Anteros

This week has been taken up almost entirely with work, however the postman has been very good to me. I treated myself to copies of Amber Butchart's Nautical Chic, which I've mentioned here before, and James Davey's Broadsides: Caricature and the Navy 1756 - 1815, the companion book to the recent exhibition at the National Maritime Museum.

As an extra unexpected surprise I also got these fabulous cushion covers as a late Christmas / early birthday present from the equally fabulous nodbear :) As you can see, the camera on my phone has completely lost the will to focus, but if you squint you might recognise that beautiful ship as the Grand Turk aka HMS Indefatigable from the Hornblower series.

In an ideal world I would be spending the weekend wearing something chic while lounging on my nautical cushions and reading my new books. In actual fact I have spent most of the weekend so far doing laundry! However I did have a quick flick through Nautical Chic and was chuffed silly to discover that I have a small credit in the acknowledgements as a "naval twitterstorian". Awww shucks! :}

Here's a sight that would have been awfully familiar to Ned Pellew and the rest of the Indyboys, though perhaps not from this angle! The Tall Ships Regatta is in Falmouth this weekend and on Friday the Falmouth Maritime Museum tweeted this stunning picture taken by the Devon and Cornwall Police. Doesn't it look gorgeous? I wonder if this is what Falmouth looked like when the Western Squadron was at home?



The ships are leaving Falmouth today to cruise in company along the south coast and up the Thames to Royal Greenwich. Won't that be a sight to behold! I wish I could see them :}

Earlier this week nodbear and I were in Portsmouth to do our research seminar at the National Museum of the Royal Navy. We've presented several conference papers already on various aspects of our research but this was our first opportunity to present a broad overview of all nineteen* of the Indefatigable's young gentlemen. The start of our presentation was delayed slightly by a meeting of the Victory Committee which was taking place in the Princess Royal Gallery immediately prior to our talk. Our host at the museum remarked dryly that meetings full of retired admirals always over run as they can never agree anything :} However as the Museum had generously provided plenty of wine to entertain our audience, no one was complaining. Least of all us!

The seminar itself went well, we had a good turn out and had lots of interesting questions. Without a doubt the highlight of the evening was having three descendants of the Indefatigable's midshipmen present in the room. We were expecting two descendants of Thomas Groube, who had travelled all the way from New Zealand to Portsmouth, but we were delighted to unexpectedly have a descendant of John Thomson and the Pellew family present too.

Afterwards we had dinner at The Ship Anson and sat outside the dockyard gate watching the world going by on The Hard. It was perfect! And I think we took another small step forward in bringing the incredible lives of the midshipmen of HMS Indefatigable to a wider audience :)



* We didn't mention Horatio and Archie this time, but they were there in our hearts.

Tonight marks the anniversary of the Droits de L’Homme engagement when Captains Sir Edward Pellew and Robert Carthew Reynolds in the frigates Indefatigable and Amazon took on Commodore Raymond de Lacrosse’s 74 gun ship of the line, Les Droits de L’Homme, and ran her into the surf off Hodierne Bay.



Vaisseau Droits de l’Homme by Leopold le Guen
nodbear and I have posted several accounts of this action over the years, but we were very excited to discover this “new” version of the engagement in Devon Records Office last week. This account is written by Edward Hawke Locker who served as Lord Exmouth’s secretary later in his career and the document is edited by Exmouth’s son George Pellew, Dean of Norwich. Neither Locker nor George Pellew were seamen and there are several slips and inaccuracies in the document that betray their lack of knowledge of the engagements they are describing. The final version of this account, which has been altered substantially from this draft, was published in the United Service Journal in 1833 in an article titled “Memoirs of the Services of Admiral Lord Viscount Exmouth, G.C.B., Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom”.

Sir Edward fell in with Les Droits de L’Homme a French 80 gun ship filled with troops returning from the expedition to Ireland, and steering for Brest Harbour which was then 30 or 40 leagues distant – Sir Edward running along side the chase closely engaged her for some time until he unavoidably shot ahead, and the Amazon shortly afterward following his example found herself similarly circumstanced - Having quickly shortened sail, the 2 frigates placed themselves on either side of their gigantic foe and with but a few interruptions from the cause already stated, continued the contest with unabated energy during the whole night, the men being often knee deep in water as they stood to their guns which they were obliged repeatedly to draw without firing – Meanwhile the enemy defended herself obstinately against her tenacious assailants, where fire had reduced her masts & spars almost to a wreck, and had committed great havoc among her crew still however she would not surrender but continued running blindly before the Gale with awful rapidity.

At this period Sir Edwd who, dreading the proximity of the iron bound coast of France, had dictated the strictest lookout to be kept, was informed of the appearance of land right ahead and almost about the same moment, of breakers close under the lee bow. This was one of those critical situations where the value of a clear cool head and firm heart is beyond all price – Not a moment was to be lost - Signals were made to the Amazon and both frigates instantly hauled off on different tacks. Almost immediately afterwards their brave enemy was descried lying on her beam ends amongst the rocks where, dreadful to relate, her whole crew consisting of 1600 persons perished - In her headlong rush for Brest Harbour she had missed her mark and gone ashore in Hodierne Bay – Nor was Sir Edwards situation when day dawned much to be preferred - a gale of wind - a dead lee shore, and an enemy’s at that – a crippled ship – an exhausted crew and the Penmark Rocks, that dread of seamen, to be weathered - these were the difficulties which presented themselves to him as the day dawned. By the ablest seamanship however and by the exertions as are only made when life depends on it they were all providentially surmounted and the Indefatigable reached Plymouth in safety – Her consort was not so fortunate – The next advices from France brought news that the brave Reynolds, failing to beat out of the bay, had been driven shore and was a prisoner with all his crew.

Back in September when we went camping down in Galloway I went to visit a tiny little town called Garlieston, where one of the Indefatigable's midshipmen John McKerlie lived for some time after the left the navy at the end of the Napoleonic wars. The day I visited I was lucky enough to catch a guided walk by historian Lucy Inglis, on the Georgian architecture of the town. The event was part of the Wigtown Book Festival and what made it all the more interesting was that several local residents came along and chipped in additional details about the history of the town and its buildings.



South Crescent and Bowling Green
( Georgian Garlieston )

Last week Kent Online (no, I'd never heard of it before either) posted a rather nice story about the restoration of the Arethusa figurehead which stands outside the Arethusa Venture Centre in Kent. The figurehead originally belonged to HMS Arethusa which was launched in 1849 and had the disinction of being the last British naval vessel to go into battle under sail alone. After the ship was decomissioned she was given to a charity to provide refuge and schooling to children who had been sleeping rough on the streets of London and to train them for careers in the Royal and Merchant Navies. The ship was based at Lower Upnor on the Medway, where she remained in service until 1932 when the she was broken up, though her figurehead was. Apparently the figurehead had recently been damaged by a wasp attack (eh?!) and was restored with funds riased by members of the Arethusa Old Boys Association, who had formerly trained on the ship.

Of course this particular Arethusa is just one of many ships of that name commissioned by the Royal Navy. Wikipedia lists nine HMS Arethusas, commissioned between 1759 and 1963. The penultimate Arethusa was a 26 gun light cruiser that participated in the D-Day landings 69 years ago this month when she was part of the force that arrived off Sword Beach.

One of the most famous Arethusas of the sailing navy was the 38 gun Minerva class fifth rate frigate launched in 1781 and briefly captained by Sir Edward Pellew between 1794 and 1795. Pellew had enormous success with the Arethusa and, together with Sir John Borlase Warren's detached squadron, participated in the capture of the French frigates Babette, Pomone and Revolutionnaire. The Arethusa's success was commemorated by the popular ballad, "On Board of the Arethusa" (now often known as "The Saucy Arethusa") and a caricature by George Cruikshank, which showed the "Harryzuthers" celebrating, and squandering, their prize money.


Pellew's success with the Arethusa earned him both prize money and naval laurels and gained him sufficient credit with the Admiralty to enable him to effectively choose his next command. Pellew might have sought promotion to a ship of the line, but instead he requested an untested razee frigate that had previously sat on her blocks for ten years before being cut down from a 64 gun fourth rate to a 44 gun frigate. Lord Chatham, First Lord of the Admiralty, responded to Pellew's request as follows:

With respect to your wishes of going into the Indefatigable, I shall have great pleasure in meeting them, and this circumstance will occasion no change in your destination. I am sorry that the Arethusa has not answered in point of sailing, as I had expected her to have been among the best.

Pellew got his Indefatigable and the rest, as they say, is history :)

PS If you're interested, in Greek mythology, Arethusa was a Nereid or water nymphe, who was transformed into a cloud, a river and finally a fountain by the goddess Artemis while fleeing from the river god Alpheus.

My sister sent me these pictures of a rather unusual corvette that sailed into Stornoway harbour a few days after I left. It's a Visby class stealth corvette belonging to the Swedish Royal Navy and it was in the Hebrides taking part in a major naval and military exercise. Apparently the hull is made of PVC, carbon fire and vinyl laminate and the flat surfaces and synthetic construction are designed to give the ship a low magnetic and radar signature. What ever it is, it's an odd looking beastie!


I wonder what Sir Edward would have made of this? It looks a bit different from the corvettes that took on the Indy in The Even Chance. Mind you, given that they would also have had a "low magnetic signature", I think they could reasonably be classed as stealth corvettes too!

Ahem. nodbear and I are delighted to have had another paper on the Indyboys accepted for a conference. This time it’s the Port Towns and Urban Cultures Conference run by the University of Portsmouth and the National Museum of the Royal Navy. The conference takes place at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in July and includes a reception on the Victory. Can we squee? Yes? Squeeeeee!

Conference blurb as follows:

The increasing interest in ‘coastal and Atlantic histories’ have drawn historians’ attention to the importance of port towns. The waterfront was the intersection of maritime and urban space and the port town was often a unique site of cultural exchange that both reinforced and challenged local, national and imperial boundaries. This three day conference, organised by the University of Portsmouth and the National Museum of the Royal Navy and to be held in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard, will bring together scholars from around the globe who work on maritime and urban histories.

Themes include:

• Transnational sailortowns – regional, national and imperial boundaries and identities
  
• Empires and Imperialism
  
• Material cultures of sailor life
  
• Naval ports and their cultural impact on the urban hinterland
  
• Representations of port towns through history and heritage
  
• Sailors as political icons and social actors
  
• Crime and disorder
  
• Popular culture and leisure
  
• Civic culture and Urban elites
  
• The three fleets – navy, fisheries and cargo – interactions between the local and global
  
• Maritime and port town folklore

We submitted a proposal called “A life of duty and service: Post-war political and social activism of Napoleonic era naval officers” on the theme of “Sailors as political icons and social actors”. We’ll be talking about the three of the Indefatigable’s midshipmen, the Hon George Cadogan, Sir Henry Hart and Thomas Groube and will focus on how these officers carried the experience they gained during their naval service into the post war period and continued to serve in public offices and charitable institutions in the towns and cities where they built their civilian lives.

We know that the conference organisers had a really good response to the call for proposals so we’re pretty chuffed to have had our paper accepted :)

If there's been a theme to this year's Christmas it has undoubtedly been....rum :} Partner bought me a miniature of The Black Tot, the last consignment of Royal Naval rum that I posted about earlier in the year, and my BFF got me a bottle of Sailor Jerry rum and two very extravagant (and huge!) hand blown cocktail glasses. It would have been rude not to christen the glasses so we spent Christmas evening making rum cocktails and playing whist with BFF and her husband. Hornblower would have been proud of us :) Due to lack of obscure ingredients we ended up inventing our own cocktail, so BFF insisted on giving it a name and suggested calling it after "that ship you're writing about". And so The Indy cocktail was born and here for the record is the recipe!

~~The Indy~~ 2.5 parts Sailor Jerry 1 part Cointreau 1 part lime juice 0.5 parts Amaretto Shake with ice and garnish with a twist of orange peel. Enjoy!

Be warned, these things have quite a kick. I was a bit fuzzy round the edges this morning :} In order to work off the fuzziness we went to see John Barrowman strutting his stuff in the panto. He was fabulous as always but was very nearly upstaged by a very beautiful and very clever performing horse!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a thoroughly lazy boxing day!

Ahem. nodbear and I have a wee announcement. Despite the fact that we are really just a pair of disreputable fangirls, astonishingly, we have been commissioned to write a book about the young gentlemen of HMS Indefatigable. Following our presentation at the New Researchers in Maritime History conference earlier this year, we were approached by the academic publisher Boydell and Brewer who expressed an interest in publishing our researcher. We've spent the last six months drawing up a proposal, which has now been approved by an academic reviewer and accepted by the publisher's editorial committee. So this weekend I went down to nodbear's to sign the contract :)

The current title of the book is a bit of a mouthful:

Naval Careers in the Napoleonic Wars - Hornblower's Real-Life Shipmates
The Lives of the Young Gentlemen of Pellew's Indefatigable
As an academic publisher, Boydell and Brewer's main criteria for their titles is that their subject matter will be immediately obvious to librarians and indexers! Hence the catchy "Naval Careers in the Napoleonic Wars" bit ;) We originally made no mention of Hornblower in our proposal and were surprised and very, very chuffed, when the academic reviewer suggested including Hornblower in the title. It also gives us a legitimate excuse to try and get a picture of Horatio and Archie into the book! :D

We now have two years to complete our research and write the book, and it will probably take another 18 months before it's published. So if we meet all our deadlines, we should be in print by....summer 2016. So don't hold your breath :} Also because we're signed up to an academic publisher, they will produce a vanishingly small hardback print run with an astronomical cover price. There's no such thing as advances in academic publishing, the royalties are minuscule and we have to cover all image licensing and indexing costs ourselves. That aside, we're over the moon about this and still can't quite believe that we've managed to pass ourselves off as "proper" naval historians.

So, huge thanks to everyone here who has already been so encouraging and enthusiastic about our research, we would never have got this far without the support of all you wonderful AoS fans. Wish us luck, in fact, wish us Ned's own luck!