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Stockwin's Maritime Miscellany Page 20


  1758

  HMS Victory built

  1766–79

  Captain Cook’s three epic voyages; now the world is known

  Climax of Age of Sail The struggle to dominate the seas

  1780s

  sea trade patterns criss-cross the globe

  1793–1815

  Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars; Britain against France

  1800s

  design of ships becomes scientific

  1805

  Nelson at Trafalgar

  1815

  Napoleon goes into exile

  Sunset of Age of Sail Steam and brute force; end of an era

  1821

  first steam tug for Royal Navy

  1838

  Great Western inaugurates regular Atlantic crossings

  1850–1865

  heyday of the clipper ship

  1866

  the Great Tea Race

  1869

  Cutty Sark launched

  1900s

  last Royal Navy ships under square-rig

  1960s

  final mercantile ocean voyages under sail

  Size Matters

  There were hundreds of ship types in the Golden Age of Sail, ranging from the smugglers’ abari to the corsairs’ xebec. Here are the vital statistics of some of history’s famous wooden ships, along with three of today’s grandest vessels for comparison.

  Glossary

  Picture Acknowledgements

  The following images are in the public domain:-

  1. from D. and J.T. Serres, Liber Nauticus, 1805

  2. HMS Victory photographed at Portsmouth, 1884

  3. painting by Robert Dodd, 1790 – the best known contemporary image of the mutiny on HMS Bounty

  4. plan of the British attack on Porto Bello, drawn by Lt Philip Durrell in 1740

  5. from Andrew Shewan, The Great Days of Sail, artist unknown

  6. engraving from a portrait of Cochrane by Henry Meyer in 1810. The original painting shows fireships burning in the background

  7. print, published by James Cundee, 1804

  8. oil on canvas by Denis Dighton, c 1825

  9. ‘Old Time Slaver’ from Charles N. Robinson, The British Fleet, 1894

  10. print by W Elmes, artist and engraver, 1813

  11. from New Students Reference Book, 1914

  12. Japanese painting, 1634

  13. lithograph of Napoleon by Zephyrin Belliard

  14. from Charles N. Robinson, The British Fleet, 1894

  15. portrait of Sidney Smith at Acre, painted by John Eckstein, engraved by Antoine Cardon. Published January1808

  16. ‘The Shooting of Admiral Byng’, artist unknown

  17. portrait of George III by Sir William Beechey

  18. portrait of James Cook by Nathaniel Dance c 1775

  19. from Charles N. Robinson, The British Fleet, 1894

  20. pencil on paper portrait by Count D’Orsay, March 1842

  21. from The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake,1628

  22. ‘Tribute Giraffe from Bengal’ by Shen Du, 1414

  23. engraving of the Eddystone Lighthouse, painted by Isaac Sailmaker

  24. from a map by Abraham Ortelius, 1590

  25. portrait of Henry the Navigator by Charles Legrand c 1841.

  26. frontispiece to Mercator’s Atlas sive Cosmograhicae, published posthumously

  27. print engraving of John Franklin, c 1844/45

  28. etching of HM Sloop Investigator by Geoffrey Ingleton, 1937

  29. from Peter Cordingley, The Maritime Compendium

  30. nineteenth-century engraving by Louis Le Breton

  31. from A. Hyatt, Knots, Splices and Rope Work, A Practical Treatise

  32. woodcut, 1800

  33. ‘The capture of the Cacafuego’, engraving by Levinus Hulsius, 1626

  34. from Charles Darwin, A Naturalist’s Voyage Around the World, 1913, illustration by R.T. Pritchett

  35. mezzo-tint of 1768 by P. L. Tassaert, after an oil painting by Thomas King, 1767

  36. ‘A Scene Between Decks’ by W. J. Huggins in Charles N Robinson, The British Tar in Fact and Fiction, 1909

  37. ‘The Sailor’s Description of a Chase and Capture’, coloured etching by George Cruikshank

  38. ‘Mastheaded’ by J. E. Edwards in Charles N Robinson, The British Tar in Fact and Fiction, 1909

  39. ‘Victors of the Nile’, a celebratory engraving published five years after the Battle of the Nile

  40. ‘A Sailor’, R. Cruikshank, 1827

  41. early nineteenth-century engraving by Thomas Rowlandson

  42. from Peter Cordingley, The Maritime Compendium

  43. ‘Colours Warranted Not to Run’ from Charles N Robinson, The British Tar in Fact and Fiction, 1909

  44. ‘The Armada Portrait’, one of three surviving versions of an allegorical panel painting. Artist: George Gower, c 1588.

  45. image by nineteenth-century French painter Antoine Morel-Fatio

  46. ‘A Greenwich Pensioner’ by R Cruikshank from Charles N Robinson, The British Tar in Fact and Fiction, 1909

  47. engraving by John Chapman, 1797

  48. from Charles N Robinson, The British Tar in Fact and Fiction, 1909

  49. ‘On the Look-Out!’ from Charles N. Robinson, The British Fleet, 1894

  50. from D. and J.T. Serres, Liber Nauticus, 1805

  51. ‘A Ship’s Cook’ by Thomas Rowlandson c. 1799

  52. contemporary mezzo-tint

  53. from Jones, Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen, 1829

  54. from Olaus Magnus, Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (History of the Northern Peoples) 1555

  55. title page, Sir Francis Drake Revived, 1626.

  56. ‘Neptune, King of Waters’, engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid’s Metamorphoses

  57. caricature of a press gang, 1780

  58. from Dante’s Inferno, illustration by Gustave Doré

  59. print by J. J. Baugean from Receuil de Petites Marines, 1819

  60. illustration by Birket Foster, engraving by William Miller, 1872

  61. image traditionally believed to represent Antonio Pigafetta, artist unknown

  62. ‘The Battle of Trafalgar’ by William Clarkson Stanfield, engraving by William Miller, 1839

  63. advertisement from ‘The Ladies’ World’, March 1898

  64. from G. Hartwig, The Aerial World, 1886

  65. Olaus Magnus, Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus, 1555

  66. ‘Illustrated London News’ October 28, 1848

  67. Bibliothèque Nationale

  68. engraving by William Miller, 1875, after J M W Turner

  69. from John Masefield, On the Spanish Main

  70. ‘The Ghosts of Admiral Hosier and His Men Appearing to Admiral Vernon’, coloured etching published in July 1740 by C. Mosley

  71. coloured aqua-tint by J. T. Lee, engraved by Robert Dodd, March 1804

  72. engraving from a portrait by Sir George Chambers

  73. nineteenth-century illustration by William Bradford

  74. from Peter Cordingley, The Maritime Compendium

  75. eighteenth-century illustration

  76. from Stanley Lane-Poole, The Story of the Barbary Corsairs, published 1890

  77. illustration by Henry Winstanley, 1696

  78. image over 100 years old, no details available

  79. map from the July 1750 issue of ‘The Gentleman’s Magazine’; attributed to Moses Harris, a naturalist and surveyor.

  80. eighteenth-century drawing

  81. black and white image of the wreck of Loch Leven, still under full sail, from ‘Illustrated Sydney News’, 25 November 1871, artist unknown

  82. painting by Arnald George (1763–1841)

  The following individuals/organisations have kindly given permission to use images:-

  1. Jeremy Johns

  2. The Marine Society & Sea Cadets

  3. courtesy of the U.S. Navy

  4. Annet
te M. Onslow

  Author Acknowledgements

  My sincere appreciation to all at Ebury Press, especially Carey Smith and Vicky Orchard for their editorial vision and guidance. Thanks, too, are due to David Fordham for his splendid book design. And I cannot omit my gratitude to two other very wonderful women, my agent Carole Blake for her enthusiasm for the project, and my wife Kathy for her assistance at every level.

  Index

  The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.

  Acre 34–5

  Adams, Fanny 119

  Adams, William 3, 26–7

  admirals 103

  Admiralty 41–2, 68, 72, 76–8, 83, 113, 132, 140, 159, 178

  Africa (ship) 22–3

  Ajax (ship) 90

  alcohol 14–15, 111, 120–1

  Alexander I, Tsar of Russia 72

  Alexander (ship) 186

  Alfred (ship) 25

  Amphion (frigate) 163

  Amundsen, Roald 66

  anchors 113–14

  Anne of Denmark 149

  Anson, Commodore 165

  Anson (ship) 71

  Aphrodite 130

  Ariel (clipper) 6, 6

  Arthur, King 128

  Articles of War 93, 169

  asphaltum 96

  Association (ship) 158, 176

  ‘at a stand’ 177

  Atkins, Thomas 176

  Australia 67–8, 69, 185–6

  Bacchante (ship) 136–7

  Ball, Alexander 95

  Band of Brothers 95

  Banks, Sir Joseph 22

  Barbary pirates 173–4, 174

  Barnum, P.T. 147

  Bass, George 67

  Bass Strait 184–5

  ‘batten down the hatches’ 91

  Beagle (ship) 80, 81, 81

  ‘bearings, losing your’ 70

  Beatty (surgeon to Nelson) 143

  Beatty (training ship) 33

  Beaty, Christopher 26

  Beaumont, Rear-Admiral 176

  Bellerophon (ship) 26, 28–9, 123, 186

  Benbow, Admiral 107, 107

  Berry, Capt 28

  Berthelot, Lt 187

  ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’ 47

  Bianca, Commodore Casa 186

  Bianca, Luc 186

  Black Book 145

  Black Joke (ship) 19

  Black Tot Day 121

  Blake, Admiral Robert 129

  Blane, Gilbert 166

  Bligh, William 3, 4, 38–9, 107, 170

  blocks 99, 100, 150

  Bluenose (schooner) 36–7, 37

  Bonaparte, Napoleon 8, 28–9, 29, 34–5, 47, 69, 123, 178, 186

  Bonhomme Richard (ship) 25

  Boscawen, Admiral 45

  bottle breaking 132

  Bounty (ship) 38, 170

  ‘bow and scrape’ 34

  Boxer, Colonel 72

  Briggs, Capt 174–5

  Briggs, Sarah 174–5

  Britannia (steamship) 88

  ‘broadside, delivering a’ 79

  Broke, Capt Philip 20–1

  ‘brought up short’ 182

  Brown, William 100–1

  Brueys, Vice-Admiral 186

  Brunel, Mare 99

  Brunswick (ship) 142

  buccaneers 83

  see also pirates

  bully beef 119

  burials 18, 102, 134, 143, 181

  Burney, Fanny 22

  Bushnell, David 75–6

  ‘by and large’ 137

  Byng, Admiral John 40–1, 41

  Byron, John 140

  Byron, Lord 157

  Cabot, John 65

  Cabot, Sebastian 65

  Campbell, Admiral John 88–9

  Camperdown, battle of 47

  Canada 36–7, 45–6, 179

  cannibalism 66, 172

  cannons 104, 105

  Cape Bojador 63

  capital punishment 13, 94, 170, 170

  Captain (ship) 39

  Carew, Sir Gawen 168

  Carew, Vice-Admiral Sir George 168

  Carleton, Mary 159

  Carlyle, Thomas 69

  Carter, John 24

  Casson, Edward 173

  cat-o’-nine-tails 93, 94

  Cataraqui (ship) 185

  catering 63, 97–8, 118–19, 149

  cats 88, 90, 147, 149

  cauls 144

  Cawdor, Lord 17

  Cazuneau, Capt William 172

  Centaur (flagship) 7–8

  Centurion (flagship) 165

  Charles I, King of Spain 60

  Charles, Prince 102

  Charon 132, 133

  Chase, Owen 167

  Chatham Chest 105–6

  Chebucto Harbour, Halifax 179, 180

  Chesapeake (ship) 20–1, 21, 100–1

  child labour 115–16, 116

  China 55, 56–7

  ‘chock-a-block’ 150

  Christian, Fletcher 38

  chronometers 81–2, 159

  ‘clean slate’ 112

  Clepham, James 107

  clippers 5–6, 88, 142

  ‘close quarters’ 7

  ‘coast is clear’ 60

  Cochrane, Thomas 8–9, 10, 111, 123

  Coffin, Owen 167

  Collingwood, Admiral Cuthbert 41, 89, 112–13, 117

  colours 62

  Columbus, Christopher 101, 135, 147, 148

  Conflan, Admiral 45–6

  Conrad, Joseph 157

  Constitution (ship) 133

  Continental Navy 25

  Cook, Capt James 22, 45, 46, 66–7, 69, 76–8, 82, 107, 140, 165–6

  ‘copper bottomed’ 26

  court martials 40–1, 164, 170

  Cowper, William 184

  Cracker, Joe 180

  Cromwell, Samuel 170

  ‘Crossing the Line’ 129–30

  Cruise-Wilkins, Reginald 153

  Cruisers and Convoys Act 1708 121–2

  currents 83

  customs 132

  ‘cut of a jib’ 23

  ‘cut and run’ 135

  ‘cuts a fine feather’ 165

  ‘cuts no ice’ 15

  Cutty Sark (clipper) 88, 142

  Daedalus (ship) 151–2, 152

  Dalliger, John 94

  Dampier, William 83

  Danish navy 181

  Darwin, Charles 80

  Davis, John 65

  ‘day of departure’ 135

  de Belleville, Jane 117

  de Leyburn, William 103

  De Winter, Admiral Jan 47, 47

  Deal 137–8, 138

  death at sea 133–4, 135, 157–8

  see also burials

  Defiance (ship) 51

  Defoe, Daniel 176

  Dei Gratia (brigantine) 174–5

  Dennett, John 72

  d’Entrecasteaux, Rear Admiral 69

  Diamond Rock 7–8

  Digby, Capt 22–3

  Dillon, Peter 69–70

  discipline 13, 40–1, 93–5, 164, 170, 170

  dogs 9, 43, 88–9

  doldrums 21, 130

  Dolphin (ship) 140

  Dönitz, Admiral Karl 137

  Douglas, James 59

  Doyle, Arthur Conan 175

  Drake (née Sydenham), Elizabeth 128

  Drake, Sir Francis 13, 26, 78–9, 101, 105, 128–9, 129

  Drake (ship) 25

  Drake’s Drum 129

  drowning 114, 158

  Drummond, Lt Edgar 151–2

  duff 149

  Duff, Norwich 115–16

  Duncan, Admiral Adam 47

  Durham, Capt 51

  Dutch, the 64, 94

  Dutton (troopship) 14

  duty, devotion to 112–13

  Eagle (flagship) 75, 158

  Eannes, Gil 63

  earrings 139

  Ea
st India Company 27

  Eckstein, John 8

  Eddystone lighthouses 58–9, 59, 176, 176

  Eddystone reef 58–9

  Edward I, King of England 103

  Edward, Duke of Kent 180

  Egede, Hans 151

  El Almirante (brig) 19

  El Gamo (ship) 9

  Elcano, Juan Sebastian 60

  Elephant (ship) 160–1

  Elizabeth I, Queen of England 78, 79, 103

  Elizabeth (brig) 72

  ‘end of the world’ 63

  Endeavour (ship) 77, 165–6

  equator 129–30

  Erebus (ship) 66

  Espiegle (ship) 142

  Essex (whaler) 166–7

  Evelyn, John 44

  Excellent (school of naval gunnery) 21

  explosions 163, 186–7, 187

  Fair Rosamund (ship) 19

  Fearney, William 39

  Fiddler’s Green 127, 134

  Fiery Cross of Goa 152

  figureheads 141–2

  Finlay, Capt Christopher 185

  fires 157, 177, 182–3

  ‘first-rate’ 141

  Fishguard 17

  Fitzroy, Robert 80–1

  flags, signal 61–2

  Flinders, Matthew 67, 88

  Flinders bars 67

  Flood, Frederick 175

  Flying Dutchman, The (ghost ship) 136–7

  Franklin, Benjamin 77

  Franklin, Sir John 66, 66, 102

  French, the 3, 7–9, 15, 17, 23–4, 34–5, 40, 45–6, 67–70, 92, 106, 123, 133, 152–3, 158, 173, 177–8, 186

  Frisk (cutter) 164

  Frobisher, Martin 65, 102

  Furneaux, Capt Tobias 22

  Gage, Admiral Sir W.H. 151–2

  Galaup, Jean-François de, Comte de La Perouse 68–70

  Galdy, Lewis 160

  Gama, Vasco da 165

  Garrick, David 45

  gender of ships 145

  gentlemanly code 47

  George II, King of England 40, 105

  George III, King of England 22, 28, 30, 42, 42, 109, 115

  ghost ships 136–7, 138, 141

  Gilbert, Sir Henry 150

  Gilbert, Humphrey 65

  Gjoa (ship) 66

  globe, circumnavigation 60, 78, 83, 165–6

  Glover, Richard 162

  gods of the sea 130, 130, 132, 141–2

  Golden Hinde (ship) 65, 79, 142

  Goliath (ship) 118

  ‘gone by the board’ 110

  Goodwin Sands 137–8

  Grant, Lt James 75

  Great Storm 1703 138, 175–6

  Great Tea Race 1866 6, 6

  Green Sea of Darkness 63