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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 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 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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American Warships of the Age of Sail

Navies are born out of a spirit of independence and under the threat of war, nurtured into maturity by the urgent demands of defense and sharpened by conflict. So it was with the first American Navy. The story of American ships and sailors is an epic of blue water which seems singularly remote, almost unreal, [...]
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Historical Shipwrecks: HMS Cerberus & HMS Orpheus Gallery

The Historical Shipwrecks album is dedicated to pictures of artifacts from shipwrecks relevant to our period. The first addition is this gallery of images relating to the HMS Cerberus and HMS Orpheus. On 29 July 1778, a French fleet under Admiral Comte d’Estaing arrived in Narragansett Bay as allies of the Americans in their war [...]
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A Birthday Timeline of the United States Navy

The official birthday of the United States Navy is October 13, 1775, which means it turned 235 last week. America’s naval history dates all the way back to the pilgrims who first settled the New World; after all, they had to get there somehow. As a colony of England, maritime commerce was of primary importance. [...]
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Napoleonic Era Naval Tactics (4/5): Marines in the Fighting Tops

In the earlier form of ships the top was a species of crows nest placed at the head of the mast to hold a look-out, or in military operations to give a place of advantage to archers and slingers. They appear occasionally as mere bags attached to one side of the mast. As a general [...]
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All To Seek: Cross-Reference

Subjects Commonly Addressed