N. A. M. Rodger - The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815

PENGUIN BOOKS

THE COMMAND OF THE OCEAN

Monumental Rodger is our finest naval historian Saul David, Daily Telegraph

Exciting and original Here is that rarest of all historians, the expert with the generalists approach Geoffrey Moorhouse, Guardian

A great work of history A truly satisfying book that one puts down with regret Nothing written during the past century, perhaps ever, approaches N. A. M. Rodgers ambitious and masterly three-volume Naval History of Britain it is likely to be regarded as one of the great works of historical scholarship of our age Paul Kennedy, Sunday Times

Riveting lucid, challenging highly original the second volume of Rodgers history can only elicit the chorus of praise that greeted the first Richard Ollard, Country Life

Truly in a class of its own at turns witty, provocative and incisive you finish it wishing for more F. J. M. Scott, History Today

Scholarly and erudite, but also a thrilling story, told with wit and verve Economist, Books of the Year

Splendid There is plenty of old-fashioned narrative in this encyclopedic blockbuster the writing advances across the pages like a squadron of dreadnoughts John Parfitt, Spectator

An enterprise of truly stupendous scope and erudition Even the annotated bibliography, with its deadpan, often savage comments, is a pleasure to read Brendan Simms, Evening Standard

N. A. M. Rodger is the doyen of naval scholars This is an excellent book Frank McLynn, New Statesman

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

N. A. M. Rodger is Professor of Naval History at Exeter University and a Fellow of the British Academy; he was formerly Anderson Senior Research Fellow at the National Maritime Museum. He is the author of The Wooden World and The Admiralty as well as the highly acclaimed first volume of his naval history of Britain, The Safeguard of the Sea.

A Naval History of Britain 16491815

N.A.M. RODGER

PENGUIN BOOKS

in association with the

NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM

The publishers and author gratefully acknowledge the Society for Nautical Research and the Navy Records Society for their help and assistance with the publication of this volume.

PENGUIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017, India

Penguin Group (NZ), cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL , England

www.penguin.com

First published by Allen Lane 2004

Published in trade paperback by Penguin Books 2005

Published in this format in Penguin Books 2006

Copyright N. A. M. Rodger, 2004

All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

ISBN: 978-0-14-191590-6

For M. F., who made it possible

To pretend to UniversalMonarchy without Fleets was long since looked upon, as a politick chimaera whoever commands the ocean, commands the trade of the world, and whoever commands the trade of the world, commands the riches of the world, and whoever is master of that, commands the world itself.

John Evelyn, Navigation and Commerce,
their Origin and Progress (London, 1674), pp. 1517 and 323.

All illustrations are reproduced by courtesy of the National Maritime Museum. The relevant NMM reference number appears in square brackets.

The sailmaker of the frigate Pallas, November 1774, sketched by Gabriel Bray [PT1992]

A seaman of the Pallas leaning on a bowchaser, sketched by Gabriel Bray [PT1999]

A marine and a sailor of the Pallas, Senegal Road, lanuary 1775, sketched by Gabriel Bray [PT 20132]

John Crawford nailing Admiral Duncans flag to the maintopgallant masthead of the Venerable, by Daniel Orme [PU 3447]

The wardroom officers of the Gloucester at dinner in 1812, painted by the chaplain Edward Mangin [D76893]

The quarterdeck and poop of the Venerable, drawn by Benjamin Turner in 1799 [PW7977]

Young Master William Blockhead on his first day afloat. One of a series of satirical prints by George Cruikshank after sketches by Captain Frederick Marryat [PU4722]

Another of the Cruikshank/Marryat series, showing Mr Midshipman Blockhead experiencing the delights of the middle watch in hard weather, without a greatcoat [PAD 4732]

A barge and crew, drawn by Nicholas Pocock [PU8876]

A grisaille of the battle of the Gabbard, 2 June 1653, by Heerman Witmont [BHC 0276]

The battle of Scheveningen, 31 July 1653, by Willem van de Velde the elder [BHC 0277]

The surrender of the Royal Prince, 3 June 1666, during the Four Days Battle, by Willem van de Velde the younger [V288]

The Medway Raid, June 1667, by Willem Schellinks [BHC 0294]

The battle of Solebay, 28 May 1672, by Willem van de Velde the younger [BHC0303]

The battle of Quiberon Bay, 20 November 1759, by Dominic Serres the elder [BHC0400]

The capture of Newport, Rhode Island, in December 1776, by Robert Cleveley [2891]

Barringtons defence of the Grand Cul de Sac, St Lucia, 15 December 1778, by Dominic Serres the elder [BHC 0422]

The battle of the Dogger Bank, 5 August 1781, engraved after Engel Hoogerheyden [5625]

The battle of the Dogger Bank, by Thomas Luny [BHC0434]

The Brunswick fighting the Vengeur du Peuple and the Achille during the battle of the First of June 1794, by Nicholas Pocock [BHC 0471]

The frigate Mermaid driving the French corvette Brutus ashore on the coast of Grenada, 10 October 1795, engraved after Nicholas Pocock [C627]

The inshore squadron of St Vincents fleet drying sails at anchor off Cadiz during the blockade following the battle of St Vincent, 1797, by Thomas Buttersworth [3833]

The opening of the battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798, painted by Cooper Willyams [D8619-C]

The battle of Copenhagen, 2 April 1801, engraved after Nicholas Pocock [PU 5662]

Commodore Dances convoy fighting Linois off Pulo Aor, 15 February 1804, painted and engraved by William Daniell [PZ6125]

The battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805, by Nicholas Pocock [BHC0548]

The capture of Curaoa on 1 January 1807, by Charles Brisbane [8336]

The floating out of the eighty-gun three-decker Cambridge, 21 October 1755, by John Cleveley the elder [BHC 3602]

Portsmouth Harbour from the Gunwharf, 1770, by Dominic Serres the elder [BHC 1920]