Category Archives: Naval Operations
The Mauritius Campaign: Prelude
The last novel I summarized on this blog was the C. Northcote Parkinson novel, featuring is character Richard Delancey, Dead Reckoning. The book covers about five years of Delancey’s career and involves operations in Borneo and, most significantly, against the … Continue reading
Filed under Naval Operations, Richard Delancey Novels
Captain Conway Shipley
(photo located here) We briefly mention Commander Conway Shipley in the story below, Capture of l’Egyptienne. In that story he is the 21 year old commander of HMS Hippomenes who gave chase to, and captured, the 36-gun privateer l’Egyptienne in … Continue reading
Filed under Age of Sail, Naval Operations, Smal Boat Actions
HMS Pallas at the Corduoan Light
I decided to do one more Lord Cochrane piece before moving on to something else. This episode predates The Boats of HMS Impérieuse by a year. At the time Cochrane was commanding the 32-gun 12-pounder frigate HMS Pallas with a … Continue reading
Filed under Age of Sail, Naval Battles, Naval Operations, single ship actions
Battle of Lissa
http://books.google.com/books?id=Am7WCEX4KekC&pg=PA365&dq=%22william+hoste%22+amphion+active&ei=WjhBSt6YDoeyyQT87sxG
Filed under Age of Sail, Naval Battles, Naval Operations
The Battle of Navarino: Twilight for the Age of Sail
A method of warfare that extended in prehistory came to an end around 3pm on October 20, 1827 at Navarino Bay on Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula. It was a one-sided fight, much more in the tradition of Ulundi and Omdurman than … Continue reading
Filed under Age of Sail, Naval Battles, Naval Operations
Villasar de Mar
This photo shows the coastal road at Villasar de Mar, a bit north of Barcelona, where the squadron operating under the command of Captain Edward Codrington caught and mauled a French infantry division on the march, a story told below.
Filed under Age of Sail, Naval Operations, Naval Operations Ashore
Captain Codrington vs The French Army
“Port a point. Steady!” The ship crept through the water; not a sound from the crew, standing tense at their guns — only the faint sweet music of the breeze in the rigging, and the lapping of the water overside. … Continue reading
Fiasco: HMS Circe and Consorts vs. Cygne
We’ve chronicled in several places the success of British ships in cutting out expeditions and small boat actions. One is left in awe of the casualness with which British sailors took on impossible odds and carried the day. Often they … Continue reading
Battle of Copenhagen, April 2, 1801. Prelude
1801 set stage for one of the saddest events in the two decades of war that began with the declaration of war against Revolutionary France by the First Coalition and ended at Waterloo: the Battle of Copenhagen fought between the … Continue reading
Filed under Age of Sail, Naval Battles, Naval Operations
The Boats of HMS Galatea
On the morning of 21 January 1807 HMS Galatea (38), Captain George Sayer, was off the coast of Venezuela when she sighted a sail steering for Guaira near Caracas. Galatea put on more sail and as they closed, identified her … Continue reading
