. Today’s blog deals with an equally desperate battle against...
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The Loss of the Russian cruiser Pallada, October 1914
The illustration below is from a German WW1 part-work, published monthly, in this case in 1914/15. It is an artist’s impression of the destruction of the Bayan-class Russian armoured cruiser Pallada on...
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HMS Pulteney and the Spanish Xebecs 1743
There have been many blogs on this site dealing with actions in the Age of Fighting Sail that involved only a few vessels, in many cases two only. In most cases, skilful manoeuvring and sail...
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1916 Illustrated – a German Perspective
Note equal prominence given to theGerman (L) and Austro-Hungarian (R) eaglesAs we come to the end of the year that is the 100thAnniversary of the battles of Verdun, the Somme and Jutland, of the siege...
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The Vega Expedition and the North-East Passage 1878-79
I recently enjoyed one of the two best books I’ve read this year: “In the Kingdom of the Ice –The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette” by Hampton Sides. It deals with the disastrous...
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Retrospective 2016: a Baker’s Dozen from a year of blogging
The year now slipping away was an active one for me as regards blogging, the publication of the 5th Dawlish Chronicles novel, Britannia’s Amazon, the completion of the 6th novel – due out early next...
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War at Sea 1917: An Ominous New Year's Day
1917 was to mark a turning point not just in World War 1, but in world history, for it saw not only the outbreak of the Russian Revolution and the birth of the Soviet state, but the entry of the United...
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1859: The Battle of Solferino and the foundation of the Red Cross
Napoleon III and Eugenie in gloryI was set off on the train of thinking that led to this article when driving past a girl’s school some six-miles from my home. As I did I membered that I was passing...
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Unequal Duel, 1758: HMS Monmouth vs. Foudroyant
A contemporary satirical print showing Byng and the inconclusive action that doomed himThe execution by firing squad in 1757 of Admiral George Byng (1704-1757) on the quarterdeck of HMS Monarchin 1757...
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The Capture of the Chevrette, 1801
While leafing through an 1894 book entitled “The British Fleet” by Commander Charles N. Robinson (Assistant Editor of the Army and Navy Gazette) I came on a copy of the engraving above made from a...
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Charles Wager’s first step in a meteoric career
I dipped recently into a magnificently titled 19th Century book, of indeterminate date, called: “THRILLING NARRATIVES OF MUTINY, MURDER AND PIRACY,a weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster,from...
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