1798 Archive

  • The Sea Fencibles (1798-1802 and 1803-1810)

    The Sea Fencibles (1798-1802 and 1803-1810)

    “I can hold out no hope of a ship. However, there may be some slight possibility in the Sea-Fencibles or the Impress Service: we are extending both, and they call for active, enterprising men.” They also called for solvent men, seeing that they were landborne posts: comfort-loving men, devoid of ambition or tired of the sea, willing to [...]

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  • Royal Navy Uniforms: Lord Nelson Album

    Royal Navy Uniforms: Lord Nelson Album

    Lord Nelson’s reputation as one of the greatest naval minds of the Napoleonic Era is not a modern invention. He was considered a hero during his lifetime, long before Trafalgar, to the extent that many of his personal effects “attained the status of relics” while he was alive. For this reason, many of those personal [...]

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  • Full Nelson: Patrick O’Brian’s Take on the Battle of the Nile

    Full Nelson: Patrick O’Brian’s Take on the Battle of the Nile

    O’Brian wrote this short piece, included in the first of the New York Times Magazine’s six millennium issues. It appeared among a page of “The Best” written by a score of other notable writers. O’Brian’s department is “Best Naval Battle.” It is, perhaps, the last thing he published while alive. These last 1,000 years have [...]

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  • The Rising of the United Irishmen

    The Rising of the United Irishmen

    “I cannot, by any possible energy of words, express to you the blundering, the delay, the murderous confusion and the stupidity of it all. It accomplished nothing; it delayed independence for a hundred years; it sowed hatred and violence; it spawned out a vile race of informers…” – Stephen Maturin to James Dillon, Master and [...]

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  • Nelson’s Report of the Battle of the Nile

    Nelson’s Report of the Battle of the Nile

    Vanguard, off the Mouth of the Nile, 3 August 1798 My Lord, Almighty God has blessed his Majesty’s Arms in the late Battle, by a great Victory over the Fleet of the Enemy, who I attacked at sunset on the 1st of August, off the Mouth of the Nile. The Enemy were moored in a [...]

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  • Napoleon’s Letter to Admiral Brueys’ Widow

    Napoleon’s Letter to Admiral Brueys’ Widow

    Cairo, August 19, 1798 Your husband was killed by a cannonball while fighting on board his ship. He died honourably, and without suffering, as every soldier would wish to die. Your sorrow touches me to the quick. It is a dreadful moment when we are parted from one we love. It shuts us off from [...]

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  • French Order of Battle at the Nile

    French Order of Battle at the Nile

    August 1, 1798 Ship Guns Men Captain Aquilon 74 700 H. A.Thevenard Artemise 40 250 P. J. Standelet Conquerant 74 700 S Dalbarade Diane 40 300 E. J. N. Solen Rear Admiral Descres Franklin 80 800 M. Gilet Rear Admiral A Blanquet de Chayla Genereux 74 700 CaptainLe Joille Geurrier 74 700 J.F.T Trullet Guillaume [...]

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  • British Order of Battle at the Nile

    British Order of Battle at the Nile

    August 1, 1798 Ship Guns Men Captain Alexander 74 590 Alexander Ball Audacious 74 590 Davidge Gould Bellerophon 74 590 Henry d’Esterre Darby Culloden 74 590 Thomas Troubridge Defence 74 590 John Payton Goliath 74 590 Thomas Foley Leander 50 343 Thomas Thompson Majestic 74 590 George Westcott Minotaur 74 595 Thomas Louis Mutine 16 [...]

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  • 08.01.1798 The Battle of the Nile

    08.01.1798 The Battle of the Nile

    The Battle of the Nile, which took place on August 1, 1798,  was one of the early defining events of England’s war with France. It was also one of the early defining events of Jack Aubrey’s life. Over the course of the series, he mentions his participation in the battle many times, and he often [...]

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