Category: Dispatches

BBC Radio4 ‘Making History’

Date Posted: 22/03/2013

Yesterday I recorded a piece for Radio4’s  ‘Making History’ program. Tom Holland and I went to the British Library to meet Dr Arnold Hunt, the curator of manuscripts to discuss the amazing collection of Naval Dispatches which my latest book is based on. It .... Read More

The Great Trafalgar Dispatch Mystery

Date Posted: 09/10/2011

This topic has generated so much discussion on Twitter @navalhistory guy that I have decided to open it up as a blog so everyone can have their say. The problem is this: Why did Collingwood choose Lieutenant John Lapenotiere of the schooner Pickle to carry the Trafalgar .... Read More

The Boy Who Stood on the Burning Deck

Date Posted: 19/09/2010

Was the son of the captain of the French flagship L’Orient at the battle of the Nile (1798). The captain’s surname was Casabianca, which is why the famous poem that begins ‘The boy stood on the burning deck’ is called Casabianca. I have just found a great eye-witness report .... Read More