"Dentro de poco los hombres de unas y otras islas se han de convencer de que hacer un gran disparate armando tan terribles guerras, y llegará un día en que se abrazarán, conviniendo todos en no formas más que una sola familia." Benito Pérez Galdós "... before long the inhabitants of the different islands will be co...
Trafalgar stirs up images in our mind of glorious battles at sea. You can almost imagine the smoke and chaos going on when you look at any painting of the event, but what do you know about the ships? At Trafalgar the British fleet had 27 ships of the line, compared to 33 of the combined French and Spanish fleet. Wh...
Blockades have long been a part of naval doctrine. Used for many years to prevent a fleet from putting to sea and, especially in the case of the Biscay Coast, to prevent an invasion of Britain. By 1805 Britain had around 30,000 men stationed off Brest, arguably its most important area of operations for blockades between 1793 and...
The Battle of Trafalgar is one of the most well-known naval battles in history, but where is Trafalgar, and why did the battle take place there? Cape Trafalgar is a headland in the south-west of Spain, in the province of Cadiz. The battle itself took place to the west of Cape Trafalgar, in the famous Atlantic swell! ...
What is Pickle Night? Pickle Night, usually held on 6th November, or as close to as possible, celebrates the arrival in London of Lt John Richards Lapenotiere, in command of HMS Pickle, carrying dispatches from Collingwood in which he celebrated victory over the French and Spanish fleet at Trafalgar and lamented the sad dea...
On the 21st of October 1805, the British fleet, under Horatio Nelson’s command, met the combined French and Spanish fleets, under French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, for one of the most famous naval battles in history, off Cape Trafalgar, Spain. Nelson had joined his flagship at the time, HMS Victory,...
An ensign is an identifying flag, flown to designate a ship - military or civilian. The use of ensigns dates back to the 1600s and there have been many incarnations throughout the years, from the (very colourful) ensigns of the Tudor & Stuart navies, to the famous red, white and blue ensigns we see on the water tod...
With one week until Trafalgar Day we thought it appropriate to start the season off with a post about HMS Victory's Captain at Trafalgar, and Horatio Nelson's good friend, Thomas Masterman Hardy. Born in Kingston Russell on the 5th of April 1769 (also the birth year of Napoleon Bonaparte) and Arthur Wellesley, known to many as...
The Royal Navy has a language all of its own. Commonly known as “Jackspeak”, some of this naval slang has been in use for centuries! We covered some of these here a few weeks ago, but here are a few more...Not enough room to swing a catGenerally used to describe a very small room or space, the origin of this phrase was re...
Trafalgar Square is one of the most iconic memorials to one of the most well known naval victories in the world, but did you know these facts about this central London location? Nelson's Column Centre stage in Trafalgar Square, standing at just under 52m is the iconic 'Nelson's Column'. Originally known as 'The Monument...
Sea shanties have long been an important part of British maritime culture, and even if the age of sail is long behind us, they live on to this day. There is a lack of historical references to anything like shanties, as they would come to be known, in the entirety of the 18th century but, in the second half of the 18th centur...
The Royal Navy has a language all of its own. Commonly known as “Jackspeak”, some of this naval slang has been in use for centuries! Here are 5 examples of old naval slang still in common usage. 1. Dutch CourageDuring the 17th Century, the UK was engaged in a series of wars with the Dutch states. These ...
