Archive Results For: Spanish Succession
Some Aspects of the Life and Career of William Sutherland
This paper offers some new insights into aspects of the life and work of the shipwright William Sutherland (1668–1740). He went to sea in 1679 and advanced to master carpenter by 1692. Afterwards he served three years as quarterman at Portsmouth under his uncle William Bagwell. At Deptford in 1715 he became embroiled in controversies […] Read More
Filed under: Spanish Succession | Other (Early Modern) | Internal Waterways
Subjects include: Biography | Shipbuilding & Design
The Growth of Plymouth Naval Base and European Tensions, 1717–32
Between 1715 and 1727 Britain sent nine substantial squadrons to the Baltic to safeguard its interests. However, as the situation in the north of Europe began to settle, distrust began to increase again between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar and trade in the West Indies. Fighting at Gibraltar in 1727 led to an extended period […] Read More
Filed under: Spanish Succession | Austrian Succession | English Channel
Subjects include: Harbours & Dockyards | Strategy & Diplomacy
Sir Jacob Acworth and Experimental Ship Design during the Period of the Establishments
Acworth’s career quickly progressed, hindered only in its success due to suspension for negligence, after which he was quickly reinstated. Acworth had unprecedented control over ship design as Master Shipwright. His contributions included designing light and simple ‘snug ships’. The ‘new manner’ of shipbuilding based on Newtonian theory was embraced by Acworth with mixed, but […] Read More
Filed under: Spanish Succession | Austrian Succession | English Channel | Mediterranean
Subjects include: Biography | Shipbuilding & Design
A Place of Considerable Importance: Lord Cochrane and the Siege of Roses 1808
Roses was the perfect place for French strategic needs. Less than half a day’s sail from Barcelona and within a day’s fast sail of the main French Mediterranean naval port of Toulon. As Lord Cochrane was to state, ‘the key to Catalonia’ which would only be safe if there was no danger of an assault […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Napoleonic War | Spanish Succession | Other (Early Modern) | Mediterranean | Other (Twentieth C) | Other (Nineteenth C)
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Harbours & Dockyards | Merchant Marines | Navies | Strategy & Diplomacy | Weapons
The Sinking of the Galleon San Jose on 8 June 1708: an Exercise in Historical Detective Work
In 1708 a Spanish fleet sailed from the Isthmus of Panama to Cartagena on the northern coast of South America carrying a large amount of gold, silver and other valuables. The Spanish ships were attacked by an English squadron and following a battle, the Spanish flagship San José exploded and sank. No-one knows exactly where […] Read More
Filed under: Spanish Succession | Caribbean
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Navies
The Royal Naval Hospital at Minorca, 1711: an Example of an Admiral’s Involvement in the Expansion of Naval Medical Care
In the development of naval hospitals in the early eighteenth century, the initiative of commanders-in-chief was paramount. In Minorca in 1711, Admiral Sir John Jennings headed a campaign to build a permanent hospital in Minorca, a decision that led to clashes with the Admiralty and the Board of Sick and Wounded. His project lends insight […] Read More
Filed under: Spanish Succession | Mediterranean | Health at Sea
Subjects include: Navies
Adventuring Your Estate: the Origins, Costs and Rewards of Woodes Rogers’s Privateering Voyage of 1708-11
In August 1708 the Duke and Duchess; two private men of war, set sail from Kingroad, near Bristol. This was a commercial venture supported by the Crown, but funded privately by West Country businessmen who were yet to benefit from the burgeoning slave trade. By some measures it would be the most successful privateering expedition […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Spanish Succession | Pirates | Pacific
Subjects include: Pirates, Corsairs & Privateers
The Galleon San José, Treasure Ship of the Spanish Indies
The Spanish treasure galleon, San José, has become noteworthy for the amount of treasure with which she was loaded, and for her demise, a catastrophic explosion, during an attack by a British squadron under Commodore Wager in 1708 off Cartagena in what is now Colombia. Now her remains have become a target for treasure hunters, for whom […] Read More
Filed under: Spanish Succession | Caribbean
Subjects include: Shipbuilding & Design
Anglo-Spanish Naval Relations in the Eighteenth Century
By concentrating on relations with France, British historians have tended not to devote sufficient attention to the Spanish dimension of eighteenth century diplomacy and warfare. Contemporaries however were aware that the Spanish navy was a real force. A key to British success in the conflicts of the period was its ability to isolate that navy, […] Read More
Filed under: Spanish Succession | Other (location)
Subjects include: Navies | Strategy & Diplomacy
British Intelligence for the North Atlantic Theatre of the War of Spanish Succession
Debunks the myth that the Duke of Marlborough had a functional intelligence system during the War of Spanish Succession and shows that the reality was a dearth of information on French activities from sparse, disparate and uncoordinated sources. Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Spanish Succession
Subjects include: Strategy & Diplomacy
Peter the Great’s Combat Admiral: George Paddon, Captain, R.N.
Captain George Paddon RN (1690-1719) served as Rear Admiral in the Russian Navy from 1717 to 1719. This paper challenges the perception of Paddon as a disgraced Royal Navy officer and instead presents him as a distinguished fighting captain, especially chosen by Tsar Peter ‘The Great’ to revitalise the Russian Navy and appointed with the […] Read More
Filed under: Atlantic | Spanish Succession | Baltic | English Channel | Mediterranean | Other (Eighteenth C) | Caribbean
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics | Biography | Navies | Strategy & Diplomacy
Alexander Selkirk and the Last Voyage of the Cinque Ports Galley
In 1712 Alexander Selkirk acted as a witness in a case taken by investors against William Dampier, Commodore of the voyage during which he was marooned. The article explores the background to his depositions and queries the impartiality of his evidence. It is argued that Selkirk was not, as has generally been accepted, the master […] Read More
Filed under: Spanish Succession | Mutiny & Discipline | Pacific
Subjects include: Pirates, Corsairs & Privateers