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The History Archive

The Two Greatest Uses of Trash Talk in the History of (Naval) Warfare

As I’ve mentioned a few times (here, here, here and here), I’m a huge fan of Cracked.com. I love them because they’re hilarious, but also because they seem to have three or four people on staff dedicated solely to writing historically themed articles, and those three or four people always manage to inform me about things I didn’t [...]
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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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Eyewitness Account of the Siege of Gibralter (Never Before Published)

The following is a newly translated and never before published (in English and/or in the last century, anyway) set of letters describing the Siege of Gibralter from the Devon Records Office. Very exciting Ref No: 346M/F/160 – 1782 – ‘Noticias de Europa y America’, manuscript book in Spanish describing the siege of Gibraltar Letter written in [...]
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An Overview of The Great Siege of Gibralter

The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the American War of Independence. This was the largest action fought during the war in terms of numbers, particularly the Grand Assault of 18 September 1782. It was the longest siege endured by the British [...]
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The 7 Most Terrifying Pirates From History

As I’ve mentioned a few times (here, here and here), I’m a huge fan of Cracked.com. I love them because they’re hilarious, but also because they seem to have three or four people on staff dedicated solely to writing historically themed articles, and those three or four people always manage to inform me about things [...]
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The Real Stephen Maturin?

It’s no secret that POB drew inspiration from history for many of the characters and plots that make our beloved series so amazing. Jack Aubrey, for example, is pretty clearly inspired by Thomas Cochrane, and that’s just the easiest one to spot. But Stephen Maturin is such a quirky character, it’s hard to imagine any [...]
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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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The Lure of Gold and Spanish Treasure Fleets

In May 2007 the American salvage and treasure hunting company, Odyssey Marine, found the Spanish treasure ship the Nuestra Señora de la Mercedes off the coast of Portugal and took from it 17 tons of silver bullion. She had sunk in 1804 following a battle between English ships and a Spanish treasure fleet of four [...]
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Eyewitness Accounts of the Hamilton/Burr Duel

Throughout the course of our beloved series, Stephen fights several duels and almost fights several more. He is by no means abnormal for his time; gentlemen of his era often felt the only way to defend their honor was to shoot someone over it. One of the most famous historical duels was that between Alexander [...]
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All To Seek: Cross-Reference

Subjects Commonly Addressed