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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 359
EAN num: 9781861761774
ISBN number: 1861761775
Label: Greenhill Books
Manufacturer: Greenhill Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: February 02, 2006
Publishing house: Greenhill Books
Sale Popularity Level: 347987
Studio: Greenhill Books
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Product Description:
In the summer of 1805 the Mediterranean Fleet made a 6,686-mile round trip to the West Indies: the Franco-Spanish fleet it was chasing buried a thousand men at Martinique, but Nelson reported his fleet in the most perfect health, except some symptoms of scurvy, with no death from sickness. This was the standard set by the Royal Navy that was maintained until Napoleon was finally defeated, and not surpassed until the post-modern era.
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Rated by buyers 
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This is quite different from your "normal" naval history of the period. You are not getting the action, the drama, the blood of a great sea battle. Instead, you get the minutae of everyday life at sea on a British 74. The Splendid is mythical--a composite of various ships and sources--but it's a typical 74. Right away you are given a feeling for the role of a line-of-battle ship. At Austerlitz, Napoleon had artillery firing a weight of shot of 1462lbs. For the British invasion of Egypt, they had 40 cannon (plus 6 howitzers) firing a weight of 336lbs. In the Peninsula, Wellington had 18 cannon (plus 2 howitzers) and a shot weight of 81lbs. A 74 with carronades fired a weight of 1852lbs. Then you can contemplate, say, a 130-gun very first rate. The crew of a 74 numbered 640, with 34 named naval trades (e.g. sailmaker, etc). So for a 74 to be a smooth-running and functional weapon of war is no mean feat.
The book describes a day in the life of a ship--a very ordinary day. Many authors might have chosen Trafalgar or the Saintes, or a day with lots of action and interaction. That approach has been used often. But here, it's just an ordinary day. So you see the details of holystoning the decks, breakfast, punishments, mending sails and ropes. You follow the activities of the ordinary seamen, the skilled tradesmen, the officers, surgeons, chaplains, etc. Everything is carefully organized--it must be, on a densely-packed 74. If you thought that the world of a 74 revolved around the ship's bells (e.g. 3 bells) you'd be partly correct--pocket watches were becoming more common at that time.
You get a fine appreciation of the life, and by and large, it's not one that you might envy unless scrubbing the heads in a rough sea appeals to you, and if you're an officer, the life may not be a whole lot better. There are instances related in the book of an officer arriving a few minutes late on deck (not during a battle) and being court-martialed for it. There are appendices full of details about ships' stores (Puttock Plates, 1 Cwt, iron shovels, 18 lbs, etc). An interesting and usually unthought-of component were candles--below decks was a dark and rather airless place indeed, and you read about efforts to improve the situation. So this will make a fine addition to your history bookshelf--it's a well-told tale.
Rated by buyers 
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This book covers ground familiar to sea-story readers, but does it with an interesting twist. The ship is imaginary, but typical, with the events of a routine day covered from a to z (or 4 AM to 4 AM). It is well done, and will be of particular interest to beginners in the field.
Rated by buyers -
Using a wide variety of sources including Regulations and Instructions, published memoirs, journals, and excepts from a generous list of court-martial records, the author combines this wealth of data and recorded experience to narrate one twenty-four day of a fictional 74-gun ship-of-the line, the Splendid, to illustrate the daily routine of a 74's officers and crew. The day takes place on 14 June 1810 and follows in outline the actual activities of the Conqueror (74) to Port Mahon in Minorca, tasked to resupply the Channel Fleet blockading Toulon.
Within this framework, divided into 4-hour watches, the author discusses in considerable detail the ships organisation and routine, personal attitudes, sleeping, measurement of time, washing the decks, the difficulties of washing clothes, the strong emphasis on cleanliness, drill, the sick, punishment, food and eating times, gunnery, the problem of alcohol, so that the reader learns what each section of the crew would be going during each watch.
The reader gains the strongest insights into this world through the extracts from court-martials. The author uses these to clarify the organizational structure, problems of discipline (with the trigger often being abuse of alcohol or a breach of social etiquette) and to explain exactly what happened on board ship, and often record complete conversations. In the author's words, they also help to explain "who was where, when and why - and whether they were meant to be."
Particularly interesting was how dark it was on board, even in daylight, and that most crew members lived in a world of gloom where identifying the person subsequent to you was often very difficult.
This is a very comprehensive and exhaustive study of life at sea, full of both anecdotes and facts. Included is an inboard profile and plan map of the decks and holds of a 74, as well as lists of ships complements, slop stores, boatswain, carpenters and ordnance stores. There is a lot of jargon, but this is always in context and stimulates the reader to research further afield.
This title is thoroughly researched and written in a easily written style which uses its goldmine of factual detail very effectively to take the reader on board a '74'. I enjoyed this book very much.
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