Hired Armed Cutter Nimrod
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the British Royal Navy made use of hired armed vessels, one of which was His Majesty's hired armed cutter ''Nimrod''. Three such vessels are recorded, but the descriptions of these vessels and the dates of their service are such that they may well represent one vessel under successive contracts. The vessel or vessels cruised, blockaded, carried despatches, and performed reconnaissance. The first ''Nimrod'' There was a ''Nimrod'' of 70 tons burthen and eight 3-pounder guns that served from 27 September 1794 to 9 April 1802. On 21 April 1798, ''Nimrod'' was among the vessels that shared in the capture of the French ship ''Hercule''. ''Nimrod'' shared with , , and in the capture of the ''Anna Christiana'' on 17 May. In August ''Nimrod'' captured the chasse-marée ''Francine'' with , commanded by Captain Henry Jenkins, and . On 1 April 1798, ''Nimrod'' and the hired armed cutter ''Lurcher'' recaptured the packet ''Roebuck'', whic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Britain, Habsburg monarchy, Austria, Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia, Russian Empire, Russia, and several other monarchies. They are divided in two periods: the War of the First Coalition (1792–97) and the War of the Second Coalition (1798–1802). Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension. After a decade of constant warfare and aggressive diplomacy, France had conquered territories in the Italian Peninsula, the Low Countries and the Rhineland in Europe and abandoned Louisiana (New France), Louisiana in North America. French success in these conflicts ensured the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe. As early as 1791, the other monarchies of Europe looked with ou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of The Basque Roads
The Battle of the Basque Roads, also known as the Battle of Aix Roads ( French: ''Bataille de l'île d'Aix'', also ''Affaire des brûlots'', rarely ''Bataille de la rade des Basques''), was a major naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars, fought in the narrow Basque Roads at the mouth of the Charente River on the Biscay coast of France. The battle, which lasted from 11–24 April 1809, was unusual in that it pitted a hastily-assembled squadron of small and unorthodox British Royal Navy warships against the main strength of the French Atlantic Fleet, the circumstances dictated by the cramped, shallow coastal waters in which the battle was fought. The battle is also notorious for its controversial political aftermath in both Britain and France. In February 1809 the French Atlantic Fleet, blockaded in Brest on the Breton coast by the British Channel Fleet, attempted to break out into the Atlantic and reinforce the garrison of Martinique. Sighted and chased by British blockade squadrons, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roadstead
A roadstead (or ''roads'' – the earlier form) is a body of water sheltered from rip currents, spring tides, or ocean swell where ships can lie reasonably safely at anchor without dragging or snatching.United States Army technical manual, TM 5-360. Port Construction and Rehabilitation'. Washington: United States. Government Printing Office, 1964. It can be open or natural, usually estuary-based, or may be created artificially. In maritime law, it is described as a "known general station for ships, notoriously used as such, and distinguished by the name". Definition A roadstead can be an area of safe anchorage for ships waiting to enter a port, or to form a convoy. If sufficiently sheltered and convenient, it can be used for the transshipment of goods, stores, and troops, either separately or in combination. The same applies in transfers to and from shore by Lighter (barge), lighters. In the days of sailing ships, some voyages could only easily be made with a change in wind dir ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hired Armed Cutter Adrian
Two vessels named His Majesty's Hired armed cutter ''Adrian'' served the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars as hired armed vessels. First ''Adrian'' The first ''Adrian'' was the cutter ''Industry'', of 84 tons (bm). She was armed with eight 12-pounder carronades. She served under contract from 21 August 1804 to 25 August 1805. During her service she was renamed ''Adrian''. ''Adrian'' was in company with the frigate when on 1 and 2 June 1805 ''Adrian'' captured the chasse-marées ''Marie'' and ''Sophie''. At the time ''Adrian'' was under the command of Lieutenant Joseph Bain Bett, who apparently transferred from the hired armed cutter ''Rhoda''. ''Marie'' was one of three chasse-marées that on 1 June he observed sailing to Brest. ''Adrian'' succeeded in first driving ''Marie'' ashore, and then capturing her. However, as the prize crew was retrieving her, a musket ball killed ''Adrian''s mate. ''Marie'' had been carrying a cargo of wine and brandy from Bordeaux to Brest ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Naval General Service Medal (1847)
__NOTOC__ The Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) was a campaign medal approved in 1847, and issued to officers and men of the Royal Navy in 1849. The final date for submitting claims was 1 May 1851.British Battles and Medals, page 34. Admiral Thomas Bladen Capel was one of the members of the board that authorised the medal. The NGSM was awarded retrospectively for various naval actions during the period 1793–1840, a period that included the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars and the Anglo-American War of 1812. Each battle or campaign covered by the medal was represented by a clasp on the ribbon. The medal was never issued without a clasp, 231 of which were sanctioned.British Battles and Medals, page 33. The clasps covered a variety of actions, from boat service, ship to ship skirmishes, to major fleet actions such as the Battle of Trafalgar. This medal and its army counterpart, the Military General Service Medal, were amongst the first real British campaign medals, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pence
A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is the formal name of the British penny ( p) and the ''de facto'' name of the American one-cent coin (abbr. ¢) as well as the informal Irish designation of the 1 cent euro coin (abbr. c). It is the informal name of the cent unit of account in Canada, although one-cent coins are no longer minted there. The name is used in reference to various historical currencies, also derived from the Carolingian system, such as the French denier and the German pfennig. It may also be informally used to refer to any similar smallest-denomination coin, such as the euro cent or Chinese fen. The Carolingian penny was originally a 0.940-fine silver coin, weighing pound. It was adopted by Offa of Mercia and other English kings and remained ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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£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]   |
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Shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or one-twentieth of a pound before being phased out during the 20th century. Currently the shilling is used as a currency in five east African countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, as well as the ''de facto'' country of Somaliland. The East African Community additionally plans to introduce an East African shilling. History The word ''shilling'' comes from Old English "Scilling", a monetary term meaning twentieth of a pound, from the Proto-Germanic root skiljanÄ… meaning 'to separate, split, divide', from (s)kelH- meaning 'to cut, split.' The word "Scilling" is mentioned in the earliest recorded Germanic law codes, those of Æthelberht of Kent. There is evidence that it may alternatively be an early borrowing of Phoenician ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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French Ship Régulus (1805)
''Régulus'' was a 74-gun List of ships of the line of France, ship of the line of the French Navy. From 25 May 1801, her armament was upgraded to between 80 and 86 guns. During the Atlantic campaign of 1806, she was the flagship of Jean-Marthe-Adrien L'Hermite, L'Hermite's squadron (also comprising frigates and and corvette ) during L'Hermite's expedition. She patrolled from the Gulf of Guinea to Brazil and the Caribbean. On 6 January 1806 the French squadron captured the 16-gun sloop-of-war . The squadron also captured about 20 merchantman, notably including the ships and ''Plowers'' (). In 1808, ''Régulus'' was in station with the Brest squadron. In 1809, she was transferred to Rochefort. She famously took part in the Battle of the Basque Roads from 11 April 1809, under Captain Jean Jacques Étienne Lucas, Lucas, where she ran aground between Les Palles and Fouras. For 17 days, the stranded ship repelled assaults by the British, before refloating and returning to Roch ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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French Ship Océan (1790)
''Océan'' was a 118-gun first-rate three-decker ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship''Commerce de Marseille'' was ordered after ''États de Bourgogne'' (which was later renamed ''Océan''), but launched before her; therefore, the ship type is alternatively called ''Commerce de Marseille'' class or ''Océan'' class of her class. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the Estates of Bourgogne. She was ordered as ''États de Bourgogne'' and was launched at Brest in 1790. Like many French ships of the line during the Revolutionary period, she was renamed several times, becoming ''Côte d'Or'' in January 1793, ''Montagne'' in October 1793, ''Peuple'' on 17 May 1795, and a matter of weeks later again renamed, to ''Océan''. She served until 1855. A large model of a generic ''Océan''-class ship, named ''Océan'', at the scale can be seen at the Musée de la Marine in Paris. Career As the largest ship of the line in the Brest fleet, the ship spent much ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fort Boyard (fortification)
Fort Boyard () is a fort located between the ÃŽle-d'Aix and the ÃŽle d'Oléron in the Pertuis d'Antioche straits, on the west coast of France and is the filming location for the eponymous TV game show (1990 – present). Though a fort on Boyard bank was suggested as early as the 17th century, it was not until the 1800s under Napoleon Bonaparte that work began. Building started in 1801 and was completed in 1857. In 1967, the final scene of the French film '' Les aventuriers'' was filmed at the remains of the fort. Layout Fort Boyard is stadium-shaped, long and wide. The walls were built high. At the centre is a yard, and the ground floor provided stores and quarters for the men and officers. The floor above contained casemates for the emplacements of guns and further quarters. Above that were facilities for barbette guns and mortars. History The construction of the fort was first considered during a build-up of the French armed forces undertaken by Louis XIV b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Congreve Rocket
The Congreve rocket was a type of rocket artillery designed by British inventor Sir William Congreve in 1808. The design was based upon the rockets deployed by the Kingdom of Mysore against the East India Company during the Second, Third, and Fourth Anglo-Mysore Wars. Lieutenant general Thomas Desaguliers, colonel commandant of the Royal Artillery at Woolwich, was impressed by reports of their effectiveness, and undertook several unsuccessful experiments to produce his own rocket weapons. Several captured Mysorean rockets were sent to England following the annexation of the Mysorean kingdom into British India following the death of Tipu Sultan in the siege of Seringapatam. The project was continued chiefly with William Congreve, who set up a research and development programme at the Woolwich Arsenal's laboratory. After development work was complete the rockets were manufactured in quantity further north, near Waltham Abbey, Essex. He was told that "the British at Seringapa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |