Admiral Collingwood
Page 30
Source notes
INTRODUCTION
The Collingwood touch
1 William Henry Smyth’s map of 1813: Museum of Military History, Es Castell, Menorca
2 Obituary: Naval Chronicle xxiii: 350ff
3 Biographical sketch: Naval Chronicle xxiii: 380
4 ‘Sam’, Trafalgar: the view from the lower deck, quoted by Lewis 2001: 171
5 Collingwood first mentions a dog in 1790. The distinguished naval biographer Oliver Warner was of the opinion that this dog, and Bounce, who died in 1809, could not be the same; there is no conclusive evidence either way
6 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 429
7 Collingwood unselfishly promoted Clavell to a command in March 1806, so losing his most valuable lieutenant
8 Hope-Dodds and Hall 1954: note
9 Collingwood to Rear-Admiral Purvis (February 1809) Hughes 170, Ocean, Malta
10 Newnham-Collingwood 1828:4 12
11 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 567
12 Gregory 1990:158
13 Collingwood to his sister (Jan 1806) Hughes 98
14 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 570
15 George Price, The Youth’s Instructor, quoted by Warner 1968:249
16 Collingwood to Mrs Stead (April 1809) Hughes 174, Ville de Paris
17 Collingwood to John Davidson (June 1807) Hughes 129, Ocean
18 Newnham-Collingwood: i, 53. This edition, the fifth, was published in two volumes, and contains a number of additional letters not found in earlier editions
19 Lincoln and McEwen 1960: anecdote 13
20 Newnham-Collingwood 1837: ii, 434
21 Sir William Hoste, quoted by Warner l968:xviii
22 Blackwood, quoted by Nicholas vii 26
23 Thomas Creevey, quoted by Maxwell (Ed) 1903: ii, 161. See also Chapters Ten and Eleven
24 Jane Austen: Persuasion Volume 1 Chapter iii
25 Collingwood to his sister (August 1809) Hughes 184, Ville de Paris, off Toulon
CHAPTER 1
A large piece of plum cake 1748–1771
1 Mackesy 1957: preface, x; 395
2 Tough 1987: 174
3 Clark Russell 1891: 4
4 Warner 1968: 3
5 Hope-Dodds and Hall 1954: 30ff
6 Raigersfeld 1830: 35. Raigersfeld was a midshipman who served with the two brothers on the Leeward Islands station. See Chapter Three
7 Middlebrook 1950: 117
8 ibid
9 ibid, quoting Bourne 1736: The History of Newcastle upon Tyne, or the Ancient and present state of that town
10 Middlebrook 1950: 124
11 Newcastle Courant 24 September to 1 October 1748. Newcastle City Library
12 Fraser and Emsley 1973:68
13 Ireland 2000: 18
14 B. Mains, personal communication
15 Mains and Tuck 1986: 59
16 Rodger 1986: 29ff
17 Under the ‘Convoys and Cruizers Act’ 1708 the Crown gave up its right to captured enemy ships ‘for the better and more effectual encouragement of the Sea Service’. Padfield 2003: 69
18 Warner 1968: 247
19 Hay 1953: 71
20 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 6
21 Rodger 1986: 268
22 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (August 1795) Hughes 35, Excellent
CHAPTER 2
Out of all patience 1772-1777
1 Collingwood’s log, Portland, 30 March 1773
2 Collingwood’s log, Princess Amelia, 6 June 1773
3 According to Collingwood himself. Warner 1968: 12
4 Boston and Country Gazette: Monday 17 January 1774. Boston City Library
5 Boston and Country Gazette: Monday 10 January 1774
6 Boston and Country Gazette: 16 May 1774
7 Massachusetts and Boston Weekly Gazette: the Newsletter: 13 January 1774. Boston City Library
8 Ketchum 1962: 16
9 Ketchum 1962: 18
10 ibid
11 Morrissey 1993: 47
12 Ketchum 1962: 23
13 Collingwood to his sister (March 1776) Hughes 1, London, Castle Street. Mount Pisga is a hill which overlooks Cambridge and the Charlestown peninsula
14 According to Clark Russell (1891: 11) many veterans considered that day to have been the hottest action they ever saw
15 Vice-Admiral Graves to Captain le Clas (10 December 1775) Preston. Naval Documents of the American Revolutionary War, Volume 3 1968: 37
16 Naval Documents of the American Revolutionary War, Volume 3 1968: 924. 2–20 February 1776
17 Naval Documents of the American Revolutionary War, Volume 41969: 1008–1010
18 Newnham-Collingwood 1828:96
19 Rodger 1986: 357
20 Collingwood to his brother John (1777) Hughes 2, Hornet, West Indies
21 ibid
22 Rodger 1986: 135
23 Collingwood to his brother John (1777) Hughes 2, Hornet, West Indies
24 Warner 1968: 12
CHAPTER 3
The bonds of our amity 1777–1786
1 Nelson’s first commission; he had passed his examination at the Admiralty the previous day
2 Syrett 1988: 185
3 Baugh 1988: 150
4 Coleman 2001: 24
5 Nicolas i, 8
6 Nicolas i, 57–8, quoted by Coleman 2001
7 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 8 Taken from Collingwood’s autobiographical memoir, printed in the Naval Chronicle
8 According to Clark Russell (1891:14) Collingwood captured a French brig of 16 guns, Le Cerf, and recaptured a British merchantman, while in command of Pelican. If so, these may have been his first naval ‘actions’
9 Breen 1988: 196
10 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 8 Collingwood later briefly hoisted his admiral’s flag in Diamond, in 1803
11 Warner 1968: 15
12 Collingwood to his brother John (June 1782) Hughes 3, London
13 Collingwood to his sister (August 1783) Hughes 5, Mediator, Portsmouth
14 ibid
15 There is no record of a voyage in Sampson; Collingwood may have been in charge of fitting her out while waiting for Mediator
16 Raigersfeld 1830: 12
17 Reprinted by Cassells in 1929 from the only known, privately printed copy in the Admiralty Library, now the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum
18 Raigersfeld 1830: 33
19 ibid: 12
20 ibid: 15
21 Pocock 1983: 778
22 ibid
23 Raigersfeld 1830: 15; Johnny Newcome was a generic name for inexperienced seamen
24 ibid: 29
25 ibid: 15
26 Robert Fulton, inventor of the submarine and the torpedo, named his underwater bomb after the eel of that name
27 ibid: 32
28 Aspinall 1912: 182, quoted by Nicholson 2002
29 Nicolas i, 110
30 Nicolas i: 112
31 Nicholson 2002: 21
32 Warner 1968: 19
33 Warner 1968: 20 (PRO/C.O/ 152/64)
34 Collingwood to his sister (January 1785) Hughes 7, Mediator, Antigua
35 Nicolas i: 179 June 1786
36 Warner 1968: 162
37 Collingwood to his sister (January 1785) Hughes 7, Mediator, Antigua
38 Pocock 1983: 780
39 Collingwood to his sister (January 1785) Hughes 7, Mediator, Antigua
40 Raigersfeld 1830: 36
41 ibid: 14
42 ibid: 20
43 ibid: 24
44 ibid: 27
45 Raigersfeld 1830: introduction
CHAPTER 4
A comfortable fire and friends 1787–1792
1 Coleman (2001) quotes the 1790 navy list, when there were 55 post ships and 427 post-captains, 172 of them senior to Nelson and even more senior to Collingwood
3 Middlebrook 1950: 146
4 Oliver 1831: 176
5 Newcastle Courant 9 December 1786
6 Collingwood to Rear-Admiral Purvis (Dec
ember 1807) Hughes 145, Ocean off Mauritimo
7 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 12–13
8 Warner 1968: 23
9 Ireland 2000: 122
10 Padfield 2003: 10; 35ff
11 Collingwood to the Secretary of the Admiralty (May 1790) Hughes 7 supplementary, London
12 Plums. In naval parlance the equivalent of cherry-picking. The expression derived from a naval culinary treat, plum duff, which often had so few plums (in reality currants) among the suet, that they were prized by those fortunate enough to get one
13 Collingwood to his sister Mary (May 1790) Hughes 8, London
14 Collingwood to his sister Mary (May 1790) Hughes 9, London
15 Collingwood to his sister Mary (May 1790) Hughes 10, London
16 ibid
17 Collingwood to his sister Mary (July 1790) Hughes 11, Sheerness
18 Collingwood to his sister Mary (October 1790) Hughes 12, Portsmouth
19 Collingwood to his sister Mary (April 1791) Hughes 13, Portsmouth
20 Collingwood to his sister Mary (February 1792) Hughes 14, Musselburgh
21 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (September 1792) Hughes 15, Morpeth
22 Padfield 2003: introduction
23 ibid: 52
24 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 17–18
25 Padfield 2003: 57
CHAPTER 5
The sharp point of misfortune 1793–1795
1 A first-rate was a ship of 100 guns and more. A second-rate carried 90–98; a third-rate 64–84; a fourth-rate usually 50–60, but Mediator was a fourth-rate of 44 guns, effectively a heavy frigate
2 Collingwood to his sister Mary (February 1793) Hughes 16, London. In this letter he admits he would happily never sail in a frigate again, though he does not say why
3 Warner 1968: 15
4 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blacken (December 1793) Hughes 20, Prince, Spithead
5 ‘Captain Aubrey belonged to the school of Douglas and Collingwood, men who believed that a ship’s prime purpose was to bring cannon within range of the enemy and then to fire with extreme speed and accuracy.’ The Ionian Mission
6 Collingwood to his sister Mary (August 1793) Hughes 18, Prince, Spithead
7 See Ireland 2000: 45 for a diagram, and Davies 2002 for a detailed description
8 Davies 2002:38
9 Each tackle would, using two pulley blocks, exert a three or four times mechanical advantage. This made the gun slower but easier to pull, and meant extra yards of rope trailing across the deck
10 Ireland 200: 49
11 Uglow 2002: 253
12 Collingwood to the Secretary of the Admiralty (May 1793) Hughes 17 supplementary, Prince, Hamoaze
13 ibid. Thomas Huntley to Captain Collingwood (May 1793) St Albans, Spithead
14 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (July 1793) Hughes 17, Prince, Spithead. Sir Edward was Sarah’s uncle
15 Pope 1981: 209ff
16 Cronin 1971: 70
17 Naval Chronicle II 297–303
18 Ireland 2000: 125
19 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blacken (March 1794) Hughes 21, Barfleur, Spithead
20 ibid
21 Padfield 2003: 82
22 see Introduction
23 To use Davies’ excellent phrase 2002: 62
24 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (June 1794) Hughes 23, Barfleur
25 ibid
26 Padfield 2003: 101
27 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (June 1794) Hughes 23, Barfleur
28 Warner 1968: 51
29 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 24
30 ibid
31 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blacken (June 1794) Hughes 24, Barfleur
32 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (July 1794) Hughes 25, Barfleur, Spithead
33 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (June 1794) Hughes 24, Barfleur
34 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (July 1794) Hughes 25, Barfleur, Spithead
35 ‘The sharp point of misfortune is broken by exposure.’ Collingwood to Mrs Stead (October 1809) Hughes 190, Ville de Paris off Barcelona
36 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (July 1794) Hughes 25, Barfleur, Spithead
37 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (August 1794) Hughes 27, Hector, Portsmouth
38 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (July 1794) Hughes 25, Barfleur
39 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (March 1795) Hughes 33, Excellent
CHAPTER 6
Two thunderbolts of war 1795–1799
1 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (March 1796) Hughes 36, Excellent
2 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78). His political masterpiece, The Social Contract, appeared in 1762
3 Brady and Pottle 1955: 185
4 Gregory 1985: 57
5 This stone cannot now be found, though the inscription was recorded at the time: Nicolas ii: 77
6 Nelson to Collingwood (August 1795) Vado Bay: Nicolas ii: 77
7 ibid
8 Gregory 1985:143
9 See also his letter on Corsica quoted above in Chapter One
10 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (March 1796) Hughes 36, Excellent
11 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (August 1796) Hughes 39, Excellent
12 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 27
13 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (August 1796) Hughes 39, Excellent
14 Gregory 1985: 134–5
15 Paoli died in London in 1807 at the age of eighty-two. There is a bust of him in Westminster Abbey
16 ‘Spiking’ a gun entailed driving a nail into its touch hole to prevent its being fired; spike is an alternative name for a nail. De-spiking a gun involved a delicate operation with a gimlet-like instrument
17 Nelson to Collingwood. 20 November 1796. Nicolas ii: 304
18 Davies 2002: 73
19 Padfield 2003:117
20 Padfield 2003: 118ff
21 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (January 1797) Hughes 40, Excellent, Lisbon. Portugal, though passive, was Britain’s last continental ally
22 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 56
23 Newnham-Collingwood 1828:125. It is stated here that this figure relates to the Dreadnought in 1805; but most commentators accept that it probably applied equally to Excellent, which Collingwood commanded for nearly five years. Some cite the rate as three broadsides in a minute and a half, but this must surely be a mistake. Three in five minutes was considered very good practice
24 Parsons 1843: unnumbered
25 ibid. Marriage to the gunner’s daughter was a euphemism for being seized to a gun and thrashed
26 Duofulmina belli: two thunderbolts of war. This is taken from Vergil: Aeneid 6, 843, referring to the Generals Scipio, of Corsica and Carthage fame. Vergil himself borrowed the phrase from Lucretius, it rerum natura
27 Nicolas ii: 337
28 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (February 1797) Hughes 41, Excellent, Lagos Bay
29 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 37
30 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (February 1797) Hughes 41, Excellent, Lagos Bay
31 Newnham-Collingwood 1828:43
32 ibid
33 ibid p. 41
34 Pope 1981: 150
35 Padfield 2003: 131
36 ibid p. 133
37 Naval Chronicle xi, 269–272
38 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (June 1794) Hughes 42, Excellent
39 Newnham-Collingwood 1828:45
40 ibid p. 50
41 ibid
42 ibid p. 55
43 Collingwood to his sister Mary (August 1797) Hughes 43, Excellent, off Cadiz
44 Kamperduin: a small village in Noord-Holland, close to the town of Alkmaar
45 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (December 1797) Hughes 44, Excellent, Lisbon
46 Newnham-Collingwood 1828:64
47 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blacken (December 1798) Hughes 45, Excellent, Spithead
48 Newnham-Collingwood 1828:71
CHAPTER 7
> Hope of peace alone 1799–1802
1 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (February 1799) Hughes 48, Morpeth
2 ibid
3 Jane Austen: Persuasion, Volume II Chapter xii
4 Newnham-Collingwood 1837: i, 99
5 An earlier reform of naval ranks had instituted ten levels of admiral, based on the existence of three squadrons: red, white and blue, of which red was the senior. The most junior admiral was a rear-admiral of the blue squadron; the second grade was vice-admiral. Admiral of the red was the senior operational admiral in theory, with only the admiral of the fleet above. Nelson died a vice-admiral of the white, Collingwood a vice-admiral of the red. There were ninety-nine admirals of all ranks
6 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (April 1799) Hughes 49, Morpeth
7 ibid
8 Tooke (1736–1812) was a radical Wilkesite cleric who was tried for high treason in 1790 and acquitted. DNB
9 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (May 1799) Hughes 50, Morpeth
10 Triumph was launched in 1764, a year before Victory
11 Collingwood to his sister (September 1799) Hughes 53, Triumph, Torbay
12 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (December 1799) Hughes 56, Triumph
13 ibid
14 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (December 1799) Hughes 57, Triumph, Plymouth
15 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blacken (January 1800) Hughes 58, Triumph, Cawsand Bay
16 Quoted by Cronin 1971:225
17 Collingwood to Sir Edward Blackett (April 1800) Hughes 59, Barfleur, Torbay
18 Warner 1968:97, footnote
19 Oliver 1831:177
20 Newnham-Collingwood 1828:80
21 ibid
22 Newnham-Collingwood 1828: 83–4
23 Collingwood to Dr Alexander Carlyle (August 1801) Hughes 69, Barfleur, off Brest
24 Newnham-Collingwood 1828:82
25 ibid p. 83
26 ibid p. 84
27 ibid
28 Brontë is an estate in eastern Sicily. Patrick Brunty, the parson of Haworth in Yorkshire, was so taken by the title that he changed his surname, and that of his famous children, to Brontë