HMS Victory Pocket Manual 1805

Admiral Nelson's Flagship At Trafalgar

HMS Victory Pocket Manual 1805 cover

HMS Victory Pocket Manual 1805

Admiral Nelson's Flagship At Trafalgar

Description

A history of life on board HMS Victory, the world's most famous warship.

This addition to the best-selling Conway pocket-book range explores Admiral Nelson's fully preserved flagship HMS Victory, the most tangible symbol of the Royal Navy's greatest battle off Cape Trafalgar on October 21st 1805.

Peter Goodwin, the leading historian of the sailing man-of-war, explains the workings of the only surviving 'line of battle' ship of the Napoleonic Wars. And, as Victory was engaged in battle for only two per cent of her active service, the book also provides a glimpse into life and work at sea during the other ninety-eight per cent of the time.

Drawing from a selection of contemporary documents and records, Goodwin explains the day-to-day running of a three-decker Georgian warship: victualling, organisation, discipline, domestic arrangements and medical care. He answers questions such as: 'What types of wood were used in building Victory?'; 'What was her longest voyage?'; 'How many shots were fired from her guns at Trafalgar?'; 'How many boats did Victory carry?'; 'What was prize money?'; 'What was grog?'; 'When did her career as a fighting ship end?', and 'How many people visit Victory each year?'

Illustrated with black and white diagrams of the ship and maps, this is a full history of the world's most famous warship in a highly accessible pocket-book format.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1 Building the Victory
2 Victory's sea service
3 Entering the ship and the Georgian Navy
4 Manning the ship
5 Living in the ship
6 Conditions of service
7 The Royal Marines
8 Learning the ropes
9 Ship's boats and boat work
10 Anchors aweigh
11 Victory's ordnance
12 Training the great guns
13 The broadside of battle
14 'Boarders away'
15 Trafalgar (Al-Tarafal-al Aghar)
16 Sawbones and sick berth
17 Nelson, hero of the Victory

APPENDICES
A1 The Victory's sailing qualities
A2 Watches, ship's time and daily routine at sea
A3 Quantity of shot and gunpowder expended at the Battle of Trafalgar
A4 The Victory's battle casualties killed in action

List of primary sources
Index

Product details

Published 25 Jan 2018
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 160
ISBN 9781472834072
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations More than 50 line artworks and maps
Series General Military
Short code GNM
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Peter Goodwin

Peter Goodwin is widely acknowledged as one of the…

Resources

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