The Admiral Benbow. You never knew that.

Date Posted: 14/09/2010

Advance copies of The Admiral Benbow have come through today which is very exciting. So here’s some facts you didn’t know about Benbow to get everyone excited.

1. Benbow lived for a while in John Evelyn’s House in Deptford, but then sub-let it to Peter the Great, Czar of Russia who trashed it in an excessive bout of riotous partying. A detailed list of the damage survives in the Admiralty archives.

2. Long before Benbow fought his last fight he took part in a series of bombardment raids against the north coast of France. In one of these he sailed a 300-ton ship full of explosives and broken glass and bits of iron into the middle of a civilian harbour and blew it up. Bit like a truck bomb. He then burned down the convent.

3. Benbow was on the Committee that designed and built the Greeniwch hospital for seamen. He worked alongside Sir Christopher Wren.

4. Benbow helped design the Royal Navy’s first generation of bomb vessels.

And there is so much more….Barbary Corsairs, lighthouse construction, fleet battle, mutiny, courts martial…

Remember – Benbow’s last fight became famous because he already was famous. And now we know why.