npsindia.com

 

THE BATTLE of TRAFALGAR 

The Gathering Storm: 

By 1805 Britain stood in great danger of invasion by the French. Reinvigorated by the short peace declared between the two countries, an immense French military force had been mustered to embark in hundreds of barges specially built to make the short sea-crossing of the Dover Strait. In the encampments above Boulogne the troops of what was called the Army of England were constantly exercising. It was in the previous year that the French head of state, Napoleon Bonaparte had been elected Emperor of the French and he too was to be seen reviewing this vast array, by  the sailors on the handful of Royal Navy ships that observed this military posturing. But Napoleon had also succeeded in drawing Spain into an alliance which added the Spanish fleet to that of France. 

 

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 

1805 – THE THREAT OF INVASION: 

Britain and France had been at war since 1793, except for a short truce between October 1801 and May 1803. The horrors of the French Revolution had terrified the  governments of Europe into war, but the battlefield victories of the revolutionary armies, determined to export liberty, equality and fraternity, had gained an ascendancy  ensuring French domination over most of Europe. While the British vainly attempted to establish Continental alliances, Napoleon’s coronation marked him as the dictator of events. Only the Strait of Dover and the Royal Navy stood between him and domination of Europe. 

 

By mid-summer the French army was poised for embarkation with over 165,000 soldiers and 90,000 horses. Across the Dover Strait a nervous mood prevailed where the small regular army and a force of volunteers waited to be called to arms. For defence Britain looked to her navy 

 

  

  

  

Napoleon waited for the Combined Fleet of France and Spain to sweep the Royal Navy from the English Channel. 

THE CHASE: 

In 1803 hostilities resumed and Nelson found himself back in the Mediterranean as Commander-in-Chief. Arriving at Toulon, Nelson was to blockade Villeneuve’s fleet for many months, but on 30th March 1805 the French fleet, under the command of Admiral Villeneuve, slipped out of Toulon and headed for Cadiz. Here it joined up with the Spanish fleet and disappeared into the Atlantic. Villeneuve’s intention was to sail across the Atlantic, release all the French and Spanish warships that were trapped by the British blockade of their bases in the West Indies and then sail north-east and appear in the Enclish Channel as an overwhelming force, reinforced by additinal French ships released from the port of Brest. The domination of the channel would allow the French Forces to invade England. The chance siting of the fleet by a British merchant ship put Nelson on its tracks and so began a desperate chase across the Atlantic. It took Villeneuve 34 days to reach the West Indies; it took Nelson only 24. But once again Villeneuve eluded his great adversary and set sail for Europe. Nelson ,who had  no reliable information about what Villeneuve was up to, had to decide whether to stay in the West Indies and protect them from possible attack, or head back to Europe. He decided on the latter course and once more set across the Atlantic, south towards Gibraltar. Here he finally disembarked from the Victory and went  on shore for the first time in almost two years. 

The battle which should have been Nelson’s was fought by Sir Robert Calder, who intercepted Villeneuve’s fleet off Cape Finisterre. It was not a decisive battle and the British were disappointed.It was clear that no one but Nelson could destroy the French fleet. 

BATTLE PLAN: 

Nelson returned to England where he outlined a daring plan for the impending battle. He declared that the formal sea battle in which two lines of ships faced each other and fired cannon was useless. His plan was to sail at the enemy’s line in two groups and attack their ships at close quarters. He was sure that English officers and men would be more than a match for the ill prepared French and Spanish sailors. He was soon to have a chance to try out his plan. On 15th September 1805, he rejoined the Victory at Portsmouth and set sail for Cadiz where, 13 days later, he took command of the British fleet. In the harbour he could see the masts and yards of 36 enemy men-of-war, which Napoleon had now ordered to put to sea and if necessary fight 

 

  

Lord Nelson                                               BATTLE PLAN 

  

Nelson  led his fleet to a position 50 miles from Cadiz and waited.  

 

  

  

  

Cadiz Bay and Cape of Trafalgar  

Then on 19th October, he received the message: ‘ Enemy have their topsails hoisted’ in reply to which he signalled; ‘General chase south-east.’  

THE BATTLE: 

Two days later, on 21st October, Villeneuve lay halfway between Cape Trafalgar and the British. He gave orders for his fleet to get into line and the British scrambled into their two columns. With Admiral Collingwood in the Royal Sovereign leading one column, and Nelson in the Victory leading the other, they began to close on Villeneuve’s long crescent, now heading north. 

Nelson, wearing his undress uniform, with the stars of his four Orders of Knighthood pinned to his chest, had been on the quarter deck of the Victory since dawn. Down below the men prepared for battle. Nelson ordered the hoisting of flags to signal: ‘ England expects that every man will do his duty.’  

  

 

  

  

  

NELSON’S FAMOUS FLAG SIGNAL  

For 20 minutes the Victory was under concentrated fire without being able to return a single shot. But then she passed close under the stern of Villeneuve’s flag ship, the Becentaure, and in one broadside she killed or wounded 400 men. More British ships surged through the broken French line and the general confusion which Nelson had planned rapidly developed. Admist the thunder of guns and the billowing of smoke, the rigging of the Victory became entangled with that of  the French Redoubtable . Up on the mizzen top of the Redoubtable a French sharp shooter spotted the medals on Nelson’s chest some 40 ft below, and took careful aim. Seconds later, the Admiral fell to his knees, collapsed on his side. 

 

  

 

 

 

  

As he was carried down to the blood stained cockpit, he knew he did not have long to live, but long enough to learn that the battle of Trafalgar was a great victory for the British. His last words were: ‘ Thank God-I have done my duty’. 

 

 

 

Half an hour later there was a tremendous explosion, as one of the enemy ships blew up. It was a fitting end to a battle in which 18 ships of the combined Fleet were either destroyed or taken as prizes, while the British lost only a single ship. 

The body of the man who made it all possible was put in a large cask filled with brandy. Buffeted by a great gale, the badly damaged Victory slowly carried Nelson on his last journey home. 

This completes the heroic story of Lord Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar. The intention of posting this theme is to let maritime philatelists know that this theme is a good theme for a one frame exhibit and to assure them that material exists for such an exhibit. Given below are PHQ cards on this theme released by GB- Royal Mail. Its use in a competitive exhibit is questionable and I am in doubt. Bloggers ,experts in the field of FIP rules in regard to applicability of philatelic items in an exhibit, may comment on this subject. 

 

 

 

  

  

 

Acknowledgement for informatiom: 

MEN-OF-WAR Life in Nelson’s Navy by Patrick O’Brian 

DISCOVERY- Vol 31 A Marshall Cavendish Discovery Collection 

U.K – Royal Mail Prestige Booklet  released on 200th Death Anniversary of Lord Nelson , 21 October, 2005 

INPUT FROM A MEMBER 

Mr. Sekhar Chakrabarthi, an NPS Life member and a versatile flags on stamps philatelist, has sent in very informative article on the flag carried by HMS SPARTIATE  during the battle of Trafalgar. He has two blogs concerning flags. 

World’s most expensive Union Jack: Flag that flew at Battle of Trafalgar sells for record-breaking £384,000 

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:55 AM on 22nd October 2009 

The only surviving Union Jack from the Battle of Trafalgar yesterday sold for a staggering world record of £384,000 – nearly 40 times its estimate. 

The huge flag, that is littered with holes from shot damage and still has a whiff of gunpowder, flew from the jackstaff of HMS Spartiate at the historic battle 204 years ago.After the victory over Napoleon’s French army, the crew lowered the flag and presented it to Lieutenant James Clephan for his outstanding performance. 

An employee at the auction house holds the giant Union Jack, which was flown from HMS Spartiate at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21 in 1805 

Lieutenant Clephan was hugely respected among his men as he was one of only 16 out of 300,000 sailors who were press-ganged into the Royal Navy to rise through the ranks. 

The 11ft by 7ft flag remained in his family after his death and was kept in a darkened draw to help preserve it. 

His descendants decided to sell it after emigrating to Australia and it was given a pre-sale estimate of just £10,000. 

But when it went under the hammer at auction in London today – Trafalgar Day – it was immediately met with fierce bidding, both in the room and from buyers around the world on the phone and internet. 

The gavel eventually came down on an anonymous collector’s bid of £320,000. 

With the 20 per cent buyer’s premium paid on top, the total paid for it is £384,000. 

Mighty battle: This 1875 painting by John Callow shows a scene from the Battle of Trafalgar. The historic flag was presented to Lieutenant Clephan for his bravery in the conflict 

This is believed to be a world record for any such Union Jack sold before. 

It is not yet clear if the flag will remain in Britain or go abroad. 

A spokesman for Charles Miller Auctions, who sold the standard, said: ‘We are hugely delighted and thrilled with the price, as are James Clephan’s family. 

 

‘It is way above anyone’s expectations but does reflect the historical importance of the flag and the battle it fluttered in 204 years ago today.’ 

The flag was made from 31 bunting panels by the crew of HMS Spartiate, which was the last ship in line behind Nelson’s HMS Victory as they took on the French at Trafalgar. 

Spartiate was actually a French ship but was seized by the British at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. 

Its lieutenant was James Clephan, from Fife in Scotland. He was pressed into the navy 1794 aged 26 and excelled as a seaman. 

He was made a midshipman in 1801 and rose to lieutenant later that year for distinguishing himself in the successful capture of the French ship Chevrette. 

After Trafalgar he was immediately promoted to first lieutenant and by the time his career in the navy finished he was captain of his own ship. 

Mr Miller said: ‘The flag is one of the most important, historical items any collector could expect to handle. 

‘The damage is probably from bullet holes or splinter fragments, but despite all this it is in amazing condition. 

‘You can still even detect the smell that is ingrained within it. 

‘Clephan is a remarkable and charismatic survivor from the great age of Georgian sail. 

‘It was an incredible achievement for someone who had been pressed to rise to Captain.’ 

RICHARD PENDLEBURY REVEALS THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY BEHIND THE ONLY SURVIVING UNION JACK FROM NELSON’S EPIC BATTLE  

On the most memorable day of his extraordinary career, it is unlikely Second Lieutenant James Clephan gave much thought to the Union Jack being shot to pieces on the jackstaff of his ship. 

The enemy had closed on HMS Spartiate and chainshot shrieked just feet over Clephan’s head. Muskets crackled from the tops of the Spanish 80-gun Neptuno, whose own decks were running with blood. 

The Spartiate’s gun crews were battering her mercilessly, their steady broadsides helping to drown the howls of the British injured and dying. Around Lt Clephan and his shipmates, the seascape off Cape Trafalgar offered any number of hellish scenes. 

A single shot had raked the entire interior of the French battleship Bucentaure, killing or maiming 40 of its crew. Aboard the nearby British flagship Victory, Admiral Lord Nelson’s secretary had been cut in half by a cannonball. Eight marines on board were also butchered by a single Spanish barshot. 

Some 4,000 sailors would be dead by the evening. William Beattie, the surgeon who treated the dying Nelson, had another 145 casualties to attend during the day. 

Throughout the action, the tablecloth-size sewn patchwork of 31 red, white and blue strips, which had begun life as naval bunting, had fluttered at the bow of HMS Spartiate. 

Musketry and shrapnel had rent it  -  but 204 years later it survives as a unique and enduring relic, not only of the greatest battle in the Royal Navy’s history but also of one of its most remarkable sailors. 

Yesterday, it made £384,000 at auction following a decision by Clephan’s descendants to sell the only surviving Union Jack from that historic day. So how did it end up in Clephan’s possession? And what is the extraordinary story behind it? 

Cape Trafalgar  

Clephan was a poor man who never intended to go to sea. But fate, economic circumstance and his own personal courage conspired to place him on the quarterdeck of one of Admiral Lord Nelson’s men o’ war, off Cape Trafalgar in the autumn of 1805. 

His life had begun 37 years earlier amid far less distinguished circumstances in Scoonie, Fife. As a boy, Clephan was apprenticed to a weaver in the cottage industry which flourished there in the mid-18th century. 

But domestic looms were soon to be overtaken by the Industrial Revolution. Factories replaced cottages and the American Revolution of 1776 then took away one of the weavers’ major export markets. 

Clephan was not alone in seeking alternative work. Coastal Fife has a rich tradition of producing sailors and it was to the sea that the young man turned. Initially, he joined the merchant fleet, but the Royal Navy soon sequestered his skills. Press gangs roamed Britain’s ports, looking for men to put before 

the mast. Records show that on July 23, 1794, the ‘Impress Service’ caught up with Clephan, then 26. 

Conditions below deck were harsh and naval discipline notoriously strict. Brutal floggings were commonplace and death the punishment for a wide number of offences. 

But for Clephan this was to be the start of an extraordinary naval career. His first boat was the 26-gun Sibyl, aboard which he was rated an able-bodied 2nd Class Mate, reflecting some previous experience. By October 1796, he had been promoted to Master’s Mate, stowing his hammock aboard the 36-gun frigate Doris. 

Capturing merchants  

In 1800-01, HMS Doris, commanded by Captain John Holliday, made a thorough nuisance of herself to the French, capturing six merchant brigs and other prizes. During these cruises, Clephan must have impressed his captain, because in January 1801 he was made Midshipman. 

By now he was in his early 30s and probably more than twice as old as some of his contemporaries. Nevertheless, his achievement was notable. Within seven years of being press-ganged, he was a junior officer and would be entitled to have ‘Mr’ before his name. 

Greater glory and elevation were soon to follow. On the night of July 21, 1801, boats from the Doris rowed into the anchorage off the northern French port of Brest. 

There, in the face of French opposition, a party of British sailors boarded the French corvette Chevrette. 

After fierce fighting with cutlasses, the Chevrette’s cables were cut and she was sailed out of the bay to the waiting British squadron. It was a bloody little action. 

Several of the British had arms cut off trying to board the Chevrette. By the time the fighting was over, three Royal Navy officers and nine men lay dead or dying. More than 50 were wounded. 

But such daring merited promotion for those who led the way and survived. Among them was Midshipman Clephan – the first Briton to set foot on the enemy deck. 

For this, he was immediately promoted to Second Lieutenant. The elevation was signed off by Admiral Cornwallis, who told Clephan: ‘You well deserve your promotion. Few officers have earned it so hardly.’ 

This could not be denied – both socially and physically, Clephan had overcome enormous obstacles and dangers to get so far. He was transferred to the 90-gun HMS Namur, where he served until the Peace of Amiens in 1802 brought Europe a respite from conflict. 

But the calm did not last long. Clephan had enough time to marry before a resumption of hostilities with France saw him back at sea the following year aboard the 74-gun HMS Spartiate, a French-built ship that had been captured at the Battle of the Nile. 

From her decks, Clephan would be afforded a front-row view of perhaps the most famous battle in naval history – Trafalgar. Spartiate had joined up with Nelson’s fleet when his pursuit of the Franco-Spanish force took him across the Atlantic and back. The two fleets finally met off the coast of south-west Spain. 

‘England expects’  

Nelson sent his immortal signal, ‘England expects that every man will do his duty’, and battle was joined. Bringing up the rear was Spartiate – with Clephan aboard – and Spartiate’s closest confederate, the 74-gun HMS Minotaur. 

Being so far behind, they did not take part in the initial stages of the battle but, when ten enemy men o’ war attempted to turn and attack the British centre, including the battered Victory, the Spartiate and Minotaur were there to block their paths. 

During the action, Spartiate and Minotaur took on the Spanish warship Neptuno, which was forced to surrender. Compared with other ships at Trafalgar, Spartiate’s ‘butcher’s bill’ was slight – only three men killed and 20 wounded. 

Many thousands of British sailors had done their duty that day. After such an immense and total victory, there was a rash of promotions. Once again, James Clephan was foremost among them. He was immediately elevated to the rank of First Lieutenant. 

He was not only a brave sailor, but a popular one. Spartiate’s crew, among whom Clephan was considered ‘one of our own’, presented him with the tatty Jack which had flown at the bow during the ship’s most famous action. It is possible that it had been stitched together by the Jack Tars, as the ratings were known. 

In April 1811, Clephan was promoted again, to the rank of Commander, and given his first ship, the sloop Charybdis which saw action in the attempt to take New Orleans. 

But in reality his fighting career was nearing its end. After the post-Waterloo peace of 1815, Clephan was paid off at Deptford and put on half pay. 

By the time of his retirement, in 1840, he had achieved the rank of Captain. It is thought that James Clephan was one of only 16 men in Royal Navy history to have risen to this rank after being press-ganged. 

Clephan died in Edinburgh in January 1851, aged 83. He had kept his flag, which still smelled of gunpowder, for almost half a century. The relic has passed down the generations until today. 

For many years it has been kept in a darkened drawer to preserve it from further decay. 

Yesterday, Trafalgar Day – October 21 – saw it change hands for the first time in more than two centuries. 

The winning bid of £320,000 plus 20 per cent buyer’s premium was a huge increase on the expected sale price of £10,000. The cottage weaver from Fife, who never planned to go to sea, would have been amazed. 

Clephan was a poor man who never intended to go to sea. But fate, economic circumstance and his own personal courage conspired to place him on the quarterdeck of one of Admiral Lord Nelson’s men o’ war, off Cape Trafalgar in the autumn of 1805. 

His life had begun 37 years earlier amid far less distinguished circumstances in Scoonie, Fife. As a boy, Clephan was apprenticed to a weaver in the cottage industry which flourished there in the mid-18th century. 

But domestic looms were soon to be overtaken by the Industrial Revolution. Factories replaced cottages and the American Revolution of 1776 then took away one of the weavers’ major export markets. 

Clephan was not alone in seeking alternative work. Coastal Fife has a rich tradition of producing sailors and it was to the sea that the young man turned. Initially, he joined the merchant fleet, but the Royal Navy soon sequestered his skills. Press gangs roamed Britain’s ports, looking for men to put before 

the mast. Records show that on July 23, 1794, the ‘Impress Service’ caught up with Clephan, then 26. 

Conditions below deck were harsh and naval discipline notoriously strict. Brutal floggings were commonplace and death the punishment for a wide number of offences. 

But for Clephan this was to be the start of an extraordinary naval career. His first boat was the 26-gun Sibyl, aboard which he was rated an able-bodied 2nd Class Mate, reflecting some previous experience. By October 1796, he had been promoted to Master’s Mate, stowing his hammock aboard the 36-gun frigate Doris. 

Capturing merchants  

In 1800-01, HMS Doris, commanded by Captain John Holliday, made a thorough nuisance of herself to the French, capturing six merchant brigs and other prizes. During these cruises, Clephan must have impressed his captain, because in January 1801 he was made Midshipman. 

By now he was in his early 30s and probably more than twice as old as some of his contemporaries. Nevertheless, his achievement was notable. Within seven years of being press-ganged, he was a junior officer and would be entitled to have ‘Mr’ before his name. 

Greater glory and elevation were soon to follow. On the night of July 21, 1801, boats from the Doris rowed into the anchorage off the northern French port of Brest. 

There, in the face of French opposition, a party of British sailors boarded the French corvette Chevrette. 

After fierce fighting with cutlasses, the Chevrette’s cables were cut and she was sailed out of the bay to the waiting British squadron. It was a bloody little action. 

Several of the British had arms cut off trying to board the Chevrette. By the time the fighting was over, three Royal Navy officers and nine men lay dead or dying. More than 50 were wounded. 

But such daring merited promotion for those who led the way and survived. Among them was Midshipman Clephan – the first Briton to set foot on the enemy deck. 

For this, he was immediately promoted to Second Lieutenant. The elevation was signed off by Admiral Cornwallis, who told Clephan: ‘You well deserve your promotion. Few officers have earned it so hardly.’ 

This could not be denied – both socially and physically, Clephan had overcome enormous obstacles and dangers to get so far. He was transferred to the 90-gun HMS Namur, where he served until the Peace of Amiens in 1802 brought Europe a respite from conflict. 

But the calm did not last long. Clephan had enough time to marry before a resumption of hostilities with France saw him back at sea the following year aboard the 74-gun HMS Spartiate, a French-built ship that had been captured at the Battle of the Nile. 

From her decks, Clephan would be afforded a front-row view of perhaps the most famous battle in naval history – Trafalgar. Spartiate had joined up with Nelson’s fleet when his pursuit of the Franco-Spanish force took him across the Atlantic and back. The two fleets finally met off the coast of south-west Spain. 

‘England expects’  

Nelson sent his immortal signal, ‘England expects that every man will do his duty’, and battle was joined. Bringing up the rear was Spartiate – with Clephan aboard – and Spartiate’s closest confederate, the 74-gun HMS Minotaur. 

Being so far behind, they did not take part in the initial stages of the battle but, when ten enemy men o’ war attempted to turn and attack the British centre, including the battered Victory, the Spartiate and Minotaur were there to block their paths. 

During the action, Spartiate and Minotaur took on the Spanish warship Neptuno, which was forced to surrender. Compared with other ships at Trafalgar, Spartiate’s ‘butcher’s bill’ was slight – only three men killed and 20 wounded. 

Many thousands of British sailors had done their duty that day. After such an immense and total victory, there was a rash of promotions. Once again, James Clephan was foremost among them. He was immediately elevated to the rank of First Lieutenant. 

He was not only a brave sailor, but a popular one. Spartiate’s crew, among whom Clephan was considered ‘one of our own’, presented him with the tatty Jack which had flown at the bow during the ship’s most famous action. It is possible that it had been stitched together by the Jack Tars, as the ratings were known. 

In April 1811, Clephan was promoted again, to the rank of Commander, and given his first ship, the sloop Charybdis which saw action in the attempt to take New Orleans. 

But in reality his fighting career was nearing its end. After the post-Waterloo peace of 1815, Clephan was paid off at Deptford and put on half pay. 

By the time of his retirement, in 1840, he had achieved the rank of Captain. It is thought that James Clephan was one of only 16 men in Royal Navy history to have risen to this rank after being press-ganged. 

Clephan died in Edinburgh in January 1851, aged 83. He had kept his flag, which still smelled of gunpowder, for almost half a century. The relic has passed down the generations until today. 

For many years it has been kept in a darkened drawer to preserve it from further decay. 

Yesterday, Trafalgar Day – October 21 – saw it change hands for the first time in more than two centuries. 

The winning bid of £320,000 plus 20 per cent buyer’s premium was a huge increase on the expected sale price of £10,000. The cottage weaver from Fife, who never planned to go to sea, would have been amazed.

Dear Members and bloggers, In the last post I had promised that the article posted would be continued. There has been a months delay and I, really, do not have any excuse for the same. In spite of Sekhar Chakrabarthi egging me on for the creation of the new post , I was, even though loaded with material on the subject,, some how. unable to create the new post. Better late than never, so here is the post on HMS VICTORY.
Name:	HMS Victory
Ordered:	14 July 1758
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	23 July 1759
Launched:	7 May 1765
Commissioned:	1778
Honours and awards:	Participated in: First Battle of Ushant (1778) Second Battle of Ushant (1781) Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797) Battle of Trafalgar (1805)
Status:	Active, preserved at Portsmouth, England
General characteristics
Class and type:	104-gun first rate ship of the line
Displacement:	3,500 tons (3,556 tonnes)
Tons burthen:	2,142 tons bm
Length:	186 ft (57 m) (gun deck),227 ft 6 in (69.34 m)(overall)
Beam:	51 ft 10 in (15.80 m)
Draught:	28 ft 9 in (8.76 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
Propulsion:	Sails—6,510 sq yd (5,440 m²)
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Speed:	8 to 9 knots (15 to 17 km/h) maximum
Complement:	Approximately 850
Armament:	Trafalgar: Gun deck: 30 × 2.75 ton long pattern Blomefield 32 pounders (15 kg) Middle gun deck: 28 × 2.5 ton long 24 pounders (11 kg) Upper gun deck: 30 × 1.7 ton short 12 pounders (5 kg) Quarterdeck: 12 × 1.7 ton short 12 pounder (5 kg) Forecastle: 2 × medium 12 pounder (5 kg), 2 × 68 pounder (31 kg) carronade Marines armed with muskets
Armour:	None, although oak hull thickness at waterline 2 ft (0.6 m)
Notes:	Height from waterline to top of mainmast: 205 ft (62.5 m)

  

  

Construction

  In December 1758, the commissioner of Chatham Dockyard was instructed to prepare a dry dock for the construction of a new first-rate ship. This was an unusual occurrence  at the time as the Royal Navy preferred smaller and more manoeuvrable ships, and it was unusual for more than two to be in commission simultaneously; during the whole of the 18th century only ten were constructed.

The outline plans arrived in June 1759 and were based on HMS Royal George which had been launched at Woolwich Dockyard in 1756. The naval architect chosen to design the ship was Sir Thomas Slade who, at the time, was the appointed Surveyor of the Navy. She was designed to carry at least 100 guns and was established with that number of guns; in practice, her armament varied from 104 to 106 guns and carronades. In January 1808 the Victory was reduced to a 98-gun Second rate, but was reclassed as a 104-gun First Rate in February 1817.

The keel was laid on 23 July 1759 in the Old Single Dock (since renamed No. 2 Dock and now Victory Dock), and the name was finally chosen in October 1760. It was to commemorate the Annus Mirabilis or Year of Victories, of 1759. In that year of the Seven Years’ War, land victories had been won at Quebec, Minden and naval battles had been won at Lagos and Quiberon Bay. There were some doubts whether this was a suitable name since the previous first-rate Victory had been lost with all on board in 1744.

Once the frame had been constructed, it was normal to cover the ship up and leave it for several months to season. However, the end of the Seven Years’ War meant that she remained in this condition for nearly three years, which helped her subsequent longevity. Work restarted in autumn 1763 and she was finally launched on 7 May 1765, having cost £63,176 and 3 shillings (present day £7.06 million) and used around 6000 trees, 90% of which were oak and the remainder elm, pine and fir, as well as a small quantity of Lignum Vitae.

Because there was no immediate use for her, she was placed in ordinary—in reserve, roofed over, dismasted and placed under general maintenance—moored in the River Medway for 13 years until France joined the American War of Independence.

In March 1778, John Lindsay was appointed her first captain, but he was transferred to captain HMS Prince George in May 1778 when Admiral the Honourable Augustus Keppel decided to raise his flag in Victory. She was commissioned in May 1778 under the command of Rear Admiral John Campbell (1st Captain) and Captain Jonathan Faulknor (2nd Captain), with the flag of Admiral Keppel.

Because there was no immediate use for her, she was placed in ordinary—in reserve, roofed over, dismasted and placed under general maintenance—moored in the River Medway for 13 years until France joined the American War of Independence.

In March 1778, John Lindsay was appointed her first captain, but he was transferred to captain HMS Prince George in May 1778 when Admiral the Honourable Augustus Keppel decided to raise his flag in Victory. She was commissioned in May 1778 under the command of Rear Admiral John Campbell (1st Captain) and Captain Jonathan Faulknor (2nd Captain), with the flag of Admiral Keppel.

The Victory was armed with smooth bore, cast iron cannon. Initially she carried thirty 42-pounders (19 kg) on her lower deck, twenty-eight 24-pounders (11 kg) on her middle deck, and thirty 12-pounders (5 kg) on her upper deck, together with twelve 6-pounders on her quarterdeck and forecastle. On May 1778 the 42-pounders were replaced by 32-pounders (15 kg), but the 42-pounders were reinstated in April 1779; eventually in 1803 the 42-pounders were permanently replaced by 32-pounders. In 1782 all the 6-pounders were replaced by 12-pounders. Later, she also carried two carronade guns, firing 68-lb (31 kg) round shot.

In service

 First battle of Ushant

Keppel put to sea from Spithead on 9 July 1778, with a force of thirty ships of the line and, on 23 July, sighted a French fleet of twenty-nine ships 100 miles (160 km) west of Ushant. The French Admiral, Louis Guillouet, comte d’Orvilliers, who had orders to avoid battle, was cut off from Brest but retained the weather gage. Two of his ships escaped into port leaving him with twenty-seven. The two fleets manoeuvred during shifting winds and a heavy rain squall until a battle became inevitable with the British more or less in column and the French in some confusion. However, the French managed to pass along the British line with their most advanced ships. At about a quarter to twelve Victory opened fire on the Bretagne of 110 guns, which was being followed by the Ville de Paris of 90 guns. The British van escaped with little loss but Sir Hugh Palliser‘s rear division suffered considerably. Keppel made the signal to follow the French but Palliser did not conform and the action was not resumed. Keppel was court martialled and cleared and Palliser criticised by an inquiry before the affair turned into a political argument. 

Second battle of Ushant                            

In March 1780 Victory‘s hull was sheathed with 3,923 sheets of copper below the waterline to protect it against shipworm. On 2 December 1781 the ship, now commanded by Captain Henry Cromwell and bearing the flag of Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfelt, sailed with eleven other ships of the line, a 50-gun fourth-rate, and five frigates, to intercept a French convoy that had sailed from Brest on 10 December. Not knowing that the convoy was protected by twenty-one ships of the line under the command of Luc Urbain de Bouexic, comte de Guichen, Kempenfelt ordered a chase when they were sighted on 12 December and began the Second Battle of Ushant. When he noted the French superiority he contented himself with capturing fifteen sail of the convoy. The French were dispersed in a gale and forced to return home.

Battle of Cape St. Vincent

1796 Captain Robert Calder (First Captain) and Captain George Grey (Second Captain) commanded Victory under Admiral Sir John Jervis‘s flag. Sir John Jervis sailed from the Tagus on 18 January 1797; after being reinforced on 6 February by five ships from England his fleet consisted of fifteen sail of the line and six In frigates. On 14 February the Portuguese frigate Carlotta, commanded by a Scotsman named Campbell with a Portuguese commission, brought news that a Spanish fleet was close. Jervis manoeuvred to intercept, and the Battle of Cape St Vincent was joined. Principe de Asturias , leading the Spanish leeward division, tried to break through the British line ahead or astern of Victory, but Victory poured such a tremendous fire into her, followed by several raking broadsides, that the whole Spanish division wore round and bore up. Horatio Nelson, in HMS Captain (primarily), also played a decisive role in this action.

  

 

    

After Trafalgar

Victory took Nelson’s body to England where, after lying in state at Greenwich, he was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral on 6 January 1806.

Victory bore many Admirals’ flags after Trafalgar, and sailed on numerous expeditions, including two Baltic campaigns under Admiral Sir James Saumarez. Finally her active career ended on 7 November 1812, when she was moored in Portsmouth Harbour off Gosport and used as a depot ship.

In 1889, Victory was fitted up as a Naval School of Telegraphy. She soon became a proper Signal School, and signal ratings from ships paying off were sent to Victory, instead of the barracks, for a two-month training course. The School remained on Victory until 1904, when training was transferred temporarily to HMS Hercules, and in 1906 the whole School was moved to a permanent establishment at the Chatham Royal Naval Barracks.

As the years passed by Victory slowly deteriorated at her moorings. By 1921 she was in very poor condition, and a campaign to save her was started with the Save the Victory Fund under the aegis of the Society for Nautical Research. The outcome of the campaign was that the British Government agreed to restore and preserve her to commemorate Nelson, the Battle of Trafalgar and the Royal Navy’s supremacy before, during, and after the Napoleonic period.

On 12 January 1922 she was moved into No. 2 dock at Portsmouth, the oldest drydock in the world, for restoration. In 1928 King George V was able to unveil a tablet celebrating the completion of the work, although restoration and maintenance still continued under the supervision of the Society for Nautical Research. In 1941, Victory sustained some damage from a bomb dropped by the Luftwaffe into her dry dock, causing damage to the hull. On one occasion German radio propaganda claimed that the ship had been destroyed by a bomb, and the Admiralty had to issue a denial.

Listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, Core Collection, in the early 21st century the ship underwent another very extensive restoration for the bicentenary of the battle in October 2005 to bring her appearance as close as possible to that which she had at Trafalgar. Replicas of items including mess bowls, beakers and tankards in the ‘Marines’ Mess’, and a toothbrush, shaving brush and wash bowl in ‘Hardy’s Cabin’ are on display.

HMS Victory is still in commission as the flagship of the Second Sea Lord in his role as Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy‘s Home Command (CINCNAVHOME). She is the oldest commissioned warship in the world, although the USS Constitution, launched 30 years later, is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat. Victory attracts around 350,000 visitors per year in her role as a museum ship.

Victory‘s foretopsail was severely damaged during the battle of Trafalgar, perforated by upwards of 90 cannonballs and other projectiles. It was replaced after the battle but was preserved, and eventually came to be displayed in the Royal Naval Museum. The sail is laid out across a large chamber, illuminated by alternating lowlight projectors.

The westernmost entrance to the Royal Navy’s facility in Portsmouth, HMS Nelson, is known as Victory Gate.

HMS Victory is still in commission as the flagship of the Second Sea Lord in his role as Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy‘s Home Command (CINCNAVHOME). She is the oldest commissioned warship in the world, although the USS Constitution, launched 30 years later, is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat. Victory attracts around 350,000 visitors per year in her role as a museum ship.

Victory‘s foretopsail was severely damaged during the battle of Trafalgar, perforated by upwards of 90 cannonballs and other projectiles. It was replaced after the battle but was preserved, and eventually came to be displayed in the Royal Naval Museum. The sail is laid out across a large chamber, illuminated by alternating lowlight projectors.

The westernmost entrance to the Royal Navy’s facility in Portsmouth, HMS Nelson, is known as Victory Gate.

21 October, 2010 was the 205th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Lord Horatio Nelson. The NPS is pleased to honour the great Admiral and offer a philatelic commemoration of these two epic events through this article. NPS members/ bloggers are welcome to add on to this article by way of newer philatelic elements, which would be of information to maritime philatelists ,who access this web-site,the world over.  

PREAMBLE:  

Since Britain is an island, it has always needed a navy to keep enenies from coming over the sea to invade it. If there had been an efficient navy in Roman times neither Ceasar nor Claudius could have crossed the Channel; if there had been one in 1066, William would never have been called the Conqueror; and if there had not been one in the Armada year the British might be speaking Spanish now.  

  

Without the Royal Navy to stop him, Napoleon would certainly have invaded England in 1805 (he had 2,293 vessels in the Channel ports ready to carry 161, 215 men and 9,059 horses across), just as Hitler would have done in 1940.  

Then again, since England has been a trading nation  it has always needed a navy to protect its merchant ships and to attack the enemy’s sea-borne trade. And ever since England became an industrial country as well, unable to produce enough food for its greatly increased population, a navy has been essential to prevent it being starved into surrender.  

A navy has always been necessary, but it was not for many centuries after King Alfred’s time that the Royal Navy as we know it, a permanent service quite separate from the mercantile marine, came into being. The kings generally had some ships of their own, but in war most of the country’s naval force was made up of merchantmen, some hired and some provided by such towns as the Cinque Ports; and once the war was over they went home: they were not real men-of-war, in the sense of being ships specially built and armed for fightimg alone.  

 ” Man” is an odd word for a ship, since sailors call the vessels “she”, but ” man-of-war” came into the language about 1450, and it has stayed, together with the East-Indiaman for a  ship going to India or Guineaman for one sailing to West Africa, and many more.  

Henry VIII had about fifty man-of-war, and it was he who set up the Admiralty and Navy Board to look after them. Queen Elizabeth I had fewer- of the 197 English ships that saild to fight the Spanish Armada only 34 belonged to he. Charles I had 42, but in the wars of the Commonwealth the number grew, so that when King Charles II came into his own again he had 154 vessels of all kinds. It was at this time that the Navy began to take on its modern shape: formerly the King had had to keep his ships out of his own pocket, but now the nation paid for them; and now the officers, instead of being sent away where there was no need for them, were kept on half-pay – they could make a career of the Navy rather than join from time to time. This did not apply to the men, however: they came aboard, or were brought aboard by the press-gang, every time there was a war; and when it was over they went back to their former ways of making a living. By the end of Charles II ‘s reign the Royal Navy had 173 vessels, and because of the labours of Samuel Pepys, the Secretary of the Admiralty, and of the Duke of York, who was the Lord High Admiral, it was a fairly efficient body.  

  

  

  

All through the eighteenth century the Royal Navy grew: in 1714 there were 247 ships amounting to 167, 219 tons; in 1760 412 of 321, 104 tons; and in 1793, although the number had dropped by one, the tonnage amounted to 402,555. This was at the beginning of the great war with France, in which the Royal Navy reached the height of its glory, and the numbers increased rapidly; by the time Napoleaon had been dealt with, Britain had no less than 776 vessels, counting all she had taken from the French, Spaniards, Danes and Dutch; and altogether they came to 724,810 tons. At this time, at its greatest expansion, the Royal Navy needed 11,000 seamen and 31,400 Royal Marines, and a hard task it was to find them.  

The vessels that made up the early Navy were all shapes and sizes, from Henry VIII’s Henry Grace a Dieu of 1000 tons down to row-barges, passing by cogs, carracks, and ballingers, shallops and pinnaces; but by the seventeenth century the pattern that lasted up until the coming of steam was clear, and by the eighteenth it was firmly established. The ships of the Royal Navy were divided into six rates as early as Charles I, and this is how they stood in 1793:  

first rate                            100-112 guns, 841 men (including officers,seamen, boys and servants)  

second rate                       90-98 guns, 743 men  

third rate                          64, 74 and 80 guns, 494, about 620, and 724 men  

fourth rate                       50 guns, 345 men (this rate also included 60 gun ships, but none existed in 1973)  

fifth rate                           32,36,38 and 44 guns,217-297 men       

sixth rate                          20,24 and 28 guns, 138,158 and 198 men   

   

   

  

All these ships, from 20 to 112 guns, were commanded by post-captains. Vessels that carried less than 20 guns-that is to say, all the sloops,brigs, bomb-ketches, fire-ships,cutters and so on-were not rated,and their captains were masters and commanders in the case of sloops, and lieutenants in the rest. (” Captains” in the sense of commanding officers, not of permanent rank; if a midshipman was sent away in charge of a prize, he was her captain so long as he was in command).  

  

The ships that carried  60 guns and more were called ships of the line, because it was they alone that could stand in the line of battle when two fleets came into action. The first and second rates were three- deckers (that is to say they had three whole decks of guns, apart from those on the quarterdeck and forecastle); the third anf fourth rates and the 44s were two-deckers; and the rest one-deckers-they were frigates from 38 guns down to 26, and post-ships when they carried 24 or 20.   

The word frigate was used in the seventeenth century without any precise meaning, but by this time it had long been understood to mean a ship that carried her main armament on one deck and that was built for speed; the frigates were also excellent cruisers, capital for independent action.  

In 1793, counting those that were being built or repaired, those that were laid up and those that were stationary harbour ships, the Royal Navy had 153 ship of the line, 43 50 and 44-gun two-deckers, 99 frigates, and 102 unrated vessels.  

People say, vessels rather than ships because, although a vessel means anything that floats or is meant to float, for a sailor a ship is something quite distinct; it is a vessel, of course, but it is a square-rigged vessel with three masts (fore, main and mizen ) and a bowspirit; what is more these three masts must be made op of a lower mast, top-mast and topgallantmast, and any thing with only two masts (such as a brig) or with three all in one piece (such as a polacre) that presumed to call itself a ship would have been laughed to scorn, hooted down, given no countenance whatsoever.  

The most usual line-of-battle ship was the 74 : there were 73 of them at the beginning of the war (1793) and 137 in 1816. A 74 weighed about 1700 tons and she needed some 2000 oak trees to build her- 57 acrers of forest. In the 1790s England could supply much of the wood, but as the years went by the forests began to look very thin, for an oak tree does not sping up overnight ; and at least half the timber had to be imported. It was always oak, the very best oak, for nothing else would bear the terrible strain of the winter storms or the shock of battle; fir was tried for frigates and cedar for smaller craft, but it did not answer-heart of oak was the only thing for a man-of-war. Masts and yards had to be imported too: they were made of fir, and they had to be very long and straight. The mainmast of a first rate was made up of three sections 117, 70 and 35 feet long, while her main yard was 102 feet across-such trees could be found in large numbers only in America or the north.  

The Guns  

The early guns had beautiful names like cannon-royal, cannon-serpantine, demi-culverin and falconer, but they had abewildering variety of shot and charge; and since these weapons, together with basilisks, sakers and murdering pieces might all be mounted on the same deck, it led to sad confusion in time of battle.  

By the eighteenth century there were fewer kinds, and they were called by the weight of the shot they fired : a first rate, for example carried 30 32 pounders on her lower deck, 28 24-pounders on her middle deck, 30 18-pounders on her upper deck, 10 12-pounders on her quarterdeck and 2 on her forecastle., thus firing a broadside of 1,158 lb. Everything was plain and straight forward: each deck had guns, shot, cartridges and wads of the same size; the guns could be supplied from the magazines as fast as the powder-boys could run; all that remained was to fire them as quickly and accurately as possible.  

   

   

   

   

   

A treatise on Royal Naval guns of the sailing ship era would appear as a post on this web-site soon.  

HORATIO NELSON  

  

   

   

   

   

Born 29th September 1758  

Died 21st October 1805  

Parents Rev. Edmund Nelson and Catherine Suckling  

Personal Appearance Small and frail-looking, he was only 5ft 3 ins tall and prone to illness. Blond hair and blue eyes. Contrary to popular myth, he never wore a false eye or a black eye-patch.  

General Fearless and determined, resourceful and confident, with an intuitive fighting sense, a feeling of destiny and deep religious belief. He had an open, passionate manner which endeared him to his officers and man.  

Nelson was a fearless and proud sailor and he was to prove himself England’s greatest sea warrior.  

Early one morning in March 1771, a small frail boy stood on the deck of the Raisonnable, a 64-gun man-of-war. His name was Horatio Nelson and, although he was only 12 years old, he wanted to join the Britidh Navy. The boy was not afraid, for he believed that God would protect and care for him. Throughout his life, Nelson had rhis powerful belief which he learned from his father, the Rector of Burnham Thrope in Norfolk.  

  

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Nelson was one of 11 children and when he was only nine, his mother died leaving her husband alone with eight surviving children. Horatio was forced to grow up quickly and when he was 12 his uncle, Maurice Suckling, after much pleading from Horatio, employed him as a midshipman on his own ship Raisonnable. This uncle was fond and proud of his nephew who, even when he was a small boy at boarding school, was remarkable for his courage.  

On board ship, Horatio was frequently seasick, but he was never nervous. After a short stint on the Raisonnable, Maurice Suckling found a position for Horatio on a ship sailing off to the West Indies.  

Then Horatio begged his uncle to get him a place on a ship exploring the snowy wastes of the Arctic and on this trip proved his reckless bravery when he met up with a great polar bear.  

    

Nelson, as a midshipman, appears to have been to Bombay (now Mumbai) on board Sea Horse. An excerpt from the book ”  THE BOMBAY DOCKYARD AND THE WADIA MASTER BUILDERS” by Rattanjee Ardeshir Wadia- Reprint of second edition 1972. Page 37:  

“The principal entrance to the Dockyard until recently was the main gate which may be classed as one of the historical features of Bombay. Grose in 1750 mentions having ” entered the Dockyard by the gateway opposite the old Custom House.” The gate must, therfore, have been in existence prior to 1750 but the rooms above and the Clock Tower are not so old, but it is certain that they were built prior to 1798, as old papers in the marine office giving valuation of Dockyard buildings it mentions “Comptroller of Marine Office under the Clock Tower above the main entrance.” Through this gate passed the Duke of Wellington (then Sir Arthur Welleasley K. C. B.) in 1801 inspecting the refit of the expedition proceeding to operate with the forces despatched from England for the invasion of Egypt.  

If the old gateway could write its own history the scroll would certainly not be lacking in interest. It would divulge the names of many distinguished Governors and other personages who had entered to see the wonders of the Marine Yard and to assist at the ceremonies of launching. Possibly, it would describe the embarkation of Clive when proceeding to capture Angria’s fortress of Gheria, and in conjunction with the mane of Wellington, England’s greatest Naval Hero also. For it is more than mere possibility that it would recount the doings of a small midshipman belonging to H. M. S. “Seahorse” passing to and fro within its portals, unconcious of his brilliant future the immortal Nelson. It is proved beyand doubt that Nelson visited Bombay at least three times during his Naval service in India, twice in 1775 and once in 1776. This period appears as a blank page in all his biographies, and for how long on each occasion he remained in the East Indies will probably be never known. As Bombay was the only place possessing a dry dock in the East during the three years the “Seahorse” served, she must have unquestionably occupied the dock for purposes of cleaning.”  

Nelson, however, was not an explorer but a warrior. He yearned to be part of a great sea battle and was delighted when, at the age of 18, he was sent off to the west Indies to protect British Merchant ships from men-of-war in the American War of Independence. He was a Lietunant then. He saw no action, and after the war was employed to stop any smuggling to the United States.  Nelson was very strict with any ship caught trading illegally and he became so unpopular in the West Indies that he dared not leave his ship. But on board, Nelson was loved and respected. In an age where ordinary sailors were treated with great brutality , Nelson was renowned for the care he gave to his men.At the age of 20, after commanding the brig  Badger , he was made Captain  of Hinchinbroke, a frigate, and led an expedition against the Spanish in Nicaragua. Never very strong, Nelson was laid low by fever but at the end of the war he was made Captain of the 26 gun frigate H. M. S. Albermarle.  

  

During a peacetime command of the frigate HMS Boreas in the West Indies, Nelson married Frances Nisbet, a pretty widow who was living io the island of Nevis. Returning home in 1787, Nelson, his wife and step son had to live on half his pay until the out break of war with France, in 1793. The Admiralty was not pleased with Nelson and his actions in the West Indies and for 5 years he was not given a ship. In 1793, the Admiralry gave Nelson the command of the 64- gun  Agamemnon and sent him to capture Corsica. Here , he and his sailors fought a battle on land and Nelson lost the sight of his right eye when an exploding cannon-ball sent splinters of stone flyinginto the air. By 1796 he had been promoted Commodore in HMS Captain. In 1797, the English were fighting Spain, an ally of France, and Nelson  the commander of Captain,  disobeyed orders and boarded a Spanish ship in a reckless and spectacular act of war. The Spanish were overcome and his action won this battle of Cape St Vincent. Afterwards he was knighted and promoted Rear Admiral, then Nelson was soon back in action in Tenerife. Here, he was badly wounded and his arm had to be amputated.   Recovering from his wound, Nelson was posted to the fleet off Portugal in HMS Vanguard and taking a squadron gave chase to the French expedition to Egypt led by Napoleon. Nelson caught the French unawares and annihilated their fleet in the Battle of the Nile in 1798.  On the evening of 1 August 1798, Nelsons fleet destroyed the French men-of-war anchored in Aboukar Bay. Nelson suffered a wound to the forehead, but his victory at the Battle of Nile gained him a peerage. England went mad with praise for their brilliant sea captain and he was soon sent off to engage the DANISH fleet who had recently become allies of Napoleon. Again Nelson ignored the commands of superiors and again proved that he had an instinct for war at sea. He conquered the Danes at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.    

Nelson , earlier, when  sent to Naples  kept himself busy supporting King Ferdinand of Naples against the anti-royalist, pro-French forces. He also fell madly in love with Lady Emma Hamilton, the wife of the elderly Lord Hamilton, British envoy in Naples. Nelson purchased a house in the Surrey Valley of Merton where he installed the Hamiltons as his permanent guests. He was very happy here, but his time with Emma Hamilton was short-lived.  

In May 1803, Nelson was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean fleet, with the duty of engaging the French fleet in a decisive battle. The battle took place off Cape Trafalgar, on 21st  October   1805, but it cost Nelson his life. It was a great victory for Britain, but people were stunned by the death of their hero, Nelson.  

  

   

  

   

  

   

 

  

He had shown bravery and daring, and he was loved by the whole nation. The streets of London were lined by thousands of mourners weeping for the loss of a man regarded not only as a heroic defender of their country but almost as a beloved son.  

Acknowledgements:

MEN-OF-WAR  Life in Nelson’s Navy  by Patrick O’ Brian

DISCOVERY-A Marshall Cavendish Discovery Collection -Vol 31

Royal Mail Booklet issued on the occasion of the 200th Anniversary of Battle of Trafalgar and death of Lord Horatio Nelson

To be continued

  

Dear NPS members and Bloggers,

Here is wishing all NPS members and Bloggers a Very Happy and Prosperous Dussera (Navrathri).

On the eve of the 31st anniversary of the founding of NPS, I extend my sincere thanks to all members for their unstinting support and co-operation which has enabled fruitful growth of the NPS. On this occasion I am pleased to inform you that an article titled “Ship’s Crests” has been featured in the October-December (Vol. IX No. 4) issue of LIGHT HOUSE, the quarterly newsletter of the MARITIME HERITAGE FOUNDATION(MHF). The MHF is an affiliate of MARITIME HERITAGE SOCIETY(MHS), Mumbai. The Light House is edited by Dr. Wg. Cdr. M.S Naravane (Retd.), a renowned military historian residing in Pune. Membership / Subscription details for MHS / Light House can be obtained from Maritime History Society, INS KUNJALI c/o Fleet Mail Office, Mumbai – 400001

A copy of Light House October issue featuring my article has been sent to each of the NPS members by ordinary Book-Post on 11th October, 2010. We are grateful to MHS for allowing the NPS to post the article in Toto in this website. Whereas the cover page of the article has been reproduced below, the entire article is available for download using the link below.

Click Here to download the entire article.

My Dear Members and other Bloggers,

Here is wishing you all a very Happy Ganesh Chathurthi and Eid.

The two festivals coming on the same day augurs well for social amity within the country. On this day I am reminded of a cancellation from a warship of the French Navy, which had come to India for a joint naval exercise with the ships of the Indian Navy from 25^th to 29 November, 2002. The news paper cutting of that exercise is reproduced below:

Indo-French naval exercises

• Two French Navy Ships, stealth frigate La Fayette and supply-cum-command ship Marne will be on a five day visit here from November 25 for a joint exercise with the Indian Navy under the ongoing bilateral naval cooperation, reports UNI. Rear Admiral Richard Wilmot-Roussel, Flag Officer Commanding, the French Naval Forces in the Indian Ocean (ALINDIEN), will be on board FNS Marne, a release of the Consulate General of France stated on Wednesday. It will be his first visit to India since he was designated to command ALINDIEN in October 2002.

Two cards were prepared by me for this occasion. One has to put the stamps of the country of origin of the foreign warship, if one wants the ship’s postal cancellation. Moreover, help from some official in the Indian Navy, at Kochi or Mumbai is required if one has to get these cards cancelled and returned to you. I have tried my best to institutionalise this effort, by writing to the Indian Naval headquarters so that these events could be perpetuated through the media of philately but unfortunately failed to receive a favourable response from Naval Headquarters.

The cards are shown below. On the card from La Fayette bears a cancellation with the outline of GANESHA, a tribute to our GOD worshiped by many through out the Hindu world.

Till we meet soon with another post relating to some important event in Maritime History.

Goodbye and GOD BLESS.

Dear members of NPS and bloggers,

If 1979 was a good beginning for the NPS, 1980 exposed the NPS to the philatelic world in India. The last day of the decade of the seventies, was my last day, as Electrical Officer, on board INS KAVARATTI. I was transferred to a shore establishment, at Visakhapatnam. Since I was still uncertain of getting my next promotion to the rank of commander, I had to keep my interests in Naval Philately under wraps. However, things changed for the better when, in early April, I received communication from Naval Headquarters that I was cleared for my promotion which would follow in due course when vacancies would be available. With this happy news, I again approached then Captain, now retired Commodore, and S.R Iyengar if he would consider a repeat of Navphilex 79, during Navy Mela 1980. He readily agreed and the first meeting of the Navphilex 80 organising committee was held in May 1980. Cdr. S Shekhar, now Retired  commodore, then Secretary NPS wished to hand over the duties of Secretary as he  was unable to spare time for the NPS and I took over the duties of secretary NPS  from him. S Shekhar, however, provided three designs for the logo for NPS, as given below, and the anchor logo, as it exists now, is shown below.

Selected LOGO     OTHER LOGO DESIGNS

submitted by Cdr S  Shekhar

A scan of NPS letterhead, as it existed then, is reproduced below.

I became the first life member of NPS in May 1980. Three others joined soon thereafter. On Jun, 5 1980 the second meeting of the Navphilex 80 organising committee was held and a copy of the prospectus for NAVPHILEX 80, cover scan as shown below, was presented.

Then Commanders, now Vice Admirals, one retired and other the Chief of Material, DSP Varma and Ganesh Mahadevan, in the committee for their artistic talents, opted to resign from the committee due to other pressing commitments. Lt, then, Iyengar took over as Treasurer NPS.

The OLYMPIC GAMES 1980 was held from 19th July to 3rd August. I was keen that NPS must have a magazine of its own so that members could benefit from philatelic news. I took inspiration from two naval philatelic magazines, WATERCRAFT PHILATELY and LOG, published, for its members, by Ships on Stamp Society, American Topical Association  and Ships on stamps Society UK, respectively. Sadly, I did not have much material on naval philately, and, as I was an Olympic Games philatelist, decided that the inaugural issue of the MAGNAPHIL, the magazine of the NPS, would be devoted to Olympic Games 1980. Then Cdr G.S Sen was the editor and then Cdrs T.R Mogul, S Shekhar, G.S Sen and I contributed article each. T.R Mogul, is an Olympian as he had participated in the yachting event in the 1972 Munich Olympics. I had been transferred to Director General Naval Projects, Visakhapatnam, on promotion, and was able to obtain sufficient advertisements to cover the cost of publication of the MAGNAPHIL. It was arranged by Cdr G.S Sen that Vice Admiral M.K Roy, the then Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command would officially release the Magnaphil at his office some time end July 1980. I was not aware of this date and I was told later that on the day the MAGNAPHIL was to be released by Vice Admiral M.K Roy, there was a fiasco. Strangely, my immediate superior in DGNP had summoned me, on that particular day, and ordered me not to leave the DGNP premises. Maybe, G S Sen wanted to take full credit for the publication of the magazine and felt threatened by my presence at the release ceremony. I am told the C-in-C had come in Ceremonial attire and a photographer and the Naval Public Relation Officer were awaiting the formal release of the MAGNAPHIL. Sadly, G.S Sen arrived in working clothes. This infuriated the C-in-C and he cancelled the event. It took profound apologies from our Chairman NPS, Capt S.R Iyengar to pacify the C-in-C and it was agreed to launch the MAGNAPHIL on 4 August, 1980. Magnaphil, was launched on 4th August, 2010 with a host of representatives from the news media and Naval Officers and personnel by the Flag Officer Commanding -in-Chief Vice Admiral M.K Roy. The scan of the photograph which appeared in one of the news dailies, the next day, along with the textual account of this function is shown below.

A scan of the cover of the MAGNAPHIL is also shown below. Strangely, in the original photograph taken by the naval photographer, I appeared on the left of the large logo of NPS, but it was deleted, perhaps on the instructions of the C-in-C, when the same was published by the new-media. How could a Vice Admiral accept the presence of a newly promoted Commander in the same photograph where he was present? Ways of the world I presume.

During the MAGNAPHIL release function I had the occasion to speak to the C-in-C regarding the forthcoming release of a postage stamp on the occasion of the first death anniversary of Lord Mountbatten on 28th August, 1980. I told him that the Indian Navy could get publicity if the stamp was released, at a naval function, by the President of India, the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces. He readily agreed and dispatched a letter, shown below, to the Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral R Pereira.

I, as Secretary of NPS, was deputed to New Delhi to organise the stamp release function. In New Delhi, I met the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) who rang up the Military Secretary to the President, a Brigadier to find out if the President was available on 28^th August for the stamp release. The Brigadier stated that the notice for the function was too short and the President, His Excellency Shri Sanjiv Reddy may not accept the invitation to release the stamp. The CNS, then, sought an appointment with the Vice President of India, Mr M Hidayatullah. The Vice President agreed to release the stamp. CNS then asked me to make the invitee list and get the invitation card printed. Being new to this protocol, I had prepared an n invitation list starting from the Vice President down to the CNS. The invitation card printed is shown below.

Upon seeing the invitation list, the CNS was furious with me, and told me that he, the CNS, was not in Delhi to release stamps. He called me and his PA to his office. and dictated a personal letter. He asked me to prepare a list of 20 philatelists and asked the PA to get that many copies of the letter. This being done, he personally signed all the letters and gave them to me for distribution to the philatelists. He also directed his staff to release a signal (communication) to all units in New Delhi asking for maximum attendance at the release function. I was responsible to find a suitable hall for the function. I approached authorities at Vigyan Bhavan for a hall. As the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet was to be held in Vigyan Bhavan a month later security restrictions were already in force so they refused to allot a hall for the release function. I next approached the India International centre, on Lodhi Road. They were kind enough to allot their auditorium for the function for 3 hours on 28^th August. I had enquired from Shri Ajoy Bagchi, Deputy Director General (DDG) Philately if the Communication Minister would attend the function. He stated that the Communication Minister would not attend the meeting. Mr R. Magal, a senior Indian Official at the United States Education Foundation India, an invitee being a renowned philatelist, helped me with the vote of thanks which I was to deliver.

On the morning of 28^th, the auditorium was filled with naval officers and personnel. Admiral R Pereira, the CNS, arrived from Bhavnagar, where he had gone to commission Indian Naval Sailing ship SUMUDRA, and the predecessor of Indian Naval Sailing ship TARANGINI. We were waiting for the Vice President of India when, suddenly, Shri C.M Stephen, the Communication Minister arrived. The CNS introduced the dignitaries to the Vice President and all of them proceeded to the stage. CNS delivered the welcome address and as he was about to request the Vice President to release the stamp and deliver his address, Shri C.M Stephen asked the CNS that he wished to speak on the late Lord Mountbatten. He began with the sentence “Even though the CNS does not want me to talk I shall say a few words in honour of the late Lord Mountbatten, who was the last Viceroy of India. After his scintillating speech Shri M Hidayatullah released the stamp and delivered his speech. I presented the vote of thanks, but forgot to thank the Communication Minister, as he was, not to attend the function and did so at the last moment. This lapse drew criticism from the DDG Philately when I met him later. All in all the function went off very well and the CNS congratulated me for my effort.

The scans of the First Day Cover (FDC) and a souvenir card, with both New Delhi GPO and Rashtrapathi Bhavan cancellation and autographed by Shri M Hidayatullah prepared by me are shown below:

The British High Commission had given two photographs for the design of the Rs. 2.80 stamp. One photograph was used and the other photographs with the two covers were given by the DDG Philately to me. The other photograph which I had given to an artist Shri Ananda Murthy in Bangalore, to reproduce the image, lost the same. The scans of the two cover are, however, shown below:

Most of the news papers covered the function and scans of cuttings of the same are shown below:

As the Philatelic Advisory Committee (PAC) was meeting the next day, on the 29^th August, 1980, I submitted a letter, as Secretary to the Secretary PAC seeking approval of a stamp on the Navy to be released in 1981. This was accepted. Truly a feather in the cap for the NPS. The scans of my letter, mentioned above, and the news release on the deliberations of the PAC are shown below:

Dear bloggers, this is the history of the NPS from January 1980 to September 1980. More will follow in the next post.

Good bye till then.

Cdr. (Retd) U.N Acharya

Secretary NPS

Dear Bloggers,

I presume a Web Domain, when compared to a blog, is more versatile and user friendly. I have been fortunate to avail the services of Mr. Subramanya Hegde, of Bangalore, who, on behalf of the Naval Philatelic Society (NPS), subscribed for a Web Domain which is being inaugurated, today. On the 63rd anniversary of our Independence Day, I wish all bloggers, as well as all NPS members, a very happy Independence Day. I also wish to thank Mr. Shyam Pandit for his assistance in setting up this web site with all the posts created in my blog navalphilatelicsocietyindia.blogspot.com.

On 7th of July, 2010 the Indian Navy celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the formation of the 300 Indian Navy Air Squadron (INAS 300). At a function in Panaji Goa, a commemorative Rs. 5 postage stamp was released on the same day. A scan of the First Day Cover autographed by the present Commanding Officer of the squadron, Cdr. Janak Bevli, is shown on the right of this paragraph. A scan of the cover of the publicity folder released by INDIA POST is also shown on the left.

As a cancellation from Goa, appeared most appropriate, I undertook the journey from Bangalore to Goa. Sadly I was unable to procure neither the stamp nor the FDCs from the Head Post Office, as the release function was held at 2030 Hrs. on 7th July, and I had to return to Bangalore. Due to security reasons no stamp or cover was sold on that day in Goa even at the venue of the release function. Mr. Lobo, a very senior official with the INDIA POST, however, ensured that two sheets of stamps and a few FDC were available to me, the next day on 8th July, 2010. Cdr. (Retd) R Giani, an NPS Life member who resides

30 km. away from Panaji Goa collected the same for me and I was able to, with his assistance, get Airport Dabolim 9th July circular date cancellation (cdc) on the 8 different Maximum cards I had prepared for this occasion. These are shown on top of this post. The card no 1 depicts a photograph taken when the first three Indian Navy Sea Harriers, of INAS 300 squadron, landed at Dabolim Airport in 1983. Then Vice Admiral O.S Dawson, the Flag Officer Commanding –in –Chief, Southern Naval Command, (3rd from left in the

photograph) had on that occasion garlanded the aircraft. Later, as Admiral, O.S Dawson became the Chief of Naval Staff. Two of the three aircrafts were piloted by officers of the Indian Navy, viz. the then Cdr Arun Prakash (4th from left in the photograph) and Cdr Purohit (2nd from left in the photograph). Arun Prakash, later, as Admiral also became the Chief of Naval Staff. I was able to call on Admiral (Retd) O.S Dawson, residing in Bangalore, and present him with this Maximum card. I have sent one card to Admiral (Retd) Arun Prakash and hope to send one to Purohit too, if I get his address. A full set of these maximum cards was also presented to the Naval Aviation Museum, at Dabolim Goa, on behalf of the NPS.
Late Commodore (Retd) B.R Acharya, then Lt Cdr., was the  Commanding Officer of the INAS 300, when it was commissioned in 1960 in U.K. I called on Mrs. Prema Acharya, the wife of the late Commodore, at Bangalore and presented her with an FDC. It is also a fitting tribute to this great Naval Aviator, as his name appears in the INDIA POST publicity folder released with the stamp.
I understand from sources that the stamp as well as the FDC was put on sale in GPO Bangalore and Chennai on 7th July itself. Therefore, postal articles bearing 7th July cdc, from Chennai and Bangalore GPO would certainly be available. It would indeed be a much sought after philatelic rarity as, technically, it would be a pre-issue cancellation. Usually at 8-30 pm. when the stamp was released in Goa, both GPOs mentioned above would have been closed, so a 7th July c d cancellation would be a pre-issue cancellation. I do hope the authorities at INDIA POST take note of this anomaly. Agreeing to hold stamp release functions at odd times inconveniences the philatelists, especially when INDIA POST decides to stop sale of stamps and other items at few places but allows sale at other places/cities. That philatelic rarities are created on this account is a different matter by itself. Either way, it does not add to the prestige of the INDIA POST in the philatelic world. Indeed, a sorry state of affairs.
On the silver jubilee of INAS 300, in 1985, a special cover was released by the Indian Naval Authorities at Goa on 7th July 1985. I, as Secretary NPS, had a great part to play in the design/activities connected with the approval of the special cancellation by Chief Post Master General (Maharashtra and Goa circle) but sadly have bitter memories of this endeavour. This would, however, be the subject matter of my next post on this web site.
Good Bye till then

Dear Bloggers,
This is the extracts from Press Information Bureau news of 4 July,2010.
Sunday,4 July 2010 MUMBAI THIRUVANANTHAPURAM KOLKATA HYDERABAD CHENNAI BANGALORE AIZAWL

Sunday, July 04, 2010
Ministry of Defence

INAS 300 ‘WHITE TIGERS’ OF INDIAN NAVY COMPLETE FIFTY YEARS OF GLORIOUS SERVICE
——————————————————————————–

15:34 IST

Golden Jubilee celebrations of the front line Sea Harrier squadron of the Indian Navy, Indian Naval Air Squadron (INAS) 300, will be ‘launched’ tomorrow 05th July 2010 at Goa with over a hundred White Tigers in attendance.

The events scheduled include a two day professional seminar on carrier borne fighter operations, a get together of the veterans of the Squadron and the release of a commemorative first day cover and postage stamp.

The seminar will see discussions on esoteric subjects of topical interest to a navy poised for growth in air craft carrier based power. Included are an aero medical paper that discusses the effects of ‘high G’ catapult launches and challenges of spatial orientation particularly in night operations over the sea, a paper that explores operating concepts for future indigenous aircraft carriers considering the various options viz Short Take-off and Vertical Landing (STOVL), Short Take-off but Arrested Landing (STOBAR) and Catapult Take-off but Arrested Landing (CATOBAR) these discussions are of particular interest as the Indian Navy today stands at a vital cross road regarding operating concept for its future indigenous carriers. One paper also discusses latest developments in fighter direction and control in an environment of Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft.

Later, on 07 July 2010 the Department of Post will release a Commemorative Postage Stamp and a First Day Cover in a special ceremony with Dr SS Sidhu, the Governor of Goa, as the Chief Guest. Admiral Nirmal Verma, PVSM, AVSM, ADC, the Chief of the Naval Staff, along with a number of senior dignitaries and notable veterans such as Admiral RH Tahiliani and Admiral Arun Prakash will be present during the ceremonies.

The White Tigers have an illustrious history with many significant contributions over the past fifty years. On 18 May 1961 Lt Cdr RH Tahilhiani (later Admiral and Chief of Naval Staff) landed the first Seahawk, piloted by an Indian, onboard the INS Vikrant. Ever since, the Squadron has been at the fore front of naval operations as the premier front line fighter squadron of the Indian Navy. The 1971 India-Pakistan conflict saw the squadron’s Seahawk aircraft in action from INS Vikrant. When the conflict ended, INAS 300 had not suffered a single loss and won one Maha Vir Chakra, five Vir Chakras, one Naosena medal and four Mentions in Despatches.

In December 1983 the Sea Hawks were bid adieu and the squadron inducted the Sea Harrier FRS Mk 51 aircraft. Over the years these aircraft have proven themselves after having been eye-to-eye with the best in the business viz the magnificent carriers and the flying machines of the American, French and British navies. Recently, the ageing Sea Harriers were given a weapon and avionics upgrade to keep abreast with evolving technology. The upgraded Sea Harrier christened LUSH (Limited Upgrade Sea Harrier) is a shot in the arm for the Indian Naval aviation. The Sea Harriers, in their ‘new avatar’, are now a formidable force to reckon with. LUSH aircrafts, fitted with Beyond Visual Range missiles, are now operating in a highly dynamic BVR environment and can hold their own in combat.

The White Tigers have built an enviable reputation for themselves and continue to remain at the forefront of Indian Naval Aviation.

PVS