Discovered the MoD Art Collection today, though it no longer exsists as 2000 items have now been distributed to other collections around the UK such as the National Maritime Museum.
More information about the former colection can be found here
Nelson's funeral at St Paul's Cathedral.
After his death at 4.30, with no coffins on board, they needed something to store his body. A leaguer or large water barrel was the best option available. His body was prepared, his clothes (except his shirt) were removed, and a lock of his hair was cut for his dear Emma. William Beatty explained that after his body was placed in the barrel, it was filled with Brandy.
With the cask placed on the Middle deck, a sentry was placed to guard his body.
On the 28th October HMS Victory arrived at Gibraltar, and the Brandy was drained off, and fresh Brandy added. During the 5 week trip to Spithead, the Brandy was replaced twice more.
11th December Dr Beatty prepared Nelsons Body and it was at this point he found the ball that had killed him. The body was wrapped in cotton and bandaged from head to toe before being placed in a lead coffin, then a wooden coffin made from the main mast of the French Ship L'Orient from the Battle of the Nile.
His body was placed in the Painted Hall at the Royal Hospital Greenwich as the nation mourned.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-scandalous-decision-to-pickle-admiral-horatio-nelson-in-brandy
https://navyhistory.org.au/the-preservation-of-horatio-lord-nelsons-body/
Hartlepool is a coastal town in the North of England, many have never heard of it.
Hartlepool is the home of HMS Trincomalee and the National Royal Navy museum, however, it is another aspect of the town's nautical heritage that it is perhaps better known for.
Legend has it that coastal towns lived in constant fear of an invasion during the Napoleonic war. Fishermen and seafarers are a superstitious bunch at the best of times and observed all outsiders as potential spies.
During a storm a French ship struggled, observed by the town's fishing fleet. When it sunk off the coast of Hartlepool, the crew all lost at sea, except one. That one survivor was a Monkey dressed in military uniform. For many years it was stated that the locals, having never seen a real Frenchman and not being able to understand the monkey decided he must have been a french spy. It is said that during his trial the monkey failed to provide a defence and so he was sentenced to death by this Impromptu people's court and was hanged from the mast of a fishing boat.
One other alternative was that the Monkey was actually a powder monkey, these were often small boys that were used to supply cannon with powder during battle. A small french child would likely have been unable to communicate with locals through language barriers, his traumatic sinking and fear from being away from home.
Is it true?, who knows, it is likely that the story comes from a musical song written by Ned Covan in 1855, or maybe from an earlier song about a visiting Baboon.
Many Hartlepool residents seem proud of their Monkey Hanger nickname, with the local Football team Hartlepool FC known as the Monkey Hangers, and having a mascot called H'Angus the Monkey. The clubs fanzine is called MoneyBizz .
Two local rugby teams also incorporate monkeys into their logos. Hartlepool RFC and Hartlepool Rovers.
The famous Monkey is commemorated with this statue in the marina, which is used to raise money for local charities.
There are lots of myths and rumours surrounding the origin of some of the items of the Royal Navy uniform. Some are more plausible than others.
One such myth I have seen repeated many times is the reason for the white stripes on a blue collar.
Royal Navy Collar
The myth states that there are three white lines that represent Nelson's three great battles (Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar). And yet the French Navy also have three white strips, despite the fact they were beaten in the same three battles by the British.
The collar itself was often said to have originated to protect uniforms for tarred plaits often work by sailors in the 18th century, Royal Navy uniform was not introduced until the mid-19th century, by which time hairstyles had changed, and so tarred plaits were not the issue they had once been.
The reason for Blue uniforms is not as is often stated to do with camouflage or that sailors were on the sea, it is simply down to the availability of cheap colour fast dye in a time before the availability of synthetic dyes, colonising India meant a ready supply of indigo.
Early naval clothing was often red or grey, and not the blue we think of today.
Queen Victoria popularised the fashion of dressing children in the sailor suit, after dressing her son Prince Albert in a sailor suit as a child of four in 1846.
This tradition has continued with Royal Children, most recently with Prince Lois wearing a sailor suit for the Trooping of the Colour (2022).
https://www.forces.net/news/royal-navy-submariner-trainees-get-new-badge
https://www.facebook.com/britanniaassociation/posts/a-recent-rntm-directive-03-03321-notified-royal-navy-personnel-that-to-commemora/4095024360553141/
The Brynmoor Jones Library (University of Hull)
Things I love about the University of Hull.
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I recently blogged about Mudget Submarines (XE craft) built in Huddersfield on the site of the University by local company Thomas Broadbent.
I recently stumbled across a local Victoria Cross winner buried in Halifax.
James Joseph Magennis was not a local man by birth. He was born in Belfast to a working-class Roman Catholic family, sadly it was only 10 years after his death that his home town recognised him and his achievements. It was only in 1998 after the troubles had started to relax and the Good Friday agreement in place that the Council of Belfast finally honoured their VC winner. A memorial was erected for him in the grounds of Belfast City Hall.
Having joined the Royal Navy at the age of 15 Magennis, he served initially of Destroyers before moving to Submarines and later volunteering to serve on Midget submarines.
Megennis a diver took part in the sinking of Turpitz (1943) for which he was mentioned in dispatches, before also taking part in the sinking of Takao. It was this mission for which he earned his VC.
After a period of training in Australia, the crews of the XE craft took part in Operation Struggle, an attack on Seletar Naval Base.
London Gazette Citation
Leading Seaman Magennis served as Diver in His Majesty's Midget Submarine XE-3 for her attack on 31 July 1945, on a Japanese cruiser of the Atago class. The diver's hatch could not be fully opened because XE-3 was tightly jammed under the target, and Magennis had to squeeze himself through the narrow space available. He experienced great difficulty in placing his limpets on the bottom of the cruiser owing both to the foul state of the bottom and to the pronounced slope upon which the limpets would not hold. Before a limpet could be placed therefore Magennis had thoroughly to scrape the area clear of barnacles, and in order to secure the limpets he had to tie them in pairs by a line passing under the cruiser keel. This was very tiring work for a diver, and he was moreover handicapped by a steady leakage of oxygen which was ascending in bubbles to the surface. A lesser man would have been content to place a few limpets and then to return to the craft. Magennis, however, persisted until he had placed his full outfit before returning to the craft in an exhausted condition. Shortly after withdrawing Lieutenant Fraser endeavoured to jettison his limpet carriers, but one of these would not release itself and fall clear of the craft. Despite his exhaustion, his oxygen leak and the fact that there was every probability of his being sighted, Magennis at once volunteered to leave the craft and free the carrier rather than allow a less experienced diver to undertake the job. After seven minutes of nerve-racking work he succeeded in releasing the carrier. Magennis displayed very great courage and devotion to duty and complete disregard for his own safety.
XE-3 was just one of the eight Midget submarines built in Huddersfield, so it seems fitting that after the war, Magennis chose to settle just up the road in Halifax.
Had my third supervision meeting tonight, and made lots of notes.
Gave a brief presentation on the history of Royal Navy uniforms.
Letters Home
To commemorate Armistice day this year, The Royal Navy released a fantastic short film titled Letters Home.
The film follows Tom, a member of the Royal Navy 63rd Division in France, his brother Billy on the HMS Queen Mary, and their younger sister at home.
One of the things that often fascinates me is how Huddersfield some 50 miles from the Sea played a role in the coastal defences during World War 2. How?
Thomas Broadbent's & Son, a centrifuge maker still in existence today, put their engineering skills to good work during the war making XE boats. The site of the factory is now part of the university, which has been redeveloped and had the Barbarbrs Hepworth Building built on the site.
But during the second world war, Broadbents was manufacturing the X Boat or Midget Submarine. The midget submarines were over 16 metres long, and so not that easy to hide, yet they were disguised as they left the works in Huddersfield as large motor boats making them less of a target.
Today, the 21st October 2022 marks the 217 anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, and the death of Admiral Horatio Nelson.
While it was a battle in a time of many great sea battles and Nelson's last great victory, The Battle of Trafalgar was more than this. The Battle of Trafalgar marked the beginning of British Naval supremacy at sea and the decline of Napoleans' plans to rule land and sea. Which in turn led to further growth of the British Empire.
Horatio Nelson
After Nelson arrived back his body was placed in the Painted Hall, Greenwich before his funeral.
Nelson was hailed a hero and a funeral effigy was made of him, when Emma Hamilton saw this she is said to claim it was the best representation of him she had seen, maybe she failed to notice that they had got his eyes mixed up and given him the wrong blind eye.
For more on the restoration of the Westminster Effigies and their visit to St Thomas' Hospital.
Nelson was laid to rest in an extravagant sarcophagus originally constructed for Cardinal Wolsey, who ended up being buried in an unmarked grave following his fall from favour.
For more information on the Battle of Trafalgar
More information on Horation Nelson
It's not really a surprise as I have used this website a lot in the past, but I always seem to forget it and stumble back across it later.
This time it started with a mention of the Royal Naval Uniform Regulations for Officers 1891, a quick internet search took me straight to a copy of these regulations in a New York Library, digitized by Google.
As well as great descriptions of the uniforms this book also contains some fantastic images of the uniform items.
Of course, this sent me down a rabbit hole of looking for other interesting publications and the Internet Archive did not disappoint.
1879 Regulations for Naval Uniform by Herbert Booker
One of my favourites has to be the publications that came from the Royal Naval Exhibition of 1891 (more on that later)
