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HMS Scylla (1809)
HMS ''Scylla'' was an 18-gun ''Cruizer''-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. The first to bear the name ''Scylla'', she was launched in 1809 and broken up in 1846. Napoleonic Wars Commander Arthur Atchison commissioned ''Scylla'' in September 1809. On the morning of 8 May 1811, ''Scylla'' was off the Isle of Bas when she observed a convoy of five vessels under the escort of a naval brig. After a chase of two hours, ''Scylla'' caught up with the convoy and opened fire. Being close to shore and with prospects of running on shore to evade capture, the brig resisted strongly. Finding himself among Les Triagos and Pontgalo rocks, and fearing that the French would be able to beach themselves, Atchison ran ''Scylla'' into the brig while travelling at eight knots. Within two minutes the British had captured the brig. The brig was the ''Cannonière'', of ten 4-pounder guns, one 24-pounder carronade, and four swivel guns, and 77 men under the command of ''enseigne de vaiseau'' Jean J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Topsham, Devon
Topsham (, also ) is a town in Devon, England, located on the east side of the River Exe, immediately north of its confluence with the River Clyst and the former's estuary, between Exeter and Exmouth. Topsham is a historic port and was designated a town by a 1300 royal charter granted by Edward I; it was formally amalgamated into the City of Exeter in 1966. The town is served by Topsham railway station, about midway on the branch line from Exeter Central to Exmouth, now called the Avocet Line; 2011 saw the 150th anniversary of the railway coming to Topsham. The electoral ward of Topsham had a population recorded at 5,519 in the 2011 census, though this ward extends further northwest and includes the east half of Countess Wear as well as the new suburb of Newcourt. History The native Celtic settlement of Topsham became the port of the Roman city of Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the first century AD, and continued to serve it until the Roman occupation of southern Britain cea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
£sd
£sd (occasionally written Lsd, spoken as "pounds, shillings and pence" or pronounced ) is the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies once common throughout Europe, especially in the British Isles and hence in several countries of the British Empire and subsequently the Commonwealth. The abbreviation originates from the Latin currency denominations '' librae'', ''solidi'', and ''denarii''. In the United Kingdom, these were referred to as '' pounds'', ''shillings'', and '' pence'' (''pence'' being the plural of ''penny''). Although the names originated from popular coins in the classical Roman Empire, their definitions and the ratios between them were introduced and imposed across Western Europe by the Emperor Charlemagne. The £sd system was the standard across much of the European continent (France, Italy, Germany, etc.) for nearly a thousand years, until the decimalisations of the 18th and 19th centuries. As the United Kingdom remained one of the few countries reta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashire was created by the Local Government Act 1972. It is administered by Lancashire County Council, based in Preston, and twelve district councils. Although Lancaster is still considered the county town, Preston is the administrative centre of the non-metropolitan county. The ceremonial county has the same boundaries except that it also includes Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, which are unitary authorities. The historic county of Lancashire is larger and includes the cities of Manchester and Liverpool as well as the Furness and Cartmel peninsulas, but excludes Bowland area of the West Riding of Yorkshire transferred to the non-metropolitan county in 1974 History Before the county During Roman times the area was part of the Bri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.24 million. On the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the county of Lancashire. It became a borough in 1207, a city in 1880, and a county borough independent of the newly-created Lancashire County Council in 1889. Its growth as a major port was paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, and raw materials such as coal and cotton, merchants were involved in the slave trade. In the 19th century, Liverpool was a major port of departure for English and Irish emigrants to North America. It was also home to both the Cunard and White Star Lines, and was the port of registry of the ocean li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post Captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy. The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from: * Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) addressed as captain regardless of rank; * Commander (Royal Navy), Commanders, who received the title of captain as a courtesy, whether they currently had a command or not (e.g. the fictional Captain Jack Aubrey in ''Aubrey-Maturin series#Master and Commander, Master and Commander'' or the fictional Captain Horatio Hornblower in ''Hornblower and the Hotspur''); this custom is now defunct. In the Royal Navy of the 18th and 19th centuries, an officer might be promoted from commander to captain, but not have a command. Until the officer obtained a command, he was "on the beach" and on half-pay. An officer "took post" or was "made post" when he was first commissioned to command a vessel. Usually this was a rating system of the Royal Navy, ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Striking The Colours
Striking the colors—meaning lowering the flag (the "colors") that signifies a ship's or garrison's allegiance—is a universally recognized indication of surrender, particularly for ships at sea. For a ship, surrender is dated from the time the ensign is struck. In international law "Colours. A national flag (or a battle ensign). The colours . . . are hauled down as a token of submission." International law absolutely requires a ship of war to fly its ensign at the commencement of any hostile acts, i.e., before firing on the enemy. During battle there is no purpose in striking the colors other than to indicate surrender. It was and is an offense to continue to fight after striking one's colors, and an offense to continue to fire on an enemy after she has struck her colors, unless she indicates by some other action, such as continuing to fire or seeking to escape, that she has not truly surrendered. For this reason, striking the colors is conclusive evidence of a surrender ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third rate ships embodied the best compromise between sailing ability (speed, handling), firepower, and cost. So, while first-rates and second-rates were both larger and more powerful, third-rate ships were the optimal configuration. Rating When the rating system was first established in the 1620s, the third rate was defined as those ships having at least 200 but not more than 300 men; previous to this, the type had been classified as "middling ships". By the 1660s, the means of classification had shifted from the number of men to the number of carriage-mounted guns, and third rates at that time mounted between 48 and 60 guns. By the turn of the century, the criterion boundaries had increased and third rate carried more than 60 guns, with seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seventy-four (ship)
The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-developed 64-gun ships. Impressed with the performance of several captured French seventy-fours, the British Royal Navy quickly adopted similar designs, classing them as third rates. The type then spread to the Spanish, Dutch, Danish and Russian navies. The design was considered a good balance between firepower and sailing qualities. Hundreds of seventy-fours were constructed, becoming the dominant form of ship-of-the-line. They remained the mainstay of most major fleets into the early 19th century. From the 1820s, they began to be replaced by larger two-decked ships mounting more guns. However some seventy-fours remained in service until the late 19th century, when they were finally supplanted by ironclads. Standardising on a common ship s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ushant
Ushant (; br, Eusa, ; french: Ouessant, ) is a French island at the southwestern end of the English Channel which marks the westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and, in medieval terms, Léon. In lower tiers of government, it is a commune in the Finistère department. It is the only place in Brittany, save for Brittany itself, with a separate name in English. Geography Neighbouring islets include Keller Island () and Kadoran () to the north. The channel between Ushant and Keller is called the . Ushant marks a southern limit of the Celtic Sea and the southern end to the western English Channel, the northern end being the Isles of Scilly, southwest of Land's End in Cornwall, England. According to definitions of the International Hydrographic Organization the island lies outside the English Channel and is in the Celtic Sea. The island is a rocky landmass at most , covering . History Ushant is famous for its maritime past, both as a fishing community ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
League (unit)
A league is a unit of length. It was common in Europe and Latin America, but is no longer an official unit in any nation. Derived from an ancient Celtic unit and adopted by the Romans as the ''leuga'', the league became a common unit of measurement throughout western Europe. It may have originally represented, roughly, the distance a person could walk in an hour. Since the Middle Ages, many values have been specified in several countries. Different definitions Ancient Rome The league was used in Ancient Rome, defined as 1½ Roman miles (7,500 Roman feet, modern 2.2 km or 1.4 miles). The origin is the ''leuga Gallica'' ''(also: leuca Callica)'', the league of Gaul. Argentina The Argentine league (''legua'') is or 6,666 ''varas'': 1 ''vara'' is . English-speaking world On land, the league is most commonly defined as three miles (4.83km), though the length of a mile could vary from place to place and depending on the era. At sea, a league is . English usage also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mast (sailing)
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation light, look-out position, signal yard, control position, radio aerial or signal lamp. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship. Nearly all sailing masts are guyed. Until the mid-19th century, all vessels' masts were made of wood formed from a single or several pieces of timber which typically consisted of the trunk of a conifer tree. From the 16th century, vessels were often built of a size requiring masts taller and thicker than could be made from single tree trunks. On these larger vessels, to achieve the required height, the masts were built from up to four sections (also called masts). From lowest to highest, these were called: lower, top, topgallant, and royal masts. Giving the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Texel
Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den Helder, northeast of Noorderhaaks, and southwest of Vlieland. Name The name ''Texel'' is Frisian, but because of historical sound-changes in Dutch, where all -x- sounds have been replaced with -s- sounds (compare for instance English ''fox'', Frisian ''fokse'', German ''Fuchs'' with Dutch ''vos''), the name is typically pronounced ''Tessel'' in Dutch. History The All Saints' Flood (1170) created the islands of Texel and Wieringen from North Holland. In the 13th century Ada, Countess of Holland was held prisoner on Texel by her uncle, William I, Count of Holland. Texel received city rights in 1415. The first Dutch expedition to the Northwest Passage departed from the island on the 5th of June, 1594. Texel was involved in the Battl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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