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The Royal Navy Archive

Social Politics and the Midshipmen’s Mutiny, Portsmouth 1791

In 1791 Thomas Leonard, a midshipman assigned to duty aboard HMS Saturn, refused to subject himself to the masthead punishment ordered by his First Lieutenant and triggered a series of events that came to be known as the Midshipmen’s Mutiny. The incident involved the young gentlemen of the Channel Fleet and made visible a break [...]
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The Capture of Mauritius in 1810 vs. The Mauritius Command

As Patrick O’Brian states in the introduction to that book, the events described in The Mauritius Command are closely based on fact. Just how closely is apparent from the following excerpts from part 5 of W.L. Clowes’ The Royal Navy. Peter Davis has helpfully added reference numbers to the novel in [..] (not sure which [...]
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The Wretched Prison Ships

This article addresses a subject a bit before our time, but one that applies to our beloved series nonetheless. Many Napoleonic-Era prisoners of war were held in prison ships, and I cannot imagine that in the 30 years between the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic Wars conditions changed much! I suppose Jack and [...]
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A Brief History of Navigation in the 18th Century

Two major developments in the 18th century vastly improved navigation: the solution to the problem of finding longitude and the improved availability of printed guides and charts. But navigation tools for dead reckoning and piloting were not to improve until the 1900s. Guides for the Navigator The eighteenth century saw major improvements in publications for [...]
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Patrick O’Brian Cruise

I came across this information recently and thought I would share it, just on the off-chance any of you happen to be obscenely wealthy (in which case I congratulate you). The Annemarie Victory Organization specializes in luxury cruises and tours, often organized around a specific theme. One of their upcoming cruises takes place on a [...]
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The Continental Navy

Americans first took up arms in the spring of 1775 not to sever their relationship with the king, but to defend their rights within the British Empire. By the autumn of 1775, the British North American colonies from Maine to Georgia were in open rebellion. Royal governments had been thrust out of many colonial capitals [...]
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Education and Leadership in Cinema: Master and Commander

We have already discussed Jack Aubrey’s skills and characteristics as a leader as well as the potential educational value of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, but the following guide takes those two concepts and combines them! It’s very exciting. The guide is meant to be used in training firefighters in the [...]
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The Strategic Failure of French Privateering

Clearly French privateering during the Revolutionary period failed in its perceived strategy: to cripple British marine trade.
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Impressment and the British Merchant Service

An explanation to the discussion of the potential effects of the Impress on the skilled labor force of the British merchant marine.
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British Naval Supremacy: Some Factors Newly Considered

“As for a man-of-war, it is either an autocracy or it is nothing, nothing at all – mere nonsense. You saw what happened to the poor French navy at the beginning of the Revolutionary War…” – Jack Aubrey to Stephen Maturin, The Yellow Admiral British Naval Supremacy: Some Factors Newly Considered By Mitch Williamson Strategic [...]
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All To Seek: Cross-Reference

Subjects Commonly Addressed