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Nailing The Colours
Nailing the colours (also nailing the colours to the mast or nailing the flag) is a practice dating back to the Age of Sail that expresses a defiant refusal to surrender, and willingness to fight to the last man. During the Age of Sail, ships would legally fight only while flying their national flag. Flying another flag was considered to be a legitimate ruse de guerre only until the beginning of the fight. Striking the colours was a sign of surrender. Indeed, when shot or shrapnel felled a ship's flag (such as by severing the halyard that held it up), her opponent would cease firing and inquire whether she was capitulating. In contrast, fixing the battle ensign with nails would prevent it from being removed easily, and effectively prevented the surrender. It became an expression of defiance and willingness to force oneself to fight up to the bitter end. The practice became a powerful and recurrent propaganda tool during the French Revolutionary Wars. It actually happened on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). As part of Napoleon's plans to invade England, the French and Spanish fleets combined to take control of the English Channel and provide the Grande Armée safe passage. The allied fleet, under the command of the French admiral, Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, sailed from the port of Cádiz in the south of Spain on 18 October 1805. They encountered the British fleet under Lord Nelson, recently assembled to meet this threat, in the Atlantic Ocean along the southwest coast of Spain, off Cape Trafalgar. Nelson was outnumbered, with 27 British ships of the line to 33 allied ships including the largest warship in either fleet, the Spanish ''Santísima Trinidad''. To address this imbalance, Nelson sailed his fleet directly at the allied ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Mobile Bay
The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was a naval and land engagement of the American Civil War in which a Union fleet commanded by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacked a smaller Confederate fleet led by Admiral Franklin Buchanan and three forts that guarded the entrance to Mobile Bay: Morgan, Gaines and Powell. Farragut's order of "Damn the torpedoes! Four bells. Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!" became famous in paraphrase, as "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" The battle was marked by Farragut's seemingly-rash but successful run through a minefield that had just claimed one of his ironclad monitors, enabling his fleet to get beyond the range of the shore-based guns. This was followed by a reduction of the Confederate fleet to a single vessel, ironclad CSS ''Tennessee''. ''Tennessee'' did not then retire, but engaged the entire Northern fleet. ''Tennessee''s armor enabled her to inflict more injury than s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
With Flying Colours
"With flying colours" ("''with flying colors''" in American English) is a popular idiom of the English language that is used to describe how well someone has completed a task. For example, a common use of the phrase is to refer to someone having passed a test or other examination "''with flying colours''," i.e. passed the test easily or with an exceptionally high score. The phrase originated in the Age of Discovery, when ships would return to port with their flags ("colours") either raised or lowered to signify that the ship had either been successful or defeated, with raised flags indicating success and lowered flags indicating defeat. Thus, "with flying colours" literally means that someone has completed a task, although idiomatically connotes particular success in that task. History Ships serve scientific and cultural needs, as well as the transportation of goods, use in diplomacy, and in waging war. In the past, without the use of modern communication devices, a ship's appeara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Crawford (sailor)
Jack Crawford (22 March 1775 – 10 November 1831) was a sailor of the Royal Navy known as the "Hero of Camperdown." Biography Crawford was born in Thornhill's Bank (now Pottery Bank) in the East End of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, Sunderland. He was a keelman until 1786 when, aged 11 or 12, he joined the crew of the ''Peggy'' at South Shields as an apprentice. He joined the Royal Navy in 1796, possibly as a result of being press-ganged but he may have volunteered, and served on HMS Venerable (1784), HMS ''Venerable'' under Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan of Camperdown, Admiral Duncan the Royal Navy Commander-in-Chief of the North Seas. At the Battle of Camperdown off the Dutch coast (11 October 1797), ''Venerable'' was Admiral Duncan's flagship. During the battle, part of the ''Venerable's'' mast was felled, including the admiral's flag. Lowering the Admiral's personal flag was a sign of surrender, and even an unintentional fall was unacceptable. Despite being under intense g ... [...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] |
Glorious First Of June
The Glorious First of June (1 June 1794), also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant, (known in France as the or ) was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars. The action was the culmination of a campaign that had criss-crossed the Bay of Biscay over the previous month in which both sides had captured numerous merchant ships and minor warships and had engaged in two partial, but inconclusive, fleet actions. The British Channel Fleet under Admiral Lord Howe attempted to prevent the passage of a vital French grain convoy from the United States, which was protected by the French Atlantic Fleet, commanded by Rear-Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse. The two forces clashed in the Atlantic Ocean, some west of the French island of Ushant on 1 June 1794. During the battle, Howe defied naval convention by ordering his fleet to turn towards the French and for each of his ves ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Ship Vengeur Du Peuple
''Vengeur du Peuple'' ("Avenger of the People") was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. Funded by a ''don des vaisseaux'' donation from the chamber of commerce of Marseille, she was launched in 1762 as ''Marseillois''.The name is sometimes written ''Marseillais'', which is the modern orthography. SeThe dictionary of French naval fighting ships - General remarks for details. She took part in the naval operations in the American Revolutionary War in Admiral Charles Hector, comte d'Estaing, d'Estaing's squadron, duelling ''HMS Preston (1757), Preston'' in a single-ship action on 11 August 1778, taking part in the Battle of the Chesapeake where she duelled HMS Intrepid (1770), HMS ''Intrepid'', and supporting the flagship ''French ship Ville de Paris (1764), Ville de Paris'' at the Battle of the Saintes. She also took part in the Battle of Saint Kitts. After the French Revolution, she was renamed ''Vengeur du Peuple''The name is often shortened to ''Vengeur''. See French ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Ship San Juan Nepomuceno
''San Juan Nepomuceno'' was a Spanish ship of the line launched in 1765 from the royal shipyard in Guarnizo (Cantabria). Like many 18th century Spanish warships she was named after a saint (John of Nepomuk). She was a solidly built ship of proven seaworthy qualities. Captured by the British Royal Navy during the Battle of Trafalgar, the ship was renamed first HMS ''Berwick'', then HMS ''San Juan''. The ship was discarded in 1816. Design and description Her sister ships were ''San Pascual'', ''San Francisco de Asis'', ''San Lorenzo'', ''Santo Domingo'' and . She was originally fitted with a total of 74 cannons: 28 24-pounders, 30 18-pounders, 8 12-pounders and 8 8-pounders, and was manned by 8 officers, 11 midshipmen, 19 leading seamen and 492 able seamen (530 total). Her supply capacity was for 60 days victuals and 80 days water. Service history In 1793, she took part in the Anglo-Spanish occupation of Toulon under the command of Admiral Don Juan de Lángara. Four years late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Age Of Sail
The Age of Sail is a period that lasted at the latest from the mid-16th (or mid- 15th) to the mid- 19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated, particularly marked by the introduction of naval artillery, and ultimately reached its highest extent at the advent of the analogue Age of Steam. Enabled by the advances of the related Age of Navigation, it is identified as a distinctive element of the early modern period and the Age of Discovery. Especially in context of the latter, it refers to a more particular Eurocentric Age of Sail, while generally the Age of Sail is the culminating period of a long intercontinental history of sailing. Periodization Like most periodic eras, the definition is inexact but instead serves as a general description. The term is used differently for warships and merchant vessels. Sailing ships are an ancient technology, making far-reaching trade like the ancient spice trade possible. With the M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of The Nile
The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; french: Bataille d'Aboukir) was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the Nile Delta of Egypt from the 1st to the 3rd of August 1798. The battle was the climax of a naval campaign that had raged across the Mediterranean during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under General Napoleon Bonaparte. The British fleet was led in the battle by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson; they decisively defeated the French under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers. Bonaparte sought to invade Egypt as the first step in a campaign against British India, as part of a greater effort to drive Britain out of the French Revolutionary Wars. As Bonaparte's fleet crossed the Mediterranean, it was pursued by a British force under Nelson who had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Tonnant (1798)
HMS ''Tonnant'' () was an 80-gun ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She had previously been ''Tonnant'' of the French Navy and the lead ship of the . The British captured her in August 1793 during the Siege of Toulon but the French recaptured her when the siege was broken in December. Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, Horatio Nelson captured her at Abu Qir Bay, Aboukir Bay off the coast of Egypt at the Battle of the Nile on 1 August 1798. She was taken into British service as HMS ''Tonnant''. She went on to fight at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars. ''Tonnant'' became the flagship of Vice-Admiral Alexander Cochrane, Sir Alexander Cochrane when he assumed command of the North American Station in March of 1814 during the War of 1812 with the United States. On 7 September 1814 Francis Scott Key and John Stuart Skinner dined aboard the ship while seeking the release of a captured civilian prisoner, several days before the Battle of Balti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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