For all the Leeds Patriot’sscaremongering about the ingenuity and insubordination of prisoners onboard the hulks, it does give a fascinating contemporary account of what life was actually like for those imprisoned on the water. For example, the newspaper describes what a newly-arrived hulk prisoner might face: The possibility of defeat would not have entered the minds of the thousands of British sailors in the fleet. As far as they were concerned, they were led by Nelson, the man responsible for the victory at the Second Battle of Cape St Vincent, destroyer of the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile and victor at the First Battle of Copenhagen. They would be thinking of the unimaginable sums of prize money which would be gained by the capture of a significant proportion of the vast enemy fleet arrayed before them. Those who survived the battle, when eventually paid off, would be rich men.

He goes on to narrate the cruelty of the men in charge of the hulks, and the impossibility of complaint ever being made against them: The French admiral, Villaret de Joyeuse, in the meantime had learned that the convoy was close and in danger of being discovered by the British. Failure was not an option, so the French changed course and headed west, hoping to lure Howe and his fleet away from the convoy. During the night of 28th - 29th May, both fleets had resumed their formations. The British had managed to gain what was called the Weather Gage - that is, they had worked their way upwind of the enemy, their favoured position. Howe had taken the bait and followed Villaret de Joyeuse's fleet away from the convoy Such a battle could not be fought without sustaining a great loss of men. I have not only to lament in common with the British Navy, and the British Nation, in the fall of the Commander in Chief, the loss of a Hero, whose name will be immortal, and his memory ever dear to his country; but my heart is rent with the most poignant grief for the death of a friend, to whom, by many years intimacy, and a perfect knowledge of the virtues of his mind, which inspired ideas superior to the common race of men, I was bound by the strongest ties of affection; a grief to which even the glorious occasion in which he fell, does not bring the consolation which perhaps it ought; his Lordship received a musket ball in his left breast, about the middle of the action, and sent an officer to me immediately with his last farewell; and soon after expired.

Object Details

Cumberland was a 74-gun Third-rate launched in 1807, Northfleet. She was converted to a prison hulk in 1830 and was renamed Fortitude in 1833. She was put on the sale list in 1870 and was subsequently sold. Resolute was a 12-gun gun-brig launched in 1805 in Dover. She was used as a tender from 1814, a diving bell vessel from 1816 and a prison hulk from 1844. She was broken up in 1852. Corbett, Julian (1997). Naval Operations. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents. Vol.II (reprint of the 1929 seconded.). London and Nashville, Tennessee: Imperial War Museum in association with the Battery Press. ISBN 1-870423-74-7.

On 15 July 1910 the Sheffield Evening Telegraphrecorded the anniversaries of the day. One particular entry was this: HMS Telegraph (16), Lt. James Andrew Worth,captured French privateer brig Hirondelle (16) off the Isle of Bas On 26th February, the fleet was joined by HMS Ambuscade, a frigate of 32 guns. She had been carrying two passengers, one of whom was Rear-Admiral Thomas Louis, who was to take command of one of Nelson's squadrons. He moved his command flag to HMS Canopus. Also carried aboard HMS Ambuscade was Captain William Francis Austen, brother of the famous author Jane Austen. He was to take command of HMS Canopus in place of Captain John Conn, who was recalled to England. However, those beyond apparent reformation were often sentenced to transportation. And even when transported, such convicts could still be subject to the cruelty of the prison hulks. ‘Floating Hells’

Dimensions

John White, 28, AB, volunteer, Bitton, Glos, HMS Achille, killed in Action at Trafalgar, 21 Oct 1805 Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4. Lion was a 64-gun Third-rate launched in 1777. She was used as a sheer hulk from 1816 and was sold for breaking up in 1837.