The War at Sea

The Battle of Trafalgar: Commemoration and Controversy 

 Katherine Gazzard 

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Royal Museums Greenwich (July 18, 2025)

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 96 pages ISBN ‏ : ‎ 978-1068765995

Joseph Mallord William Turner’s The Batt le of Trafalgar is one of the most famous and recognisable paintings in the collection of the National Maritime Museum. Published to coincide with the 250th anniversary of Turner’s birth and 220 years aft er the batt le for which this monumental work is named, the book situates the painting alongside plans, sketches and artefacts from the National Maritime Museum’s collection and examines Turner’s contribution to maritime art and to Nelson’s complicated legacy. The Batt le of Trafalgar was the only work Turner made ‘by royal command’ and the largest he painted. Although best remembered as an unconventional artist, with this commission Turner was tasked with producing a patriotic painting to adorn the halls of power. On completion,…

A long-overlooked—and partially lost—correspondence between the U.S. government and Napoleonic France offers an intriguing new perspective on the naval War of 1812.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history/2024/december/reinforcements-france

The British in the Adriatic, 1800-1825 Malcolm Scott Hardy Publisher: ARCHAEOPRESS (Jun 2024)

Description: Paperback; 274 pages, 128 figures (colour throughout)

ISBN: 9781803277257 Three detailed studies consider British naval and military, diplomatic and commercial activity in the eastern Adriatic during the Napoleonic wars, drawing on original research in various British archives.

The British in the Adriatic, 1800–1825 brings together three detailed studies of British naval and military, diplomatic and commercial activity in the eastern Adriatic during the Napoleonic wars, drawing on original research in various British archives. A focus is the strategically important island of Vis, where there are the remains of British fortifications, another the town of Rijeka where a leading merchant had lengthy dealings with the British Navy Board for the provision of timber.

The third part, hitherto unpublished, was written on the bicentenary in 2012 of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. It investigates the unrealized plans by the British and Russians…

Easton, C. (2020). A Social and Economic History of the 1797 Fleet Mutinies at Spithead and The Nore

Abstract

This thesis presents an analysis of the 1797 fleet mutinies at Spithead and the Nore based on an application of methodologies drawn from social, economic, and cultural history. Using both quantitative and qualitative sources, I present a new interpretation of these momentous events that reveals the centrality of perceptions of fairness and ‘good usage’ to their causation, course, and legacy with implications for historiographies of labour relations and popular protest. I have analysed the evidence used in previous studies to support the interpretation that the mutinies were revolutionary in their intentions and concluded that this does not provide a credible case. For the first time, I have quantified the impact of the stagnation of sailors’ wages between 1653 and 1797 on their purchasing power and conclude that this was a, but not…