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