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Posts Archived Under Sailing
Not exactly the way either the British or the
Danes expected to spend Easter Break |
In 1801, Britannia ruled the waves. While Napoleon was the master of the land, Britain had mastered the seas -- so much so that the British were able to implement a complete blockade of French trade in an effort to bleed them dry. Unfortunately for the Brits, not all of the squabbling factions in Europe were interested in their plan, including the kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Russia.
Those four powers of northern Europe responded to British interference in their own trade with France by forming the Second League of Armed Neutrality. The British saw the League as pro-French, but in reality it protected the northern nations' shipping interests and defended their own ships against British searches. With the League attempting to preserve their trading rights and Britain desperate to block them, a confrontation was inevitable.
That confrontation manifested itself in the Battle of Copenhagen, a large, set-piece naval battle that took place on April 2, 1801, when the British fleet under Admiral Hyde Parker and Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson (yes, the same Nelson of both Battle of Trafalgar and Trafalgar Square fame) sailed to Copenhagen to confront the obstinate Danish fleet.
The method of naval combat in the Age of Sail was simple: ships assembled in a line, front-to-back, then unleashed broadsides into the enemy as they passed. At Copenhagen, the Danes were anchored and sat under the protection of several land batteries, which was an ideal situation for the Danes, since their ships were stabilized (allowing for more accurate cannon fire), and augmented by the larger guns on land. The British approached in a traditional line, with Nelson leading the charge.
It was a lengthy battle that lasted all day. The Danes fought bravely and did not waver. At the height of the battle, when the British were taking the worst of it, Admiral Parker signaled to Nelson (who was in the thickest of the fighting) to withdraw. Prompted by his flag officer, Nelson put a spyglass to his blind eye, stated, "I really do not see the signal," and fought on.
Exceptional British gunnery eventually won the day and the Danes were brought to the negotiating table. The British fleet then sailed to Sweden and obtained their capitulation. In the meantime, Tsar Paul, the founder of the Second League, had been assassinated, dissolving Russian involvement in the League and ending the threat to the British... for the time being.
But British dominance over the seas never went unchallenged. The years to come would bring a plan by the French for a seaborne invasion of the United Kingdom and a Second Battle of Copenhagen. And of course there was Nelson's swan song, Trafalgar -- the battle that transformed him from the hero of the Nile and Copenhagen into a British legend.
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Directory categories:
Napoleonic Wars, Lord Horatio Nelson, 19th Century Military History, Maritime History, British Royal Navy |
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Archived under: 19th Century, England, European History, France, Military, Sailing, War |
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| Sparkaphobia | By Dave Sikula
Tue, November 17, 2009, 12:01 am PST |
We're hoping we
can avoid a jinx.
(Photo by Pete) |
Over the past couple of days, we've asked our fellow Yahoo!s about some of their fears and phobias. Today, we'd like to deal with their superstitions -- and ways to ward off bad luck. Some of us have superstitions, rather than outright fears.
Personally, I’m not superstitious, but my wife won't let me put shoes on the bed, and I won't walk under ladders, and will throw spilled salt over my shoulder and knock on wood to ward off anything untoward happening.
Corinne: My mum always says that we shouldn't open an umbrella in the house, and never celebrate your birthday before the day. But, being French, we always have baguettes on the table -- though you should never place them upside down….
Adam: As a sailor, I have quite a few superstitions: never leave for a voyage on a Friday, never talk about lack of wind, and don't bring bananas on a boat.
Randall: I obsessively knock on wood. When it came time to buy a wedding ring, I bought one that was made out of wood so that I could "knock on wood" wherever I am.
Michelle: I'm not generally a superstitious person, but I do believe in jinxing things, especially traffic and baseball. When the Indians are winning or traffic is surprisingly light, any positive comment must be prefaced with, "I'm sure they're about to blow it, but..." or "I know we'll hit a traffic jam soon, but..." Failing to do this guarantees sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic while listening to the Yankees win the World Series.
Liz: I fear that if I mention the possibility of something bad happening, it's more likely to happen. Wait -- forget I said that!
We leave you with a pair of examples of arachnophobia that are frighteningly similar:
Helene: I am afraid to death of spiders, small or large, hairy or not, and all the more since a "good" friend told me that we swallow three spiders while sleeping each year.
Adrianna: I'm not scared of rats or snakes but I am deathly afraid of spiders. Even the tiniest spiders scare me, and I make sure when I'm walking to watch out for those sticky spider webs. But from a recent fact I read, I'm never more than ten feet away from a spider. Now that's a frightening thought.
A frightening thought, indeed. Good luck to you all -- knock wood!
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Directory categories:
Superstitions, Umbrellas, Traffic and Road Conditions, Major League Baseball, Spiders |
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Archived under: Bananas, Baseball, Curses, Phobias, Psychology, Sailing, Spiders, Superstition |
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William "Captain" Kidd |
When we envision a pirate, we usually have the fictional variety in mind. In books and movies, the pirate is typically a romantic hero; a noble (and often wrongfully accused) freedom fighter -- or an effeminate eye-liner loving prankster. But we often forget that pirates were (and are) real people, far different from the ideal we imagine. Yes, they sailed ships and some even buried treasure, but the original pirates were often just men (and women) caught up in the politics of the day, but without the connections (or the right PR) to back them up.
The most infamous example of this kind of pirate was Captain Kidd. Born in Scotland in the mid-17th century, William Kidd gained success as a sailor and officially became a privateer during the Nine Year's War, conducting raids for the British on the French in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean. In 1696, the Whig-led English government asked Kidd to lead an attack on a group of pirates suspected of aiding the enemy French. However, this expedition was a failure, as Kidd faced constant threats of mutiny from his crew and was branded a pirate by the Royal Navy, due to his refusal to follow orders. He was arrested and sent to London (where a new Tory ministry was in power) to stand trial for piracy and murder. Kidd was found guilty and was executed by hanging on May 23, 1701. His body was then hung in an iron cage overlooking the River Thames as a warning to future pirates.
There are many who view Kidd’s death as mistake of political fortune, with Kidd as the unlucky pawn caught in a power struggle between Tories and Whigs in Parliament. While Kidd certainly committed acts of piracy, privateering was a legal and realistic part of maritime warfare during the 17th and 18th centuries. And the English government certainly reaped the benefits of his early activities, and declared Kidd a pirate only after he had ceased being a useful military weapon.
Kidd's fate was similar to other sailors and soldiers, many of whom turned to piracy only to survive tumultuous economic and political times. And as we confront modern piracy today, the legacy of William Kidd should not be forgotten.
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Directory categories:
Captain William Kidd, Piracy, Pirates and Buccaneers, Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean", 17th Century |
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Archived under: 17th Century, Adventure, Anniversaries, Crime, Criminals, England, History, Military, Mythology and Folklore, Pirates, Sailing, U.K. History, United Kingdom |
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