#OnThisDay in 1633, Samuel Pepys was born. He is most well-known for his detailed diary that provides us a fascinating window into 17th century British life. He held many roles throughout his career but as Chief Secretary to the Admiralty he was instrumental in transforming a corrupt and inefficient Royal Navy in to a powerful fighting force that would be Central to the rapid growth of the British Empire.
Painting: ‘Portrait of Samuel Pepys’ (1666) by John Hayls, National Portrait Gallery, London.
Part II of our look at the naval Battle of Artemisium has just dropped! 3 days of battle, another storm, and some trickery & psychological warfare, courtesy of none other than Themistocles.
Glad to announce our next book giveaway! This time it’s for a copy of ‘Pirate Hunters,’ a great book that was released just a few days ago. Rules are the same as last time, with the exception of the time limit and dates. Detailed Rules are in the link below, otherwise, here’s a short summary. Our next episode is being finished up and should be out soon!
- **Entry restricted to those with a mailing address in the U.S. or Canada.**
- Contest begins June 20 and ends on a date TBD, no later than four weeks from date of contest start.
- Method of entry is an iTunes review of the podcast or sharing the show with a friend.
- To be officially entered, entrant must contact me via Facebook, Twitter, or email to notify me of review or share and desire to be entered. I must have a way to contact each entrant in case they win.
Henry Grace à Dieu was launched on this day in history, 13 June 1514. Also known as ‘Great Harry,’ Henry Grace à Dieu was an English carrack of the King’s Fleet in the 16th century. She had the high forecastle, typical of English carracks of the period, and at 50 meters (165 ft) long, weighing 1,000–1,500 tons and having a complement of 700–1,000 men, she was one of the largest warships in medieval Europe.
The Naval Battle of Riachuelo was fought on 11 June 1865 on the rivulet Riachuelo (Argentina), between the Paraguayan Navy on one side and the Brazilian Navy on the other. The Brazilian fleet heavily outnumbered the Paraguayan fleet, and Brazilian victory was crucial for the later success of the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina) in the Paraguayan War.
The Battle of Midway effectively began on this day in history, 4 June 1942. This decisive naval battle took place in the Pacific Theatre of WWII between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy. During the four-day sea-and-air battle, the outnumbered U.S. Pacific Fleet succeeded in destroying four Japanese aircraft carriers while losing only one of its own, the ‘Yorktown,’ to the previously invincible Japanese navy.
The photograph above was taken on 4 June 1942 from a USAAF Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress. It shows the Japanese aircraft carrier 'Hiryu’ maneuvering to avoid bombs dropped by other USAAF bombers.
The Battle of the Nile began on this day in history, 1 August 1798. The battle, also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay, saw the British Royal Navy under Horatio Nelson prevail over the Navy of the French Republic in a battle that concluded on 3 August. The battle was the climax of a naval campaign that had ranged across the Mediterranean during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under then General Napoleon Bonaparte. The British victory at the Battle of the Nile effectively put an end to Napoleon’s invasion of the Middle East and made Nelson a war hero in the British Empire.
Upon hearing reports that Spanish treasure conveys frequently stopped at the port city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands, in July 1797, Admiral John Jervis dispatched a small squadron under recently promoted Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson with the aim of seizing Santa Cruz by means of an amphibious attack. When the expedition arrived in the vicinity of Santa Cruz on 17 July, it numbered 400 guns and nearly 4,000 men.
After the initial landing plans failed on 23 July, Nelson Nelson called his captains on board Theseus and explained how he himself would lead the next move ahead of a boat group followed by five more boats. On the night of 24 July 1797, Nelson led what they hoped would be a surprise amphibious landing. However, the Spanish lookout sounded the alarm when the British troops drew close to land, and the disembarking soldiers were met by a heavy barrage of cannon fire. British forces led by Captain Bowen rushed the battery covering the harbour, captured it and spiked its guns. They began to pursue the fleeing Spanish into the town, but were swept by a hail of grapeshot. Bowen, his first lieutenant and several of his men were killed, while Nelson, who was just landing from his boat, was hit in the right arm.
Nelson was bleeding copiously and his stepson, Lieutenant Nisbet, cut a piece of his own neck handkerchief and tied it tightly around Nelson’s arm to stop the bleeding. The admiral refused to use the frigate Seahorse that was stationed close by, to be taken back to his flagship, as it would imply that Captain Fremantle would have to hoist a flag of distress and thereby demoralise the crews. Instead, the sailors of his boat rowed hard back to the Theseus. The surgeon had been warned of the contingency and got his instruments ready. Nelson was cited as saying, as he pointed to his right arm “Doctor, I want to get rid of this useless piece of flesh here”. Nelson’s operation was quick and aseptic. The limb was thrown over board, despite the admiral’s wish to keep it.
In the end, having sustained heavy losses, Nelson was forced to withdraw from Tenerife and sail back to England with a demoralised force.
An engagement during the Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of Cape Finisterre was fought on this day in history, 22 July 1805. The battle took place off Galicia, Spain, where the British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder fought an indecisive naval battle against the combined Franco-Spanish fleet which was returning from the West Indies. Although both sides claimed victory, Admiral Calder failed to strike the shattering blow that would have freed Great Britain from the danger of an invasion. Calder was later court-martialled and severely reprimanded for his failure on 22 July, in addition to his refusal to renew the engagement on 23 and 24 July. In the end, the French naval commander also blundered, electing not to continue on to Brest, where his fleet could have joined with other French ships to clear the English Channel for an invasion of Great Britain.
The Battle of Lissa, a battle during the Austro-Prussian War, took place on this day in history, 20 July 1866, in the Adriatic Sea near the Dalmatian island of Lissa. Although outnumbered, the Austrian Empire won a decisive victory over the Italian naval force. It was the first major sea battle between ironclads and one of the last to involve deliberate ramming. The battle itself was made up of several smaller engagements: the main engagement pitted seven Austrian against nine Italian ironclads and showed the ability of Austrian commander Tegetthoff to divide his more numerous opponents and destroy the isolated ironclads.
The Italian navy lost two battleships and fired roughly 1450 shots during the engagement, but failed to do any serious damage to any Austrian ship. A main cause of the Italian navy’s defeat was internal rivalry between the Italian fleet commanders: for example, Italian Vice Admiral Albini, with his ships, did not engage the enemy during the battle.
The painting above is an 1869 work by Konstantinos Volanakis entitled Naval battle at Lissa.
TheMary Rose, the pride of King Henry VIII’s naval fleet, sank in the Solent while leading an attack on the galleys of a French invasion fleet on this day in history, 19 July 1545. The sunken ship was discovered in 1971 and a salvage operation began in 1982. It is currently in the final stages of conservation and a magnificent museum exists at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to showcase the warship’s remains.
RMSCarpathia sank off the coast of Ireland after being torpedoed by a German U-boat on this day in history, 17 July 1918. Carpathia made her maiden voyage in 1903 and became famous for rescuing the survivors of RMS Titanic after it struck an iceberg and sank in April 1912. Carpathia was used during World War I to transport American and Canadian troops across the Atlantic.
On the summer morning of 17 July 1918 she was torpedoed in the Celtic Sea by the Imperial German Navy U-boat, U-55. Of three torpedoes fired at the ship, one impacted the port side while another penetrated the engine room, killing two firemen and three trimmers. All 57 passengers and 218 surviving crew members boarded lifeboats as the vessel sank. U-55 surfaced and fired a third torpedo into the ship and was approaching the lifeboats when the Azalea-class sloop HMS Snowdrop arrived on the scene and drove away the U-boat with gunfire before picking up the survivors from Carpathia.
The Battle of Penghu took place on this day in maritime history, 16 July 1683. In 1683, Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty sent Admiral Shi Lang with a force of nearly 100,000 men and 600 warships to invade the island of Taiwan. Liu Guoxuan led the defense of the Kingdom of Tungning, a kingdom that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan. Liu Guoxuan had assembled a fleet of over 200 warships and positioned them in Penghu, an archipelago off the western coast of Taiwan. When the battle began, the Tungning forces were overwhelmed by the better cannons and superior numbers of Shi Lang’s fleet. In the end, Lio Guoxuan’s fleet was decimated and 60,000 Qing soldiers made landfall, overrunning the Tungning base and ultimately forcing the Tungning kingdom to formally surrender, ending its existence.
The map above dates to 1640 and shows the main island of Taiwan, along with Penghu, the island chain at the map’s bottom center. The islands are also known as the Pescadores Islands.
Six weeks after his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon boarded HMS Bellerophon and formally demanded political asylum, on this day in British history, 15 July 1815. It was HMS Bellerophon that would transport Napoleon to his exile on the island of St. Helena.
Perhaps the greatest Swedish naval victory in their history occurred when they defeated the Russian fleet at the Second Battle of Svensksund, on this day in history, 9 July 1790. The severity of the Russian defeat (7,400 casualties and 19/20 frigates lost) forced them into negotiations which resulted in the end of the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90.
May 8th 1701 saw the Scottish-born pirate “Captain” William Kidd tried for piracy at London’s Old Bailey.
Another Scotsman who turns up in my posts on a number of occasions, I will keep this one short as a follow up will tell the full story in about a fortnight.
William Kidd was the son of a minister in Greenock and was born around 1645. He emigrated to New York and married there, earning his living as a sea captain and a trader in the Caribbean. He successfully defended American and English trade routes in the 1690s in the war between France and England.
In 1695 Kidd sailed to London where he obtained a royal commission to act as a privateer against pirates in the Indian Ocean, operating from bases in Madagascar. Reports came back to England, however, that he was attacking merchant ships as well as pirates.
After capturing the fully laden “Quedah Merchant” with cargo worth over $100,000 he returned to Hispaniola (now Haiti). He was offered a pardon for his surrender and he sailed to Boston. He was treacherously captured and taken to London. In a rigged trial, with little real evidence and despite his claim that his crew had mutinied and he had no alternative but to join them, he was found guilty and hanged. The treasure from the “Quedah Merchant” has never been found.
Since pirate fever has broken out at the moment and many children will be hoisting their black flags on the beach again this summer for fun, the question actually arises as to where the Jolly Roger actually comes from ? the pirate symbol par excellence. The so-called Golden Age of Piracy (c. 1650- 1725) was mainly concentrated in the Caribbean and its treasure routes. The area was not only suitable because of the routes but also because of the numerous hiding places for the pirates and the fact that many nations in these regions often fought each other for dominance. After 1716, the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, the pirates saw a lot of growth as many sailors and also decommissioned privateers did not know where to go and hoped for a free, non-governmental life with a nice extra income, especially attracted by glorifying stories about pirates like Henry Morgan, Calico Jack Rackham, Edward Blackbeard Teach or Bartholomew Black Bart Roberts who led this supposedly glorious life under the black flag.
A genuine skull-and-crossbones pirate ship flag from the 1700s, from the Barbary Coast (x)
The earliest mention of a black flag was in July 1700, when HMS Poole was chasing a pirate ship off the Cape Verde Islands and her captain saw a flag in black with a skull, cross bones and an hourglass. In Charles Johnson’s A General History of Pyrates (1724), he also describes the various black and red flags with different designs, such as skulls, whole skeletons, crossbones, hourglasses, bleeding hearts and cutlasses. He is also the one who used the name Jolly Roger, even though he was probably not the original name giver. The name probably comes from the initially red flags, which were called joli rouge (pretty red) in French. But why were there two colours of flags? The black one meant surrender now and we might spare your life. The red meant there was no mercy.
Flag of Calico Jack Rackham (* 1682; † 1720) - Flag of Emanuel Wynnes (late 17th c., early 18th c.)- Flag of Henry Every (* 1653; † 1696)- Flag of Edward Blackbeard Teach (* 1680; † 1718) (x)
It is generally accepted that the red flag came first. This is supported by the fact that until the emergence of piracy in the 16th and 17th centuries, the red flag was considered a quarantine flag and meant “Beware, we may have a disease on board that will kill anyone who approaches us.” And deadly on approach was what the pirates wanted. Moreover, in almost every seafaring nation in the 17th century, the quarantine flag was given a swallow’s tail, according to the thesis, therefore, to avoid confusion with pirates. In any case, the British navy forbade the flying of exclusively red flags in the Arabian Sea, ships with such flags were treated as pirates; that is why the flags of Bahrain and Qatar still have their jagged shape today. In 1694, the Admiralty had ordered British privateers to fly the red flag. And after the war with Spain, as mentioned above, many of the former privateers switched to the side of the pirates, but kept their red flags.
Flag of Thomas Tews († 1695)- Flag of Stede Bonnets (* 1688; † 1718)- Flag of Edward of England († 1720)- Flag of Bartholomew Black Bart Roberts (* 1682; † 1722) (x)
The black flag is said to have been first flown by Clico Jack Rackham in 1700, but it is also said to have been flown by the Breton pirate Emanuel Wynne, who used the classic motif around 1700. Henry Every also had one with a skull looking to the right, wearing a bandana and an earring, but this was probably a 19th century creation, so his being considered the first Jolly Roger is questionable.
Flag of William Billy One-Hand Condon (* 17th century; † 18th century)- Flag of Christopher Moody (*1694- † 1722)- Flag of Edward Ned Low (* 1690- † possibly 1724 in Martinique by execution)- Flag of John Philips ( † 1724) (x)
There was no fixed design for the flags, they were all different in their own way and directly adapted to the pirate they ascribed to, although the motif of the skull and cross bones appeared more frequently. Which is a classic memento mori symbol to remind us that we are mortal, which is fitting, because ultimately the lives of the victims were now in the hands of the pirates. There is a theory that the black flag completely replaced the red flag, but it is more likely that both were used at the same time and were flown at the whim of the captain.
In the end, everyone knew that whether the flag was red or black, they were in big trouble and most of the Merchantvessels could only hope that a warship was nearby to help them.
Whiledead reckoning, as practised by a skilled master, could chart a ship’s position with reasonable accuracy, the longer a voyage and the greater the disatance from known land-or seamarks, the less accurate it became; in addition, the effects of, say a severe storm could make it almost impossible to re-establish a ship’s position with any certainty. As a result, officers were also trained in celestial navigation, the principles of which were based on the obsavation of moving bodies- the sun, moon and planets- relative to fixed ones- the stars. Sine for centuries astronomers had been observing and mappin the positions and movements of heavenly bodies, there was a substanial body of information available. Celestial navigation depended mainly upon measuring the angle of the sun relative to the horizon, and for this purpose a sighting would be taken each day at noon with an octant or sextant. With the observation of the height of the sun above the horizon at noon, a ship’s latitude could be determined; by comparing the local noontime with noon at Greenwich ( the 0- degree meridian), longitude could also be worked out.
The latter measurement, however, depended upon the ship having an accurate timepiece unaffected by changes in temperatur, humidity, or other local effects, or by movement of the ship. The octant or sextant sightings were compared with information in the Nautical Almanac, published annually 1765, which contained astronomical data that allowed officers to adjust their readings for time of year, area of the world, and so on, so increasing the accuracy of navigation. Celestial navigation was certainly more accurate than dead reckoning, but was at the mercy of the weather, since if the sun was obscured by cloud no octant or sextant sighting could be taken, although it was also possible to take sightings and calculations from the moon, in combination with dead reckoning, however, it was possible for ships to be navigated with some accuracy when out of sight of land and even at considerable distances from their starting points.
Henry Grace à Dieu was launched on this day in history, 13 June 1514. Also known as ‘Great Harry,’ Henry Grace à Dieu was an English carrack of the King’s Fleet in the 16th century. She had the high forecastle, typical of English carracks of the period, and at 50 meters (165 ft) long, weighing 1,000–1,500 tons and having a complement of 700–1,000 men, she was one of the largest warships in medieval Europe.
Apologies for the paucity of updates to the British History Tumblr, everyone. Life has gotten busy and I’ve had to narrow the focus of my side projects, which means that I’m currently focusing on The Maritime History Podcast only. At the moment, though, I’m close to being finished with a guest episode for The History of England. The episode will cover the naval exploits of Henry V, so if you’re curious, check out the ‘Time Team’ episode above to get an idea of what we’ll cover in the near future! Stay tuned for updates, and please connect with The Maritime History Podcast here on Tumblr, on Facebook, or on the website to join our crew! Heck, why not even subscribe on iTunestoo!
The Entrance Of The Russian Fleet Into Toulon Harbour, October 1893.
13 October 1893. The Russian Mediterranean squadron sailed into the port of Toulon under the flag of Rear Admiral Fedor Avelan to fanfare and ceremony reported across the globe. The French military squadron had visited the Russian base at Kronstadt two years previously, and this reciprocal event in Toulon marked a key moment in the rapprochement between the two countries, helping to forge the vital Franco-Russian alliance that was under negotiation at the time. Since his ascension to the throne, Alexander III had been determined to strengthen the Russian fleet and doubled its annual allocation to over 50 million roubles, which in terms of sheer combat power allowed Russia to close the gap with the British and French navies by the turn of the century.
Over 300,000 people flocked to Toulon to attend the festivities and glimpse the Russian sailors, thousands sleeping in the city’s parks or sailing into the harbour in small launches and yachts to circle the ironclads. Grand balls, luncheons, speeches and processions were held for the Russian officers in both Toulon and Paris; a commemorative medal was struck and Avelan was presented with numerous formal gifts includinga beautiful leather-bound book Le livre d'or produced by artisans from Lorraine and an inlaid table by Emile Gallé.
According to contemporary newspaper reports, cries of ’Vive la Russie! Vive le Czar!’ filled the air and Russian flags, prints, trinkets and souvenirs filled the capital’s streets. As Tolstoy drily noted: ‘It happened that not only the men who ate, drank, and talked, but even those who were not present, hearing and reading of it in newspapers - all these millions of Russians and Frenchmen - suddenly imagined that they were somehow particularly in love with one another. All the French loved all the Russians, and all the Russians loved all the French’.
The Wrightson and Isabella of Sunderland was a merchant collier with a small crew of eight men (five sailors and three boys) and a small armament (four guns and two swivels) engaged in the North Sea trade and commanded by Captain Richard Avery Hornsby (1699-1751). On 13 June 1744 Hornsby arrived off the Dutch coast at the Hague, along with three smaller ships with which he had sailed in convoy from Norfolk to unload his cargo of malt and barley.
When the Isabella arrived, there were numerous fishing boats offshore, among which the Marquis de Brancas, was hiding. It was a larger ship under the command of a Captain André she was a French privateer, with a crew of 75 men, ten guns, and eight swivels, besides 300 small arms. As the others in the convoy had quickly scattered, she had chosen the Isabella as her prey. Like any privateer, André was of course intent on capturing a valuable prize rather than destroying it, and his first attack on the Isabella was with small arms only.
Hornsby’s answer was his swivel guns, with which he twice managed to prevent the French from boarding the ship on the port side. The French kept trying to board the small ship, but failed again and again until he succeeded. However, the 7 fought to the death, beating Frenchman after Frenchman. Andre had to send new men again and again, and once they had taken cover behind the main mast when Hornsby fired on them again with his blunderbuss. He had not realised that it had been double-loaded in the heat of battle, and when he fired, the weapon burst, throwing him to the ground, wounded but still defiant. As boarding proved too costly, Captain André pulled his men back aboard the Brancas and broke off, apparently more determined to destroy - and take revenge - than to capture a prize. Another distant gun battle ensued, hitting the Brancas on her waterline and forcing her to pause for repairs. The Isabella, barely able to swim, also received a quick repair, for it was too late to escape. The spectacle, which took place near the coast, quickly became a crowd puller.
After the leak was stopped, the Brancas returned to give the crippled Isabella her coup de grace. She crossed under the stern of the Isabella and exposed her to a volley of small arms fire, a musket ball hitting Hornsby on the temple. He bled profusely but was otherwise not seriously wounded. Brancas now fired three broadsides at the Isabella, but was driven off by another lucky hit from the waterline. A hurried repair was all that was needed to get the ship moving again - another five broadsides were fired into the Isabella’s hull, and André again demanded that Hornsby surrender at last. When his demand was refused, he ordered his men to bring Brancas alongside to board another ship, which they refused. They had had enough and André had no choice but to break off the fight after 7 hours.
Not this event here, but it shows what it might have looked like- A View of His Majesty’s Brigg Observer, Commanded by Lieut. John Crymes (to whom this print is inscribed) Engaging the American Privateer Ship Jack, John Ropes (commander), by Night on the 29th of May 1782, Off the Harbour of Hallifax, Nova Scotia”. Aquatint by Robert Dodd, 1784, by Robert Dodd (x)
The Isabella fired one last time and made the hit of all hits. The shot went through the weakened hull and hit the magazine. The gunpowder inside exploded and in a huge fireball it tore the Privateer apart, ultimately saving only three survivors. The crew of the Isabella, themselves badly damaged, crawled to the shore and were taken care of.
The courage of Hornsby and his crew was deservedly recognised. Three months later, at Kensington Palace, King George II presented him with a gold medal and chain worth £100, while each of his crew members - who apparently all survived - was awarded £5 each, though the boys were awarded £2.
Hornsby, however, lived only seven more years and died at sea after a long illness.
||| Summary ||| Afro Solo UK is the result of two years research of the African diaspora of Greater Manchester. Each life story is an act of remembrance, a celebration and in some cases a reconciliation. They provide a legacy and are a declaration that this community will never again be overlooked.
||| Contents ||| Part One: Foreword: Dr Hakim Adi Intro: SuAndi Life Stories
Part Two: From ‘Slavepool’ by Eugene Lange Aka Muhammad Khalil Afro Ville in conversation with Steve Cottier Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre and Education Trust Imperial War Museum North Mix-D Museum Remembering Africans of Manchester, Tutu Foundation Memorial Service Research Appendix Partners Information
In 1945, the Japanese battleship Yamatowent to the bottom of the East China Sea. As it was a surface ship and not a submarine, this was not part of the ship’s normal mission profile.
By April 1945, the Japanese were clearly losing their war against the US. Backed against a wall, they examined their options and decided that surrender to the overwhelmingly powerful foe was the only option.
Hahahahaha no. That’s not how people work. They got more desperate and cooked up crazier and crazier schemes. In this one, known as operation Ten-Go, they decided to sortie the Yamato–one of the two largest battleships ever built–one light cruiser, and eight destroyers against the American landings at Okinawa. The “plan” was to fight their way through the American fleet, beach the battleship on Okinawa, use its main 18.1 inch gun batteries as static artillery, and have the surviving crew join the Japanese ground forces once the big guns ran out of ammo.
So, yeah. Some real Sun Tzu shit here.
You may notice a distinct lack of aircraft carriers in the Japanese line of battle. That’s because they had all been sent to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean by American airplanes and submarines prior to April 1945. So the Yamatosailed into battle with no air cover whatsoever.
The ship went up against an American fleet that included six battleships, ELEVEN aircraft carriers, the same number of heavy cruisers, and about three dozen destroyers.
As you may guess, the Yamato’schances for success in its mission were, to put it mildly, slim.
Starting at mid-day on April 7, the Japanese fleet was subjected to several waves of air attack. The US pilots, noting that there were zero (ha ha) fighters accompanying the Japanese ships, had the unusual luxury of forming up and attacking at will. All of the torpedo planes attacked from the big ship’s port side (if all of the below-the-waterline openings are on one side, a ship runs far greater risk of capsizing than if the breaches are on either side). Dive bombers ranged at will over the doomed fleet. Finally, near 2:30 in the afternoon, after at least 11 torpedo and 6 bomb hits, the ship heeled over and sank. Of the accompanying ships, the light cruiser and four destroyers were also sent to the ocean floor. Somewhere around 4000 sailors died in the operation.
American losses amounted to ten destroyed airplanes and 12 dead aircrew.
