Continuing to work through the papers of Viscount Exmouth, Admiral Sir Edward Pellew (1757-1833), I have now reached the period immediately after the Napoleonic wars. But while Europe breathed a collective sigh of relief, the Admiralty had other plans for Pellew…
Bombardment of Algiers
In 1816, Pellew was sent to Algiers to negotiate a treaty for the end of Christian slavery and the release of prisoners. For hundreds of years the Barbary states, Algiers, Tunisia and Tripoli, had attacked European merchant ships and taken prisoners into slavery. Having negotiated treaties with Tripoli and Tunisia, Algiers was the last of the Barbary states to resist.
As well as copies of the treaties made with Tripoli and Tunisia, the manuscript collection includes a full and fascinating report of the negotiations between Pellew and the Dey of Algiers. Pellew writes that he calls the Dey’s attention to:
‘the spirit of resistance that is rising in all Europe against the practices their squadrons have latterly indulged in and more especially the system pursued of retaining their prisoners in slavery and that such was the general feeling of indignation which this revolting practice had created that if persisted in he would have all the world in arms against him’.
Despite the discussions continuing with ‘great animation for more than three hours’ and being renewed again the next day, a satisfactory conclusion was not reached. Two and a half months later Pellew returned with a squadron and an ultimatum. The bombardment of Algiers was the result, finally breaking the power of the Algerines. Pellew was created Viscount Exmouth for this, the crowning exploit of his career.
Fighting the Yankees
In my second post I mentioned the Admiralty material which dominates the collection. Some of this is fairly routine in nature, concerning promotions, punishments, prizes and accounts. Much of the correspondence does not even concern Pellew directly, but offers insight into the wide ranging responsibilities of a commander in chief during the Napoleonic wars.
For example, in 1813, war with the United States also meant ships of the infant American navy might make an appearance in the Mediterranean. The previous year 3 British frigates Guerierre, Macedonian and Java, had all been lost to the Americans, creating uproar in England. How could such losses occur to a navy barely heard of? The Java had been nowhere near American waters, merely on the way to India with the new Governor General of Bombay. The U.S. frigates were large, fine and well-armed, and the Admiralty struggled to find ships to match them.
I was therefore not surprised to find in the collection the Admiralty order of 1813, warning that their Lordships ‘do not conceive that any of his Majesty’s frigates should attempt to engage single handed, the larger class of American ships, which though they may be called frigates, are of a size, complement and weight of metal much beyond that class and more ressembling a line of battle ship’. Their Lordships went on to advise that a captain ought to ‘ endeavour to manouvre and keep company with them, without coming to action, in the hope of falling in with some other of his Majesty’s ships, with their assistance, the enemy might be attacked with a resaonable hope of success.’.
All these things a commander-in-chief needed to be aware of, as well as keeping a weather eye on the French!
Martin (Manuscripts cataloguer)
We discovered recently that Of Ships and Stars – our published history – is available online via Google Book Search. This is what they have to say about it:
Of Ships and Stars provides a full historical account of the development of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Using all available public records, it places the story of the museum in the context of the social and political history of Britain from the 1920s to the millennium. It examines such diverse subjects as British imperialism and the part played by national museums and galleries in reflecting national identity; the changing role of the Navy; the art market and the world Depression of the 1930s; the growth of mass society, leisure and tourism; and the increasing influence of management and government policy.
Unfortunately it’s not all there: there seems to be a chunk missing between p. 123 and p. 158. This might be a navigation problem with Google Book Search, as keyword search results will sometimes find the missing pages.
It’s fascinating reading though, especially the description of the building of the Caird Library and rotunda. It began as: “a simple plan by the SNR to commission a bust of Sir James Caird” and ended with: “this Caird Rotunda, lined in Tivoli and Golden Travertine marble, and incorporating a fluted frieze with Caird’s coat of arms above the library door”. It may have cost a fair bit (£5,760) in 1937 terms but it is lovely.
Renée (Digital Resources Librarian)
Archive Journeys are held every Thursday at 2.30pm in the E-Library, and are an excellent opportunity for visitors to experience some of our most famous historical moments and figures first hand. Showcasing documents and treasures you may not otherwise see, they are a must for any Museum visitor!
Polar Exploration
As the International Polar Year sees scientists uncovering more of the secrets of our polar regions than ever before, our Polar Exploration Archive Journey looks back over the spectacular, and often gruesome, history of polar exploration.
The talk includes some of Shackleton’s original letters from his first expedition with Scott, and photographs from his last expedition aboard the Quest.
Everyone has heard of the harrowing ordeals of the Arctic summer, when explorers would strike out towards the pole, however few know the hardships of the Arctic winter. Trapped in the cold and dark with few supplies and only your shipmate’s company, the men and their captains would go to extraordinary lengths to keep the team together and keep up morale.
The Polar Exploration Archive Journey includes a significant amount of material from the Assistance, the ship which discovered the remains of Franklin’s doomed voyage on the Discovery. Trapped in the frozen Arctic Sea for six months of night the crew would organize balls, plays and even ran their own newspaper!
Leah (Customer Services Library Assistant)
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History is a just-published encyclopedia about all things ships and the sea. It’s edited by John Hattendorf of the U.S. Naval War College (who also publish the Naval War College Review), and contains over 940 entries on topics including naval history, shipbuilding, navigation and scientific instrumentation, and maritime art and literature.
The library is getting two versions – the online ebook version and the four volume print set. The online Encyclopedia is available now from the E-Library, and we’ll have the print version soon (print takes a bit longer to arrive in the post).
I’m really excited about it as a new electronic resource for the E-Library – I think it gives a nice introduction to most of our key subjects, plus others (like dazzle painting and the Great Eastern) that are dear to our hearts here in the library.
Renée (Digital Resources Librarian)
Having introduced the Pellew manuscript collection in my last post, I thought it would be good to examine some of the gems unearthed so far.
The collection spans Pellew’s entire career, though unfortunately there is little before he was made an Admiral in 1804. Most of the material dates from his time as Commander in Chief of the Mediterranean, between 1810 and 1814. Many of his letters begin ‘Caledonia off Toulon…’, written from his flagship as he kept watch on the French. There are vast amounts of correspondence to and from the Admiralty and to the captains under his command.
There is also a good deal of correspondence relating to the fighting and supplying of Lord Wellington’s troops on the Spanish Peninsula, including letters in Wellington’s own hand. Later material concerns relations and treaties with the Barbary States and the bombardment of Algiers in 1816. The following are some of the highlights so far:
• Pellew’s Action, 1813- : Despite the setback of Trafalgar in 1805, the French navy continued to build and arm, and on 5 November 1813, part of the Toulon fleet ventured out and was very nearly brought to battle by Pellew’s blockading squadron. There are several letters concerning this ‘partial action’, and their Lordships consequent ‘satisfaction at the gallant conduct shown on this occasion by the officers and ships company of the Caledonia and Boyne…’ in this ‘partial action with the rear of the Enemy’s squadron from Toulon’. There is no sign yet of Pellew’s own report on the incident. This was as close as Pellew and his squadron ever got to getting at the French fleet and it is easy to imagine how wearing this must have been after years of blockading these same ships.
• The collection demonstrates how much French naval activity continued to worry the Admiralty right up till the end of the Napoleonic wars. This is evident in the number of ‘statement[s] of the Enemy’s naval force and preparations’, throughout the Mediterranean dating from 1811 to 1813. There are 95 of these statements! According to my maths, this means that nearly once a week, Pellew was being sent intelligence on French naval activity from somewhere in the Mediterranean…
Martin (Manuscripts Cataloguer)
This previous item of the month is just too good to miss. Lieutenant Peter Alexander Halkett’s design for a cloak-boat, held in our rare book collection, is a portable boat constructed of macintosh india-rubber cloth, with a paddle, umbrella sail and bellows. So, it’s not a boat-cloak, but a cloak-boat.
Seriously, this is a genius idea. Somebody should tell Dave Gorman.
Renée (Digital Resources Librarian)
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British History Online contains core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of Britain. Most of the content is open access, however the Calendars of State Papers are subscriber only.
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This website is a bibliographic database with abstracts of selected key Parliamentary Papers from 1688-1995. The database includes details such as: Title, Author, Series, Publisher, detailed Abstract and Library of Congress Subject Headings.
In one of my first posts on this blog I asked if the library still needed its current print subscription to Lloyd’s List.
One person commented to say that yes, we did, because it was an important part of being a maritime reference library. Off-blog, staff told me that the latest Lloyd’s is often consulted when something big happens – but not always immediately. Because we can’t predict when a maritime disaster is about to occur, and when people will want to follow it up, it’s therefore wise to have the latest Lloyd’s List on hand.
What we did was take a look at our Lloyd’s List subscriptions and decide that we could make them a bit more accessible. We’ll still have the daily print edition for the time being, but it will now be available from the E-Library in the lounge area. So if you’re passing by you can have a read of the latest paper without having to go through to the Reading Room. This is a bit of a trial, so if you like it please tell us – either leave a comment here on the blog or let a member of staff know in the library.
We’ve also increased our online access, so you can now search Lloyd’s List online for news and articles from the last 16 years; a big improvement from microfilm. Lloyd’s List online is also available from the E-Library – just ask staff at the desk to log you in.
Renée (Digital Resources Librarian)
January 2008 marks the 150th anniversary of the launch of the SS Great Eastern, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s last great steamship and for several years the largest ship ever to be built.
She was conceived as a passenger liner which would be capable of taking passengers from England to the Far East and Australia without needing to refuel, and the vast proportions of the ship were designed to allow it to do so. However, the ship was actually too large to fit down the Suez Canal and therefore travelling to the Indian Ocean and beyond was too slow for the needs of many people, who could gain passage on a smaller, faster ship for less money.
The original grandeur of the interior with its elaborate state room and white and gold ‘Grand Saloon’ was removed when the Great Eastern became a cable-laying vessel in 1864, just six years after her original launch. She laid one of the first transatlantic telegraph cables.
The ship was seen by some as cursed due to the large number of disasters and accidents that surrounded her. The shipbuilders went massively overbudget; the launch was a shambles with the ship being dragged a few inches a day for three months after the intended launch date of November 1857; several people died in accidents during the launch; and there is a story that a man fitting rivets to the hull was trapped and that a ghostly hammering continued for years to come. His body was said to have been discovered when the Great Eastern was broken up. The ship also bankrupted several companies that took her on. She ended her career in Liverpool as a floating billboard, before being broken up in 1888.
To commemorate the anniversary, Kate and I have curated a small display of some of the library and manuscript collections relating to ‘the Big Ship’. Highlights include sheet music written especially to commemorate the ship in the early 1860s, a manuscript report from Captain James Walker detailing damage sustained by the ship during a storm off the coast of Ireland in September 1861, and a Great Eastern-themed children’s alphabet book from 1862.
Other Great Eastern items in the collection include:
- An 1857 pamphlet with details of the ship including cross-sectional plans (PBA5283)
- A manuscript diary kept by James Ford, crew member, during a cable laying voyage on board the Great Eastern, 1866 (JOD/227)
- A medical log from the ship kept from 1869-1870 (LOG/M/17)
- A logbook kept by Robert Halpin, commander on a cable-laying voyage to Newfoundland and back, May-Sep 1873 (LOG/M/37)
- A sketch shewing the position of the Great Eastern when trying to recover the end of the Atlantic telegraph cable (MRY298:10/3)
- “Particulars and conditions of sale of the steam ship Great Eastern which will be sold by auction … on the 28th day of October 1885″ (PBC5463)
- Papers relating to the Great Eastern and the first Atlantic cables (TCM/16)
- Journals kept by Norman Scott Russell on the Great Eastern’s maiden voyage (MSS/82/100.0 and MSS/82/100.1)
Tanya (Reader Services Librarian)
I got some exciting news last month – both the Guardian and the Economist have been busy digitising their backfiles, and are about to launch online archives. The Guardian Digital Archive includes the Guardian from 1821-1975 (1976-2003 will be added next year) and the Observer from 1900-1975 (but – exciting! – from next year will go back to 1791).
The Economist Historical Archive covers 1843-2003 and will be available from December. I actually got to see a beta version of the Economist a while back and offer some usability feedback (nice customer service touch from the sales rep, I thought).
Anyway, the Guardian is offering free access during November and it’s worth having a look. You have to create an account and register for a 24 hour ‘timed pass’, but once you’ve done that you can view, print, and email images aplenty.
Renée (Digital Resources Librarian)