The Nelson Society of Australia Inc.

Newsletter

January, 2011

Program of Events

All meetings begin at 7pm for a 7.30 start unless otherwise stated. St Michael’s Church, Cnr The Promenade & Gunbower Rd, Mt. Pleasant

Please bring a plate for supper. 11.00 am Sunday 9 January 2011. Anniversary of Nelson's funeral with a church service at St. Michael's, Mt. Pleasant followed by get-together in the church hall. As the church hall reception is held after the church service (around lunch time) and is a self-catered for event please bring a plate. Monday 14 February 2011. The Annual Evening Picnic at Wireless Hill from 6 pm. A.G.M. Monday 14 March 2011. Members are urged to nominate for positions on the Management Committee which currently meets at two monthly intervals. There is also a need for someone to take over the role of 'refreshment coordinator' assisted by a couple of helpers.

Page 1 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

A sword from the Battle of Trafalgar and the ‘Sword of Honour’ 2005 years later.

In my address I particularly direct my words to the young people here at the front; members of the Australian Navy Cadets. The Nelson Society of Australia is very pleased to have you here with us today. In the ten years existence of this Society good lines of communication have been made with the Royal Australian Navy and more recently with your organization through the donation of a Dirk of Leadership which was dedicated here 2 years ago and which, it is understood, will be presented for the first time next year. Relationships in any way are important and the Nelson Society believe that taking an interest in your careers can only assist in cementing further the common interest in naval activities, both past and present, which connect us. About two years ago Prince Charles expressed a wish that when he becomes king he take the title ‘Defender of Faith’ to reflect changing times. This would mean the monarch, as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, would by the omission of just the one word “THE” no longer be known as ‘Defender of the Faith” for the first time since the reign of King Henry the Eighth. I will use the word FAITH as the basis of my address this afternoon. A study of our human history over the last ten thousand years shows the importance of being prepared to defend your territory, protect your family and what you hold dear or suffer being overrun. In keeping with our natural desire to uphold law and order is the need for inner faith in ourselves and in those who teach and lead us. In the rapidly changing world of today and tomorrow, with so many new challenges and temptations, in whatever era we are born, there will always be obstacles to overcome and the more so will there be a need for faith in always trying to do the right thing. The geography of the earth sets certain natural boundaries which have been used in some cases as national frontiers for thousands of years. The British Isles is a case in point. That small group of islands, like other land masses surrounded by water, were relatively free of foreign invasion until the construction of ships. Then there came sea borne adventurers who, if they were able to return and tell their tales, encouraged others who then became invaders such as Roman legions, Viking hordes and others. They made their mark over hundreds of years gradually allowing peace and stability to settle for the inhabitants. There is an enthralling history from the noble ancient Britons thru the many decades of Saxon & Norman, Tudor & Jacobean, Stuart & Georgian times to Victorian and more recent years. The early introduction to those islands of Christianity by some of the bravest missionaries who ever got into a boat eventually won over the hearts and minds of their rulers. Gradually,

ordinary people like us benefited from important advances in basic justice. Internal rule and order were enshrined in law. Progressive evolution of parliament (unfortunately interspersed occasionally by conflicts and civil war), has seen the development of a unified country, Great Britain, with an

unrivaled form of government, known as the ‘Westminster system’. The same cannot be said for other parts of the world. In Europe, where the superiority of one tribe over another in the past has led to bitter ethnic feuds which persist even today. Big differences in social conditions led eventually to civil disorder, and revolution. Only the sea kept France’s military dictator and self appointed emperor Napoleon Bonaparte from tramping over the British. From 1803 to 1805 he had only the British to fight but could hope for victory only by landing an army in the British Isles. So he gathered nearly 2,000 invasion craft along the French coast giving him a wide base from which to invade the south coast of England. He concentrated his army of many thousands of men just across the English

Channel, ready to embark and strike. Several squadrons of British ships were continually patrolling the approaches to this stretch of water, locking French ships in French ports by a continuous blockade and monitoring the sailing plans of others. To reduce the numerical advantage in war ships that the British had, the French devised a plan to lure British squadrons away from the English Channel and systematically destroy them with a combined fleet of French and Spanish ships. The plan failed. So, by the time the now famous signal from Admiral Nelson to his fleet was made “England expects every man to do his duty” there must have been great anticipation in the air. After months of preparation and training by the British navy there was about to unfold a sea battle the likes of which had never been seen before; the British fleet defending its shores so as to prevent an invasion and the combined navies of France and Spain intent on decimating the British so as to give the French army the opportunity of crossing the English Channel unhindered. You have been addressed before on the way the battle of Trafalgar developed, on the heroism and bravery on all sides. Admiral Nelson had so welded his band of brother officers into a team of professionals supported by a calibre of seamen second then to none in the world. Each had faith in the other; cheers of support were heard to come from each of the British ships when the content of Nelson’s signal was made known. Victory was theirs. Members of the Nelson Society are often asked what relevance Horatio Nelson or the battle of Trafalgar has to Australia. Well, the early British settlers who sailed to these shores had no doubts as did all the other British colonies around the world.

TRAFALGAR DAY MEMORIAL SERVICE 2010 St George’s Cathedral, Perth W.A.

ADDRESS: Richard Savage

Page 2 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

They were well aware that supply by sea was guaranteed; the British Navy could and did “rule the waves” for a hundred years and faith was restored to the vital interests of trade by the merchant marine. That is why many of the early street names in our cities use names associated with those times; Nelson Crescent and Nelson Avenue around the WACA, Horatio Street, Trafalgar Road and so on. But what can we learn from this 205 year old sea battle that still thrills the patriot in many of us even today. It is no surprise to those of my generation who can remember more recent dictators that even the Australian Government a few years ago did a national letter drop to every household which stressed the importance of each of us taking responsibility for security in their area – “Let’s look out for Australia” was the message. Eternal vigilance has to be the catch cry we all need to be aware of. And what better way could there be of adopting this in our national psyche than through faith in each other. There is a new and modern style memorial being erected just outside this cathedral, in honour of St. George, the patron saint after whom this cathedral is named. The sculpture has already raised some interest and a little scorn from those who like to mock fresh ideas or new ways of interpretation. But I invite you all here today to support the idea behind the artist’s design and what the story of St. George’s gallantry stands for. From my limited research I find nothing is known of his life but from the 6th century legends about him as a warrior saint became very popular. St. George is frequently depicted as a youth wearing knight’s armour with a scarlet cross. St George didn’t just kill a fierce dragon and save a beautiful

Page 3 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

0f England, of this place of Christian worship, and of free communities around the world will always be able to shine in our minds as an example of the success of good over evil. The world will always need a St. George to uphold the highest human freedom we can ever have – life itself. From the many other crises which the British Isles have faced in the past we can recognise the very real heroes like Sir Francis Drake, that most famous of Elizabethan seamen; our champion of Trafalgar Vice Admiral Viscount Lord Horatio Nelson and within living memory of some of us probably the greatest Sea Lord and Prime Minister of Great Britain, Sir Winston Churchill. For all the many injustices and disasters .that will continue to beset us humans, the world will need men and women of courage, with a deep sense of faith in the goodness of the human soul, to be ever on the sidelines ready to play their part. Australians have always stepped up to the plate whenever the freedoms of others have been at stake and I’m confident that present and future generations, like you, will continue to do so. We have heard Mr. Robert Woollett, Vice Chairman of the Nelson Society read, during the Act of Homage, Nelson’s Prayer written on the eve of the Battle of Trafalgar. The words are Nelson’s but in hindsight are exemplified in The Second Letter of Paul to Timothy, chapter 4, in which Paul says “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”. Nelson kept his. In ending, let me quote the American poet and philosopher Emerson who wrote in 1875 “Man does not live by bread alone, but by faith, by admiration, by sympathy”.

Page 4 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

Glimpses from St George’s Cathedral

on Trafalgar Commemoration Day

24th October, 2010

Sword of Honour Presentation by the Chief of the Navy Vice Admiral Russ Crane on board HMAS Warramunga,

12th Nov. 2010 The Vice Admiral Viscount Lord Nelson KB Trafalgar Bicentennial Sword of Excellence (short name "Admiral Nelson Sword of Excellence") seeks to recognise and encourage qualities of leadership excellence in officers of the Royal Australian Navy. In so doing, the award commemorates the life and achievements of Admiral Nelson, and honours the traditions of leadership to which he made such an exceptional contribution, and which continue to influence our Navy to this day. The Admiral Nelson Sword of Excellence was instituted on the initiative of the Nelson Society of Australia, and with the financial support of Barminco Mining. The sword itself was dedicated at a service on Sunday 23 October 2005 at St George's Cathedral, Perth. It is now housed in a display case in the Wardroom, HMAS STIRLING. Each year, the winner's name is engraved on the sword to form a history of the RAN's most distinguished leaders and Officers. The winner of the 2010 Admiral Nelson Sword of Excellence is LCDR Mark Sirois, for his outstanding leadership as the Executive Officer in HMAS Warramunga. He has been instrumental in enhancing the operational capability of Warramunga and Perth by successfully coordinating, conducting and leading whole ship activities on both frigates concurrently. He also excelled as the Head of the Executive Department and displayed strong leadership as Mess President of the Wardroom. LCDR Sirois demonstrated highly impressive leadership and management skills, which ensured the entire ship's company were consistently organised for training; an effective mentoring regime was in place at all levels; a strong sense of teamwork existed; and personnel were encouraged to be the best they could be. With NGN leadership culture in focus this year, I think it especially admirable that LCDR Sirois conveys his strong personal conviction through leadership based on exceptional example and through his determination to make a positive difference to the people for whom he is responsible. His strong Navy ethos and commitment to mentoring has ensured everyone in his team progresses professionally and personally. LCDR Sirois is an outstanding Officer and has excelled as Executive Officer in Warramunga. He is a most deserving recipient of this year's Admiral Nelson Sword of Excellence award.

Page 5 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

Chief of the Navy Vice Admiral Russ Crane awarding the ‘Sword of Honour’ to LCDR Mark Sirois on board HMAS Warrangatta berthed at HMS Stirling. Present at the event the recipient’s wife, his ship’s crew, the president of the Nelson Society, Mike Sargeant, and members of the Nelson Society.

LCDR Mark Sirois

There were many stories written about the Battle of Trafalgar. One of the most remarkable was the account of the smallest Royal Navy ship involved in that history-changing event. Her origin is murky, but she was probably built in a commercial boatyard in Bermuda. Around the turn of the 19th century, she could well have been used for trade along America's Atlantic coast and for inter-island, trade in the West Indies. Her cedar hull, just under 100 feet in length overall and a displacement of 38 tons, was powered by a generous topsail schooner rig, making her both sturdy and fast. Her original name was Sting, and she is believed to have been seized with other merchant ships in the harbor when the British captured the Dutch island of Curacao in 1800. Eventual ly she was officially purchased by a British owner and then turned up in the Royal Navy as an armed tender. The Royal Navy renamed her Pickle, a word that was possibly chosen because it was part of a place name in Britain’s Plymouth area, but it might also have been in reference to the English custom of calling a rambunctious youngster "a pickle." The ten-gun HMS Pickle went to work doing what ships of her type did in the Royal Navy of the time, including inshore reconnaissance, suppressing privateers, rescuing crews from foundering ships, and carrying dispatches. And it would be in the latter role that Pickle had her moment in history. As the smallest warship in Admiral Lord Nelsons fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, she was not directly involved in the horrific combat action at Cape Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. During that bloody battle between the British and the French-Spanish Combined Fleet, Pickle stood off and supported the ships-of-the-line that were the main combatants. In addition to supporting the British ships, history notes that Pickle and boats from the larger British ships came to the aid of the survivors of the French Achille when that ship exploded. During that event several hundred men and two women were saved. Immediately following the battle, Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, who had been second in command under Nelson, selected Pickle and her young captain, Lieutenant John Lapenotiere, to get the news of the British victory and Nelson’s death to London with dispatch. Timely knowledge of events, such as the Battle of Trafalgar, were not only newsworthy, but could be of strategic value if it was received quickly. For Lapenotiere's mission, speed was essential, and the dispatches were handed to him with Collingwood's admonition that "a moment's time may not be lost in their delivery." The signal "I have urgent dispatches" was two-blocked at the top of Pickle’s.

The signal flying from her mainmast would have earned deference from any Royal Navy ship encountered on her mission. It would also have attracted very special attention from any French or Spanish warship. After clearing Gibraltar, and racing northwards, Lapenotiere was confronted by a violent storm off the Bay of Biscay. It was the kind of weather a small ship would normally avoid. But Lapenotiere drove Pickle on through the gale and threatening seas, and when the ship began taking on a dangerous amount of water, he resorted to jettisoning her guns.

With an easterly breeze, he was faced with a long beat to his original destination - Plymouth. Relying on his judgment as a seaman (Collingwood had given his young c a p t a i n d i s c r e t i o n concerning where to land on Britain’s Channel coast), Lapenotiere chose a more westerly course and headed for the smaller port of Falmouth. Given the sailing conditions, traveling overland likely would be faster than extending Pickle’s transit to Plymouth by sea.

Lapenotiere also knew that there was reliable coach service between Falmouth and London. On Monday, 4 November, Pickle eased into Falmouth, having covered more than 1,000 miles under extreme conditions in slightly more than eight days. Its successful completion was a tribute to Lapenotiere's determination and seamanship and to Pickle’s speed and seaworthiness. Within an hour of his arrival, Lapenotiere hired a post-chaise and departed for London. Racing through the countryside at breakneck pace, his horses were swapped out every ten to fifteen miles. He arrived at what is now known as the Old Admiralty at Whitehall at 0100 on 6 November, having covered more than 270 miles in about 37 hours—a remarkable feat in a post-chaise. Collingwood's dispatches were then delivered directly to William Marsden, Secretary of the Admiralty Board. Lapenotiere's statement as he handed the messages to Marsden reflected the seamen's way of saying a lot with few words: "Sir, we have gained a great victory. But we have lost Lord Nelson." In contrast, Collingwood's description of the action at Trafalgar put Nelson's death first: "The ever to be lamented death of Vice-Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson, who, in the late conflict with the Enemy, fell in the hour of victory, leaves me the duty of informing my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that on the 19th instant it was communicated to

Trafalgar’s Last chapter—HMS Pickle’s Movements By Joseph F Callo

HMS Pickle

Page 6 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

the Commander-in-Chief from the Ships watching the motions of the Enemy in Cadiz, that the Combined Fleet had put to Sea." The message went on to provide a summary of the action at Trafalgar. The First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Barham, was notified right away, and copies of Collingwood's messages were made quickly. Prime Minister William Pitt received word at 0300, by 0700 the King was notified, and by end of day a special London Gazette edition proclaimed the news to the public. Following the Battle of Trafalgar, November 1805 Pickle returned to her Royal Navy Duties, she had played an important and unique role in Navy duties, including close reconnaissance of Brest harbor during the events that shifted the balance of power at sea for the coming blockade by

the capture of an 18-gun century French privateer off the Lizard, and the rescue of more than 600 crewmembers from HMS Magnificent after that ship ran aground. On 27 July 1808, Pickle met an untimely end when she was : wrecked on a shoal at the entrance to Cadiz harbor. Her Royal navy career was ended but for eight days in October and November 1805 she had played an important and unique role in the events that shifted the balance of power at sea for the coming century. ************************************* Rear Admiral Joseph E Callo, USNR (Ret.) is an award-winning author and an National Maritime Historical Society advisor. His most recent book is John Paul Jones: America’s First Sea Warrior. Another book ‘Nelson Speaks’ 2001. This article was first published in the USA in Sea History magazine Autumn 2010 and is published with their permission.

Page 7 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

Pickle Night, 12th November 2010

Our 10th ‘Pickle’ night was a little more special than usual as attending was LCDR Mark Sirois with his wife. Mark was the 2010 winner of the ‘Sword of Excellence’ presented to him that morning at HMS Stirling. He spoke of growing up in Montreal and joining the Canadian Navy. He was seconded to the Australian Navy for a year and met his future wife.— an Australian! He is now a permanent member of our Navy. Canada’s loss, Australia’s gain. A very global recipient. We also had the revival of the exchange of greetings from our Pickle Night Dinner to the New York Yacht Club’s Pickle Night Dinner , both on the same day this year. A very pertinent reminder that the insignificant little vessel HMS Pickle is remembered in our two countries over two hundred years after the Battle of Trafalgar. Below is a photo of the top of two swords, one is a sword used in the Battle of Trafalgar bought out of moth balls by the editor for this special occasion, by its side, 205 years later, the ‘Sword of Honour’ given to an Australian Naval Officer who has shown many of Nelson best attributes. Nelson’s fighting sword was identical to the one below, as Nelson had only one arm a few inches were removed from its tip to make it lighter. The photo above it shows a replica model of the Pickle made by one of our members.

\From earliest times the sea has been regarded as a male domain. Fishermen laboured around the coasts with nets and lines while their wives stayed on shore to mind their homes and bring up their children. Later explorers and adventurers set sail across the oceans in search of new lands hoping to make their names and their fortunes from their discoveries. The crews of their ships, as well as the crews of the hundreds of thousands of merchant ships and warships which would follow in their wake were always male. Or were they? Recent studies have shown that a surprising number of women went to sea. Some travelled as the wives or mistresses of the captains. A few were smuggled aboard by officers or by seamen of the lower deck. An increasing number of cases have come to light of young women dressing in men’s clothes and working alongside the sailors for months and sometimes years on end. Here are the true stories of what the women on board these vessels encountered on their often amazing voyages: romantic moonlit nights on deck, debilitating seasickness, terrifying skirmishes with pirates, disease-bearing rats, and cockroaches as big as a man’s slipper. And all of that while living with the constant fear of gales, hurricanes, typhoons, collisions and fire at sea. WOMEN ON WARSHIPS Evidence that the French also had women on their warships was provided in the aftermath of the Battle of Trafalgar. In the closing stages of the battle the French ship Achille caught fire. Shooting from the musketmen stationed in the tops caused her mizzentop to catch alight. This was a deadly threat to the ship and the French seamen immediately began to hack down the mast, hoping that the flaming spar would fall overboard into the water. Their efforts were in vain because two devastating broadsides from the British ship Prince brought down all masts. The burning mizzentop fell on the boats amidships and red-hot wreckage dropped through to the deck below. The fire rapidly spread throughout the ship and the French had no option but to abandon ship before her magazine caught fire and she exploded. The Achille had been bravely fought and though she did not strike her colours and surrender the British ships in the vicinity held their fire and went to her aid. The Prince launched her boats and began to pick up some of the hundreds of French seamen who had jumped into the water. Boats from the Belleisle and the Euryalus were sent to help and the schooner Pickle and a cutter joined in the rescue. The Achille exploded at ten past six and the surrounding boats closed in to pick up

the last survivors from the wreckage. Among them was a naked woman who was found clinging to a spar and taken aboard the Pickle. She was given a jacket and trousers and transferred with fifty French survivors to the Revenge. The woman’s name was Jeanette. Her husband was a member of the Achille’s crew and she had stowed away in the

ship dressed in men’s clothes. When he fire broke out she had tried to find her husband but failing to do so had attempted to escape by climbing out of a port in the gunroom and sitting on the rudder chains. The heat melted the lead of the rudder stock, which dripped on her, and she decided to take off her clothes and jump into the sea. She managed to grab hold of a floating spar but one of the men clinging to the spar bit her and kicked her, forcing her to swim to another. The

British seamen in the Pickle were considerably more gallant than the shipwrecked Frenchmen. A few days later she rejoined her husband who had survived the fire. LADY EMMA HAMILTON There were occasions when a captain would take a woman to sea but it was not a usual practice. In 1787 the 28-year-old Captain Horatio Nelson married Fanny Nisbet on the island of Nevis in the West Indies. It is notable that he did not take her back to England with him in his ship HMS Boreas. The 28-gun frigate was considered too cramped for passengers and so, while Nelson returned home in the Boreas, Fanny, her son Josiah, and her uncle crossed the Atlantic in the Roehampton, a large and comfortable West Indiaman. However, eleven years later, following his victory at the Battle of the Nile, Nelson invited Sir William and Lady Hamilton on board his flagship the Foudroyant and they spent an idyllic six weeks cruising from Palermo to Syracuse and Malta It was during this cruise that Horatia, the daughter of Nelson and Lady Hamilton, was conceived. Lady Hamilton must surely be the most famous of all sailors’ women. Her very public affair with Nelson delighted the gossipmongers of the day and provided a rich subject for the cartoonists. It has continued to be a source of fascination and has been the inspiration for numerous books, a distinguished play and several films, notably That Hamilton Woman in which the part of Nelson was played by Laurence Olivier and Lady Hamilton by Vivien Leigh. In the process the love affair has been romanticized and taken on a mythic quality which it never had at the time. The fact is that when Nelson and Lady Hamilton met in Naples after the Battle of the Nile they could scarcely have been more different from the attractive figures portrayed in That Hamilton Woman.

‘Ladies at Sea’ Extract of a talk given by Gillian Mead. at Nelson Society Meeting

‘Pickle’ crew rescuing Jeanette

Page 8 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

Nelson was only 39 years old but he was exhausted by pain and the responsibilities of command. His hair was grey, his cheeks were sunken and he rarely smiled. His right arm had been amputated and he had the empty sleeve of his coat pinned across his chest. “He looks very old” wrote Lord Elgin, “has lost his upper teeth, sees ill of one eye and has a film coming over both of them”. A German observer thought he was one

of the most insignificant figures he had ever seen, “a more miserable collection of bones and wizened frame I have yet to come across.” Lady Hamilton was no longer the young woman whose face and figure had attracted the attention of princes and aristocrats and had inspired painters and poets. She was 33 and had put on a great deal of weight. A Swedish diplomat remarked that she was the fattest woman he had ever laid eyes on but thought she had the most beautiful head. James Harris, a young English aristocrat, who saw her when her affair with Nelson had become common knowledge, considered her to be “without exception the most coarse, ill-mannered, disagreeable woman I ever met with”. So, what did these two people see in each other? Nelson’s outward appearance may have been unimpressive but he had a simple directness in his speech, a boldness in his manner and a lively animation of countenance which charmed both men and women. Emma Hamilton had been mistress to Charles Greville, whom she loved, but, because of financial problems, he asked his friend, Sir William Hamilton, to take her off his hands. Soon Emma was ensconced for several weeks in Sir William’s delightful villa overlooking the Bay of Naples. Although her heart was broken, within a few months she was enjoying the delights of that city. She also became the favoured guest of the King and Queen of Naples. Sir William provided her with a language master, a singing master and a music teacher. Towards the end of 1786 Emma succumbed to Sir William’s advances and became his mistress. Five years later they were married. Sir William was 60 and Emma was 26. She had become an accomplished hostess and was renowned for her extraordinary beauty, her singing and her unusual theatrical performances which had become known as Lady Hamilton’s Attitudes. This was the woman who Nelson now found himself spending every hour of the day with. He admired her and he felt at ease with her. He may have been a much-feted admiral but his background was provincial and he was without grand connections. He no doubt felt more in common with her than with most of the aristocratic ladies he met. And he certainly reveled in her flattery. He had always felt himself a man of destiny. He had thirsted for recognition and for glory and she constantly reminded him of his fame and his achievements. Emma and Nelson were drawn closer together by dramatic events which took place at the end of the year. In December the French army invaded the Kingdom of Naples and advanced on the city. Nelson supervised the escape of King Ferdinand and his queen from their palace through a subterranean passage to the water’s edge. On an overcast, blustery night they were rowed out to HMS Vanguard.

The Hamiltons were already on board and two days before Christmas they weighed anchor and headed for Palermo, the capital of Ferdinand’s other kingdom Sicily. On Christmas Eve they ran into the fiercest storm Nelson had ever encountered. The Vanguard’s topsails were torn to shreds and the sailors stood by with axes ready to cut away the rigging if the masts were brought down by the hurricane-force winds. Most of the passengers were prostrate with fear and seasickness but Emma proved herself a heroine. While Sir William wedged himself into a chair with loaded pistols in each hand ready to shoot himself if the ship went down, Emma never once retreated to her bed but looked after the children of the royal family. The youngest one became critically ill and died in her arms. The Vanguard reached the safety of the harbour at Palermo on Boxing Day.

Page 9 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

Exchanging Greetings from across the Globe on Pickle Night

From the New York City Pickle Night Dinner Committee

12 November 2010 To the Nelson Society of Australia

On the occasion of your Pickle Night Dinner we, send enthusiastic greetings and warm wishes for a successful event.

And On the basis of our shared interest in the ongoing relevance of the Battle of Trafalgar and the history-shaping leadership of Vice Admiral Lord Nelson, we are reminded of the shared values of our two nations. We salute you with the words of Admiral Lord Nelson, written on 21 August 1798 to the Honorable William Wyndham, then British Minister at Florence:

“[M[y band of friends was irresistible.”

******************************

To: The New York Yacht Club Pickle Night Dinner, From: The Nelson Society of Australia ,Inc

Perth, Western Australia 12 November 2010

“See how that noble fellow Collingwood carries his ship into action”

(Nelson to Hardy, noon, 21 October 1805)

“What would Nelson give to be here” (Collingwood to Rotherham, noon, 21 October 1805)

In celebration of our mutual interest and respect for Horatio, Lord Nelson, the Committee and Members of the Nelson Society of Australia send you warmest greetings

and best wishes for Pickle Night

‘Remember Nelson! (Captain William Hoste RN, battle of Lissa, 13 March 1811)

If a singular British warship could be called the harbinger of the formation of the Royal Australian Navy, that warship is HMS Nelson. The Colonial Defences Act of 1865 provided for a definite Colonial defence policy, whereby some of the Australian states were able to provide, maintain and use their own vessels, under prescribed conditions and were to raise and maintain seamen and volunteers for the Royal Naval Reserve. In NSW, in 1881, the Admiralty gave the naval brigade the screw-corvette Wolverene as a training ship, and on 29th of June 1881, Commodore James Elphinstone Erskine hoisted his broad pennant at Chatham in HMS Nelson, an armour belted cruiser, and flagship of the Imperial Squadron on the Australian Station. Commodore Erskine arrived in HMS Nelson in Sydney Harbour on 8th January 1882, amid an impending Russian war scare and great jubilation from the citizens of Sydney. HMS Nelson had been built at Glasgow by John Elder and Co., in 1876 and is described as an armour belted ship, twin screw, 12 guns. She was a sister ship of the Northampton. Her length between perpendiculars was 280 feet and her breadth was 60 feet. Load draught forward was 24 feet 6 inches and aft, 27 feet 3 inches. Displacement loaded was 7,986 tons, depth of hold, 23 feet 8½ inches and height of mid-ports above waterline was 12 feet 3 inches. Overall length was 301 feet and including the ram, was 310 feet. 180 feet of the centre section was armoured - the protection extended downward for 9 feet below the shot proof lower deck, and tapered from 9 inches to 7 inches in thickness. The battery was on a 2 inch armoured deck, which covered the engines and boilers amidships, as well as having protected the steering gear aft. They were the last major warships to carry the main armament on the broadside and between decks. They were also the first armoured ships to have a protective deck at the ends and the first with heavy belt armour. John Elder and Co. were also the makers of the two pairs of two cylinder, inverted, compound, direct acting engines. The high pressure cylinders were 60 inches diameter and the low pressure cylinders were 104 inches; length of stroke was 3 feet 6 inches; length of connecting rod was 7 feet. There were ten boilers with three furnaces to each boiler. She had an engine rating of 6,640 horsepower. The capacity of the coal bunkers was 1,152 tons. Nelson had two screw propellers, each of four blades, and the blades at the time of commissioning were 6 hundredweight heavier than those installed before her full speed trial at Devonport in February 1878, when one blade broke. Her speed was rated at 14 knots The name Nelson stood out in gold letters at the stern, and on the break of the bridge was displayed the words of the famous signal of her equally famous namesake, ‘England expects that every man will do his duty‘.

HMS Nelson, Armour Belted Cruiser 1882 Author: Harold V. Thurston, from the Web

Her main mast was 172 feet above deck, the foremast was 162 feet, and the mizzen 125 feet. She carried 9,186 square feet of canvas. The main armament comprised four 18 ton 10-inch rifled muzzle loading guns and eight 12 ton 9-inch muzzle loading guns - all twelve guns on the main deck. The 10-inch guns fired a shell weighing 400 pounds and these were accurate up to 4,800 yards. In addition six breech-loading guns were carried on the upper deck as well as ten Nordenfelt machine guns and four Gardner guns. In addition to the guns mentioned, the Nelson carried two steel 65 foot torpedo boats armed with two torpedoes each.

Each torpedo boat crew consisted of one officer and nine seamen and stokers. The torpedo boats had a speed of 16 knots - two knots faster than the

Nelson. In spite of all this heavy armament and the two torpedo boats the ship also carried a large number of rifles and also over 200 swords, 30 boarding axes and 90 boarding pikes. The ship’s company consisted of 33 officers, 8 Chief Petty Officers, 66 Petty Officers, 200 seamen, 37 other ratings, 19 Domestics, 42 Boys, 73 Engine Room Artificers (including 11 Leading Stokers and 45 Stokers), 77 Royal Marines, a total of 555. The Commodore, Staff Commander and Commodore’s Secretary had cabins on the Main Deck, with an additional cabin for visiting dignitaries, while a large fore cabin was used for Courts Martial, and a large deck space aft of the fore cabin was used for the dispensations of Petty Sessions and Divine Service, when the ship’s company attended on Sundays. The Lower Deck accommodated the officer’s wardroom and cabins, mess and galley, and Sick Bay; and lower were the ‘Flats’, some four feet below the waterline, where the torpedo armourer’s workshop, store rooms, entrances to magazines, steam . steering gear, sail room, band master’s store, chain lockers and other necessary workshops and stores were located. Apart from carrying the Commodore’s barge, thirteen other boats were also carried, including a 48 foot Picket Boat, a sailing launch, a steam pinnace and a steam cutter. On the 9th January 1882, the day after Nelson’s arrival in Sydney Harbour, Admiral J. C. Wilson visited the ship and two days later the Russian Admiral paid a visit. Both admirals were given 13 gun salutesIt was on the 20th January that Commodore Erskine hoisted his broad pennant and assumed command of the Australian Station. Nelson then underwent a thorough refit, coaled, provisioned and after an open day for visitors, she weighed and set sail for Hobart on the 11th February. Later voyages took Nelson to Melbourne, New Zealand, Fiji, Brisbane and Port Moresby. It is interesting to note that the ship arrived at Port Moresby on the 2nd November 1884 and on the 6th,

Page 10 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

Build me Straight O Worthy Master Staunch and Strong a Goodly Vessel

That shall Laugh at All Disaster And with Wave and Whirlwind Wrestle.

become British New Guinea, later Papua. The Commodore’s broad pennant was hauled down from Nelson in Sydney Harbour on the 14th January 1885. The flag of Rear- Admiral George Tryon, CB, was then hoisted. In the two years that followed, Tryon established the prestige and power of an increasingly important command which was to be followed by ten succeeding flag officers until 1913 when the last British Commander-in-Chief struck his flag. Tryon soon shifted from his Admiral’s cabin in the Nelson and took up residence in a fine mansion overlooking the harbour at Kirribilli, later to be known as

Page 11 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

Admiralty House. In 1893 as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, Tryon went down with his flagship Victoria when she collided with the the Camperdown. HMS Nelson was replaced as flagship of the Imperial Squadron in 1889 by the new First Class Cruiser HMS Orlando, a sister ship to the Australia. It was a sign of the times that the Orlando and her class were not rigged for sails. In 1902 the Nelson became a training ship and in 1910 she was sold for breaking up.

Bell Tower Perth The Bell Tower located on Riverside Drive overlooking the picturesque Swan River is one of Perth's most unique attractions. Filled with fascinating historic content and boasting a unique and distinctive design - resulting from a major architectural competition - it has become an icon for Perth and Western Australia. This historic ring of bells was given to the people of Western Australia as part of the national Bicentennial celebrations in 1988. Among its many attributes the Bell Tower includes the twelve bells of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which are recorded as being in existence from before the 14th century and recast in the 16th century by Queen Elizabeth I. The bells were again recast between 1725 and 1770 by three generations of the Rudhall family of bell founders from Gloucester in England, under the order of the Prince of Wales who was later crowned as King George II. They are one of the few sets of royal bells and are the only ones known to have left England. WWW

But most importantly they were the bells that rang out when news of the Battle of Trafalgar reached London. At long last, after much hard work in fund raising by a small Committee of the Nelson Society, a plaque has been placed in the Bell Tower to commemorate the peeling of those bells on that great occasion and to inform the general public of another important reason why the bells are so special.

At the Tower to open the display, Geoff and Ron Ingham, Mike Sargeant, and Deputy Mayor of Perth John Tognolini photo by Rob O’Connor

Taken on Trafalgar Day 2003 near the Bell Tower.

photo B Foster

Page 12 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

NELSON, NAPOLEON & WELLINGTON (or the story of the Whale and the Elephant)

Talk given by Mike Sargeant at the Maritime Museum, Fremantle, 21st October 2010

Before discussing the three central characters of my talk tonight, let me first set the scene for the clash between the Whale and the Elephant - as the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars have been described by some historians - an apt description as we shall see. The end of the eighteenth century brought tremendous changes to Europe in the form of two great transitions - one physical, the other cultural. The physical transition was the Industrial Revolution, at that time in its infancy and mainly confined to Britain; the cultural transition was The Enlightenment, which was more widespread and further developed than the Industrial Revolution. The Enlightenment was to philosophy and science what the Renaissance had been to art; it s p r a n g f r o m r a d i c a l n e w philosophical ideas about social order and the nature of man, giving birth to rational thought and the scientific method among other things, but also bringing war and huge social upheaval to much of Europe, the most obvious manifestation of which was the French Revolution. To borrow from Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...”. Britain was then probably the only country in Europe that would have qualified as an emerging modern state and it was certainly the most industrially and politically advanced. England had had its revolution more than a century and a half before the French, and the Civil War had completed a process that brought three important changes to Britain; firstly, the establishment of a constitutional monarchy; secondly, a form of democratically elected government; and thirdly, the separation of the powers of church and state. On the other hand, most of continental Europe was still in a semi-feudal state, with the Austrian Empire and northern Italy ruled by the Hapsburgs, and France, Spain and southern Italy by the Bourbons. Germany was still a collection of smaller dukedoms and principalities - the rump of the Holy Roman Empire (which as Voltaire correctly surmised was “neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire!”) - while on the fringes of Europe, Russia was ruled by a series of despotic Tsars and Turkey held dominion over the Ottoman Empire. Prior to the Revolution, France, the largest country in Europe, had a population of about 26 million of which 20 million were peasants or little better – the sans culottes of the subsequent Revolution. The nobility numbered approximately 400,000 while the church comprised a further 100,000; the remaining five or so million were the burgeoning middle class - the bourgeoisie. There was considerable resentment against the church in particular because it played a major role in the government of the state, yet it was exempt from taxation and only contributed on a purely voluntary, ad hoc basis. Most of the nobility were also exempt from tax, so that the main burden of taxation fell on the

‘third estate’ – i.e. the sans culottes and the bourgeoisie. By the late 1780s France was almost bankrupt following a series of expensive wars against Britain, and the King, Louis XVI, needed to increase taxes for which he required the consent of the French parliament - French parliament - the Estates General. On top of that, a series of harsh winters and poor harvests had

brought widespread food shortages to Northern Europe. Louis recalled the Estates General in May 1789 but his attempts to raise the necessary taxes were overtaken by increasing civil unrest, culminating in the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. Over the next three years the various revolutionary factions, spurred on by the underlying principles of The Enlightenment, wrestled for control while the King’s authority gradually ebbed away, until the monarchy was abolished in September 1792. Louis was executed in January 1793, beginning

the period commonly referred to as the Terror, which lasted for approximately 18 months until the fall of Robespierre at the end of July 1794. Thereafter, French political life began to stabilise although there was still considerable confusion and social unrest. Meanwhile, France had become embroiled in a series of wars that began in April 1792 when Austria and Prussia showed increasing signs of intervention in French affairs on behalf of the monarchy, and war with Britain, Spain and Holland broke out early in 1793, following the execution of Louis. The Revolutionary War, which lasted from 1792 until 1802, and its successor, the Napoleonic War, which continued from 1803 until 1815, were to eventually entangle just about every country in Europe - although most of them had an “on-again–off-again” war, alternating at various times between coalitions against France, interspersed with brief periods of neutrality and frequent, but usually reluctant, alliances with the French. Britain and France were to remain the principal belligerents throughout, although it wasn’t to be a simple confrontation between these two dominant powers. Many historians consider these wars to be the first instances of ‘total’ war in human history, requiring the mobilisation of the entire physical and economic resources of the state in furtherance of the war effort, good examples being France’s introduction of universal conscription and the widespread use of economic warfare. For Britain, having the largest navy in the world but lacking a significant army, it was to be a predominantly naval war with a two-pronged strategy, the first component being the restraint of enemy maritime trade and the protection of Britain’s trade with her own widespread overseas interests. By the end of the eighteenth century the Royal Navy had reached the peak of its efficiency and it held a reputation for professional excellence that was unrivalled in Europe.

Page 13 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

The fact that Britain had been at war almost continuously for sixty years was also significant; Nelson and his colleagues were part of a second or third generation of naval officers who were heirs to a proud tradition of superb seamanship and fighting abilities. Another factor contributing to the effectiveness of the Royal Navy was its organisational structure which included a worldwide network of dockyards as well as the great machine of naval administration itself. With its vast responsibilities in the Channel, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the West Indies and the Indian Ocean, even the largest navy in the World was stretched to the limit, and it was only through superior administration under such far-sighted First Lords as Spencer, Barham and St Vincent, that the Royal Navy was able to function effectively. One of the great benefits of naval power is of course its extreme flexibility, and Britain was able to use that flexibility to advantage. Her economy was starting to grow exponentially as the Industrial Revolution gathered pace; in addition to a huge increase in the production of armaments, Britain began producing large quantities of manufactured goods for sale overseas, and she was able to use her naval superiority to protect trade with the new markets she was developing in North America, the West Indies and South East Asia. At the same time that same naval superiority enabled her to severely constrain French and Spanish trade with their overseas possessions, and when some of those possessions fell into British hands, she was able to expand her markets further. Britain’s naval superiority and flexibility were also particularly useful in protecting her trade with the constantly changing neutral states of Europe, and to counter this Napoleon launched his own form of economic warfare with the introduction of the ‘Continental System’ in 1806. The Continental System attempted to prohibit all trade between Britain and the states and territories under French control – which at that time was most of Europe. However, it had limited success because of the high demand for British manufactured goods, and many ingenious ways were found to beat the system, but despite having a marked effect on the British economy in the early years of its operation, it was never as effective as the British embargo, principally because the Royal Navy was much more effective at enforcement. In addition to a flourishing economy, there were two other significant drivers of Britain’s successful prosecution of economic warfare - and indeed of her entire war effort - and they were the political stability that endured despite several changes of government between 1793 and 1815, and the strength and sophistication of the British financial system Both of these factors combined to produce sound and consistent taxation policies and prudent public borrowings, enabling Britain to finance not only her own, but also her various allies’ war efforts, as well as to survive a severe banking crisis in 1797 and the early strictures of the Continental System a decade later, without recourse to foreign lenders. The second strategic component of Britain’s naval war effort was direct confrontation with the enemy by blockading the French and Spanish fleets in their ports, and fighting a series of major naval actions that included the battles of Cape St. Vincent, the Nile and Trafalgar. Nevertheless, although the Royal Navy’s dominance was never seriously challenged, naval supremacy alone was not enough to win the war, as victory at

Trafalgar was to demonstrate. If France was to be defeated it could only be achieved by means of a land war; consequently for many years Britain, while remaining the focus of ongoing resistance against France, could only prosecute a proxy land war by financing the various coalitions against France and providing naval support wherever possible. France on the other hand, being the dominant military power in Europe but possessing only a relatively small navy, regarded naval warfare as a largely unwanted distraction, but her weak naval position prevented her from achieving outright victory for which the defeat of Britain was essential; hence the analogy of the Whale and the Elephant - although each side was able to dominate its respective theatre, neither could challenge the other in any meaningful or decisive way, and for most of the time the result was a stalemate - that is until 1808, when Britain finally established a substantial foothold in Portugal and the tide slowly began to turn against Napoleon and France. So this then was the stage upon which our three characters were to meet; let me now turn to the first of them – Horatio Nelson. When war between Britain and France broke out in February 1793, Nelson was 34 years old; he’d been ‘on the beach’ for a little over five years but with the outbreak of war came the prospect of employment and in May he joined the Mediterranean fleet under Lord Hood. Hood was impressed with Nelson’s remarkable grasp of naval strategy and geopolitics as well as his penchant for decisive and aggressive action, and gave him considerable latitude to exercise his initiative. The fleet’s main role was the interdiction of enemy coastal trade and, where possible, naval support for the Austrian army. Nelson was very active in the successful sieges of the Corsican ports of Bastia and Calvi, which for a short time became bases for the British fleet, and it was during the capture of Calvi that Nelson lost the use of his right eye. However, by late 1796 the Austrian position in Northern Italy was looking increasingly precarious and the Royal Navy’s presence in the Mediterranean was looking equally untenable. Sir John Jervis, who’d succeeded Hood as C-in-C, withdrew the British fleet to the Atlantic, adopting Lisbon as his new base, since Spain had now allied herself with France. In February 1797, the British and Spanish fleets met at the battle of Cape St Vincent, during which Nelson played a significant role in the subsequent British victory, as a result of which he received a knighthood. It was also the first indication that the British public received of the emerging hero. Following an abortive attack on Teneriffe in June 1797 during which he lost his right arm, Nelson, now a rear-admiral, was sent home to convalesce, convinced that his naval career was finished. However, after a prolonged recovery he rejoined the fleet in April 1798 and was immediately sent into the Mediterranean to keep watch on the port of Toulon where it was rumoured that Napoleon was making extensive preparations for the invasion of Egypt, but the French managed to give Nelson the slip and sailed from Toulon in May. Although unable to prevent Napoleon landing at Alexandria or his subsequent conquest of Egypt, Nelson nevertheless achieved a magnificent victory when he attacked the French fleet at sunset on 1 August 1798 as it lay at anchor in Aboukir Bay, and by sunrise the following morning, 11 of the 13 French ships-of-the-line had been captured or destroyed without British loss. Even Nelson

had trouble finding words to describe the aftermath of the battle when he wrote, “Victory is not a name strong enough for such a scene”. Not only was the battle of the Nile (as it came to be known) one of the most overwhelming victories in naval history, it was also a victory of spectacular strategic consequence; literally overnight the balance of power in the Mediterranean was reversed, with the Royal Navy now firmly in command and Napoleon and his army stranded in Egypt. Leaving Alexandria under blockade, Nelson sailed for Naples where he was to remain for almost two years, falling under spell of Emma Hamilton - the wife of Sir William Hamilton, British Ambassador to Naples - as a result damaging his personal and professional reputations in a series of controversial incidents, and by the time he left Naples in July 1800, Emma was carrying his child. Arriving in England in November, he was confronted by an anxious and suspicious wife. Making no attempt at reconciliation, Nelson completely rejected Fanny and the break was to be permanent, although open hostility was short-lived because early in the New Year he was promoted to Vice-Admiral and appointed second-in-command of an expeditionary force to the Baltic with the objective of dissuading Denmark from joining Russia and Sweden in an alliance with France. The battle of Copenhagen, which took place on 2 April 1801, was fought at anchor with heavy casualties on both sides. Fighting continued until mid-afternoon when Nelson, seeking to avoid further bloodshed, offered a truce and over the following days attempted to negotiate a permanent end to hostilities, although agreement only came with the news that the Tsar had been assassinated. Thus the alliance was stillborn and with hindsight the battle of Copenhagen proved to have been unnecessary; indeed it was a source of some embarrassment to the British Government, although Nelson was to regard it as one of his greatest victories. Returning to England in June, he was appointed to command a special squadron in the Channel. Invasion fears were rife and it was felt that an admiral of Nelson’s stature would have a reassuring effect on public confidence. However the appointment, although initially having the desired effect on morale, was not a success and Nelson left the squadron in October 1801. With the subsequent Peace of Amiens in March 1802 he remained unattached until war resumed in May 1803, when he was appointed to his final command as C-in-C of the Mediterranean Fleet, hoisting his flag in Victory. Nelson spent two years blockading the French fleet in Toulon while Napoleon continued with his invasion plans; then, in March 1805, the French fleet under Vice-Admiral Pierre Villeneuve escaped from Toulon. Nelson gave chase and followed him to the West Indies, but Villeneuve doubled back to Europe and Nelson returned to Spithead in August. Soon after he received news that Collingwood had trapped Villeneuve in Cadiz and he rejoined the fleet at the end of September, a few days short of his 47th birthday. The scene was now set for the major naval encounter of the war when, on 21 October 1805 the Combined fleets of France and Spain were decisively defeated at the battle of Trafalgar, during the course of which Nelson was mortally wounded. The news of Nelson’s death brought forth a huge outpouring of national grief on a scale never previously seen in Britain. In his short lifetime he’d achieved the equivalent of superstar status and he was given the largest and most elaborate funeral that London has ever seen. The son of a humble Norfolk parson, he

was laid to rest directly underneath the dome of Wren’s great masterpiece, in the very heart of the empire he’d helped to create. It was one of only a handful of state funerals that have been granted to a commoner. Nelson was renowned among other things for his bravery, his coolness under fire and more particularly his leadership, but underlying all of these attributes was a tremendous intestinal fortitude, a moral courage that derived from an exceptionally active, clear-thinking mind which, when combined with a natural decisiveness, produced within him a tremendous self-confidence. : He was always prepared to back his judgement and to take full responsibility for all of his decisions, whether they proved to be right (which they usually were) or wrong. As he said after the battle of Copenhagen - when he’d reputedly “turned a blind eye”- “I have fought contrary to orders, and I shall perhaps be hanged” never mind, let them”. But then again, as with most of his controversial decisions he was lucky enough to avail himself of the universal naval truth that ‘if you succeed, no question is asked, if you fail, no answer will be sufficient’! In an age when military commanders invariably demanded blind and unquestioned obedience from their subordinates, Nelson encouraged and indeed expected initiative from his captains. He engaged in ‘team-building’ long before it became a fashionable management concept, taking his captains into his confidence and explaining his plans in detail, giving them full authority to use their own judgement. His final instruction before Trafalgar that “in case signals can be neither seen or perfectly understood, no captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of an enemy” was a masterpiece of simplicity and clarity. But Nelson was also a man of great contrasts: incredibly vain, yet lacking arrogance and always quick to acknowledge and praise brilliance and success in others; deeply religious, yet at times, quite amoral. Although incredibly disciplined and self-confident as a leader of men, in his relationships with women he was often unsure of himself and at other times almost childishly self-indulgent. He was a firm and sometimes harsh disciplinarian, although his understanding and compassion towards those in genuine hardship was manifest. Yet in spite of his many faults and failings that reveal him as being essentially human, Nelson has achieved undying fame as a hero of almost godlike stature. Commenting after Trafalgar, Villeneuve paid tribute to Nelson and the British fleet, saying that, “to any other Nation the loss of a Nelson would have been irreparable, but in

Page 14 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

Page 15 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

the British Fleet off Cadiz, every Captain was a Nelson.” However, perhaps the ultimate compliment was to come from none other than Napoleon himself, when he told Captain Maitland of Bellerophon after his surrender in July 1815, "If it had not been for you English, I should have been Emperor of the East; but wherever there is water to float a ship, we are sure to find you in our way." He was also heard to complain on a later occasion that “In all my plans I have always been thwarted by the British fleet”. Trafalgar was the culmination of an entirely new philosophy of British naval warfare that emerged at the end of the eighteenth century – complete naval domination through use of the blockade and the total destruction of the enemy when brought to battle – and Horatio Nelson was the chief architect of this new philosophy. He changed the way that the British public defined a naval victory; no longer were they to be content with the capture of a few ships - the enemy must be annihilated. While Nelson’s victory at the Nile curbed Napoleon’s ambitions for the expansion of French interests to India and beyond, his even more significant victory at Trafalgar was to put Napoleon’s oriental ambitions beyond reach for all time, and although it didn’t win the war for Britain, it scotched any further thought of invasion and made an important contribution to Napoleon’s ultimate defeat at Waterloo ten years later, as well as to a hundred years of peace in Europe. Significantly, it came at an opportune time for Britain’s burgeoning economy; victory at Trafalgar increased Britain’s maritime dominance, accelerating her economic and political development establishing unchallenged spheres of influence in every corner of the globe, encouraging a rapid expansion of trade and the creation of the largest empire the world has ever seen. However, Britain wasn’t the only nation in pursuit of an empire - the second of my subjects tonight – Napoleon Bonaparte - also had imperial ambitions. In addition to being a military genius, Napoleon was a politician and administrator of some note, although his legacy is somewhat complicated, depending upon whether you’re French or not! He first came to public attention in 1793 when, as a young captain of artillery, he was seconded to the Republican army besieging the royalist forces in Toulon. He was instrumental in reducing the siege within three months, and his grasp of military strategy so impressed his seniors that, after the fall of Toulon to the Republicans in December 1793, he was promoted to brigadier-general. Although the Revolutionary War started as a defensive war as France sought to stave off foreign intervention in her internal affairs, it quickly became a war of territorial acquisition once Napoleon reached a position of authority. His first taste of overall command was to set the pattern; the Italian campaign that began in 1796 was initially conceived

to defeat Austria and destroy the First Coalition - and these objectives were quickly achieved - but by the time the campaign finished in April 1797, Napoleon had established himself as a sort of proconsul over all of Northern Italy, reorganising the civil administration of the conquered territories and exacting tribute through heavy taxation and the systematic confiscation of Italian art treasures, for the benefit of himself

and his family as well as the French government. He managed to accomplish all of this without him the authority of, or even reference to, the Directory back in Paris, who n e v e r t h e l e s s p u b l i c l y acquiesced to his audacity while quietly pocketing the loot! Alas, pillaging was to become one of the hallmarks of all Napoleon’s campaigns and a necessary component of the financing of his many wars. At the same time the Directory was placed on notice that the young

Corsican major-general’s ambition knew no bounds and they could either accommodate him or deny at their peril. In the end it didn’t matter because in August 1799, Napoleon took matters into his own hands when he escaped from Alexandria, which was still under blockade following the defeat of the French fleet at the battle of the Nile a year earlier. He reached Paris in November, mounting a coup d’état with the help of his brother Lucien, and the Brumaire coup, as it came to be known, established the Consulate, a triumvirate of which Napoleon was appointed First Consul. During the four and a half years of the Consulate’s existence, Napoleon consolidated power by systematically eliminating his political enemies - and a failed assassination attempt in December 1800 only strengthened his resolve. A pragmatist and strong believer in orderly government, he also reorganised the civil administration of France, introducing the Civil Code (later to be named the ‘Code Napoleon’ following his translation to Emperor) and negotiating the Concordat, an agreement between the Vatican and Paris that restored Catholicism as the dominant religion of France, but significantly, specifically precluded church interference in matters of state. On the military front, a series of treaties in 1801 and ‘02 established a temporary peace in Europe, including the Peace of Amiens in March 1802, which brought a short-lived peace between France and Britain; it appeared that war was finally over and a collective sigh of relief was heard right across Europe – but not for long; Napoleon had merely paused to regain his breath while he planned his biggest campaign to date - the invasion of England - and war with Britain resumed in May 1803. By 1804 he was the undisputed ruler of France and in December he crowned himself Emperor of the French, although the achievement of his ultimate goal had not slaked his thirst for war – if anything it had only whetted his appetite.

To be continued in the April newsletter.

Sailor men afeared of the sea gits drowned, Sailor men wot aint afeared of the sea gits drowned more often.

Page 16 The Nelson Society Newsletter, January, 2010

The Nelson Society of Australia Inc Patron: Commodore David J Orr. RAN (Ret’d )Honorary Life President: Graham Perkins

Honorary Chaplain: Rev Joe Newbold

COMMITTEE 2009-2010 Office Bearers: Chairman: Mike Sargeant Vice Chairman: Bob Woollett Secretary Richard Savage Treasurer/Membership Secretary John Lyall OTHER POSITIONS Newsletter: Betty Foster, (editor), Bob Woollett, (assistant editor) Ted Collinson and Rob O’Connor, (photos) Lilian Toomer. (distribution) Nelson Dispatch Distribution: Gwen Phillips SUB COMMITTEES Memorial Service: Richard Savage (Chair), Ron Ingham, John Caskey, John Ashworth and Mike Sargeant. Bell Tower Display Ron Ingham and Mike Sargeant

THE NELSON SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA (INC). Membership Application/Renewal Form for 2010.

PLEASE ENTER ALL INFORMATION IN CAPITALS.

Preferred First Name…………..………………Last Name…………………………………… Home Postal Address…………………………………………………………..... Suburb………………………………………State……………………………P/C……… Telephone Home…………………………….Office…………………………Mobile………………………..... Email address…………………………………………………………………………………… I hereby apply to join/renew my membership and enclose herewith annual subscription $30.00. Cheques/Postal Orders should be made payable to The Nelson Society of Australia (Inc). Internet Banking to BSB 806-015 Account 230345. At Narration please give surname & initials. Signed………………………………………. Date………………………………………….

Post to: Membership Officer, N.S.A. (Inc),

Mr. John Lyall, 184 Mitchell House AFME, Bull Creek Drive, Bull Creek WA 6149

Committee Members: Ron Ingham, Gillian Mead, (Minutes Sec.) Lilian Toomer, Rob O’Connor.

Catering: Position vacant Pickle Night Bob Woollett, (coordinator) Betty Foster and John Caskey Reception: Cynthia and John Lyall