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Richard Darton Thomas
Admiral Richard Darton Thomas (3 June 1777 – 21 August 1857) was an officer of the British Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and went on to become Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station in the 1840s. Biography Background and early naval service Thomas was born in Saltash, Cornwall, and entered the Navy on 26 May 1790, just before his 13th birthday, as a captain's servant aboard the 74-gun ship , under the command of Captain John McBride, and late in the year sailed to the West Indies as part of a squadron under Rear-Admiral Samuel Pitchford Cornish. On arrival in the Caribbean he transferred to the 32-gun frigate under the command of Captain Robert Murray, and was rated able. ''Blanche'' was paid off in June 1792, and in December he joined the sloop as a midshipman. Wartime service On 1 January 1793 France declared war on Great Britain, and for the next two years Thomas served aboard ''Nautilus'' in the West Indies under the Captains ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saltash
Saltash (Cornish: Essa) is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as "the Gateway to Cornwall". Saltash’s landmarks include the Tamar Bridge which connects Plymouth to Cornwall by road, and the Royal Albert Bridge. The area of Latchbrook is part of the town. Description Saltash is the location of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge, opened by Prince Albert on 2 May 1859. It takes the railway line across the River Tamar. Alongside it is the Tamar Bridge, a toll bridge carrying the A38 trunk road, which in 2001 became the first suspension bridge to be widened whilst remaining open to traffic. Saltash railway station, which has a regular train service, with some routes between London Paddington station is close to the town centre. Stagecoach South West, Plymouth Citybus, and Go Cornwall Bus operate bus service ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Able Seaman (rank)
Able seaman is a military rank used in naval forces. Royal Navy In 1653 the Royal Navy introduced a new pay scale as part of reforms following defeat in the Battle of Dungeness the previous year. Included in these reforms were, for the first time, separate pay scales for more experienced seamen that distinguished between an ordinary seaman and an able seaman. The higher ranked able seaman was required to be competent in steering, use the lead and working aloft, and received about 25% higher pay than an ordinary seaman. In the middle of the 18th century the term "able seaman" (abbreviated AB) referred to a seaman with more than two years experience at sea and considered "well acquainted with his duty". Seamen with less experience are referred to as landsmen (for the first year at sea) or ordinary seamen (for the second). In time of war (such as the Seven Years' War or the Napoleonic Wars), with many more warships in service, the navy, merchant marine, and privateers compe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spithead
Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire shore for . Spithead is long by about in average breadth. Spithead has been strongly defended since 1864 by four Solent Forts, which complement the Fortifications of Portsmouth. The Fleet Review is a British tradition that usually takes place at Spithead, where the monarch reviews the massed Royal Navy. The Spithead mutiny occurred in 1797 in the Royal Navy fleet at anchor at Spithead. It is also the location where sank in 1782 with the loss of more than 800 lives. In popular culture In the operetta ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' by Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly crea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Jervis, 1st Earl Of St Vincent
Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent (9 January 1735 – 13 March 1823) was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Jervis served throughout the latter half of the 18th century and into the 19th, and was an active commander during the Seven Years' War, American War of Independence, French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. He is best known for his victory at the 1797 Battle of Cape Saint Vincent, from which he earned his titles, and as a patron of Horatio Nelson. Despite having a fierce reputation for discipline his crews had great affection for him, calling him Old Jarvie. Jervis was also recognised by both political and military contemporaries as a fine administrator and naval reformer. As Commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean, between 1795 and 1799 he introduced a series of severe standing orders to avert mutiny. He applied those orders to both seamen and officers alike, a policy that made him a controve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the first, largest, fastest, most heavily armed, or best known. Over the years, the term "flagship" has become a metaphor used in industries such as broadcasting, automobiles, education, technology, airlines, and retail to refer to their highest profile or most expensive products and locations. Naval use In common naval use, the term ''flagship'' is fundamentally a temporary designation; the flagship is wherever the admiral's flag is being flown. However, admirals have always needed additional facilities, including a meeting room large enough to hold all the captains of the fleet and a place for the admiral's staff to make plans and draw up orders. Historically, only larger ships could accommodate such requirements. The term was also used by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Master's Mate
Master's mate is an obsolete rating which was used by the Royal Navy, United States Navy and merchant services in both countries for a senior petty officer who assisted the master. Master's mates evolved into the modern rank of Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, while in the merchant service they evolved into the numbered mates or officers. Royal Navy Originally, a master's mate was an experienced petty officer who assisted the master but was not in line for promotion to lieutenant. By the mid-eighteenth century, he was far more likely to be a superior midshipman, still waiting to pass his examination for lieutenant or to receive his commission, but taking rather more responsibility aboard ship. Six master's mates were allowed on a first rate, three on a third rate, and two on most frigates. Duties Master's mates were experienced seamen, and were usually selected from the ranks of the quartermasters, who they supervised, or from the ranks of midshipmen who wanted more responsib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Murray (publishing House)
John Murray is a British publisher, known for the authors it has published in its long history including, Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Melville, Edward Whymper, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, and Charles Darwin. Since 2004, it has been owned by conglomerate Lagardère under the Hachette UK brand. Business publisher Nicholas Brealey became an imprint of John Murray in 2015. History The business was founded in London in 1768 by John Murray (1737–1793), an Edinburgh-born Royal Marines officer, who built up a list of authors including Isaac D'Israeli and published the ''English Review''. John Murray the elder was one of the founding sponsors of the London evening newspaper ''The Star'' in 1788. He was succeeded by his son John Murray II, who made the publishing house important and influential. He was a friend of many leading writers of the day and launched the ''Quarterly Review'' in 1809. He was the pub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Faulknor The Younger
Robert Faulknor the younger (1763–1795) was an 18th-century Royal Navy officer, part of the Faulknor naval dynasty. He was court-martialled (but acquitted) and died in an action off Guadeloupe in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Life Early life He was born on the coast of Hampshire, the eldest of the two sons of Robert Faulknor captain of HMS Bellona, and his wife, Elizabeth Ashe. His paternal grandfather had served as flag captain under Admiral John Balchen on HMS Victory the predecessor to its more famous namesake and went down with his ship and 100 men in a shipwreck on 4 October 1744. His great grandfather had served his life at sea then ended as Lt Governor of Greenwich Hospital. Sometime after that the family moved to Dijon, France, where they stayed until Robert the elder died there on 9 May 1769, when his widow and the children returned to Southampton. Robert and his brother were enrolled in a grammar school, with Robert then entering the Royal Naval Academy, Portsmouth, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France (, , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Fodfwans) is a Communes of France, commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. It is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean. History In 1638, Jacques Dyel du Parquet (1606–1658), nephew of Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc and first governor of Martinique, decided to have Fort Saint Louis built to protect the city against enemy attacks. The fort was soon destroyed, and rebuilt in 1669, when Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV appointed the Marquis of Baas as governor general. Under his orders and those of his successors, particularly the Charles de Courbon de Blénac, Count of Blénac, the fort was built with a Vauban design. Originally named Fort-Royal, the administrative capital of Martinique was over-shadowed by Saint-Pierre, Martinique, Saint-Pierre, the oldest city in the island, which was renowned for its commercial and cultural vibrancy as "The Paris of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian peoples. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Antilles), Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of with an estimated population of over 180,000 people as of 2022. The national capital is the city of Castries. The first proven inhabitants of the island, the Arawaks, are believed to have first settled in AD 200–400. Around 800 AD, the island would be taken over by the Kalinago. The French were the first Europeans to settle on the island, and they signed a treaty with the native Caribs in 1660. England took control of the island in 1663. In ensuing years, England and France fought 14 times for control of the island, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tobago
Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trinidad and about off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. It also lies to the southeast of Grenada. The official bird of Tobago is the cocrico. Etymology Tobago was named ''Belaforme'' by Christopher Columbus "because from a distance it seemed beautiful". The Spanish friar Antonio Vázquez de Espinosa wrote that the Kalina people, Kalina (mainland Caribs) called the island ''Urupina'' because of its resemblance to a big snail, while the Island Caribs, Kalinago (Island Caribs) called it ''Aloubaéra'', supposedly because it resembled the ''alloüebéra'', a giant snake which was supposed to live in a cave on the island of Dominica. The earliest known record of the use of the name ''Tabaco'' to refer to the island is a Spanish royal order is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Gordon Rutherford
Captain William Gordon Rutherfurd CB, RN (1765 – 14 January 1818) was an officer in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars whose career was almost entirely conducted in the West Indies except for a brief stay in European waters during which he commanded the ship of the line at the battle of Trafalgar. Early life Rutherfurd was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, to loyalist parents in 1764. His father was John Rutherfurd of Bowland Stow and his mother, Frances, was the widow of Gabriel Johnston the late governor. The family returned to Scotland and the young William was educated at University of St Andrew. The Rutherfurds moved to the Caribbean during the Revolution and in 1788 William was sent to sea aboard . Rutherfurd was a capable sailor and possessed a large amount of patronage. He joined the 98 gun, second rate, , the flagship of Sir John Jervis in the West Indies, shortly after the outbreak of the French revolution ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
