“Band of Brothers” specifically
refers to those commanders who participated in the
Battle of the Nile, but this volume expands on this
small group to include all the commanding officers of
individual ships or fleet squadrons over which
Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson had tactical control during his
three greatest sea battles: the Battle
of the Nile (1798), the Battle
of Copenhagen (1801), and the Battle of
Trafalgar (1805). This volume serves as the first
time in which all the lives of these officers appear in
a single volume and some entries offer the most complete
biographies found in print. The contributors are
international historians, some of whom are descendants
of the Brothers. In all, eighty officers are included,
but they represent only a small portion of the men who
served in the Royal Navy between 1792 and 1815.
In the book’s introduction,
Hore discusses who the Band of Brothers were and some of
the comparative data that the research divulges about
age levels when these men went to sea, how much
education they had, how soon after completing the
required six years of sea service they stood for the
lieutenant’s examination, where they came from, and how
they advanced through the ranks. He concludes with a
time line showing how Britain was almost continuously at
war from 1775 through 1815. Mention is also given to the
Royal Marines, but since they weren’t in command of
ships at the time of the battles, the biographies of
these officers are not included in the book.
The book is divided into three
sections, one for each of the battles mentioned earlier.
They begin with a brief introduction about the battle
before the biographies are presented in alphabetical
order. A portrait of the officer, when available,
appears first so readers can match faces to names. Each
entry includes pertinent details about the man’s life:
birth, entrance into the navy, his rise through the
ranks, marriage, family, and death. Specific information
about what he does during the specific engagement in
which his biography appears is also discussed. What
breathes life into these men, however, are the
interesting tidbits that are included, sometimes quotes
from their contemporaries or from themselves, other
times a memorable event or incident in which they
participated. Examples of these are:
The Battle of the Nile
One day, Henry D’Esterre
Derby stepped into his boat to travel from the Bellerophon
to dine with the Admiral aboard Amphion.
Just as he did, that vessel exploded. Benjamin
Hallowell retrieved the mainmast from a French ship to
have a carpenter fashion a coffin from it. He then
gave this coffin to Nelson, who was delighted with the
gift and was eventually buried in it.
Copenhagen and the Baltic
Thomas Bertie invented a
lifebuoy system, which was later extended to all the
ships in the fleet. With the assistance of Lady
Bentinck, who wore a marine officer’s uniform, Thomas
Francis Fremantle, liberated Sicilian slaves from
Tunisians. Edward Rou’s dog was found guilty of biting
during a mock trial and suffered severe consequences.
Riou himself survived an iceberg collision, scurvy, a
broken arm, and rebellious sailors during an
eight-week voyage to reach land with the help of
convicts bound for Botany Bay. In gratitude he secured
pardons for those who survived.
The Campaign of Trafalgar
Out of two hundred men,
Cuthbert Collingwood was only one of twenty men in his
ship’s company to survive a fever while in the West
Indies. Later his dog Bounce accompanied him to sea.
John Cooke died from a sharpshooter’s bullet, just as
Nelson did, and both were struck at about the same
time. Henry Digby captured nearly sixty
vessels in three years, then advanced his crew’s
shares out of his own pocket so his men didn’t have to
wait to receive their prize money. William Hargood
fell ill in 1792 and was pronounced dead. While he was
being sewn into his canvas coffin, it was discovered
that he was actually still alive. Robert Moorsom
penned the only contemporary account that remains of
the rescue of a naked woman from the wreckage of the Achille,
which blew up during the battle. Robert Remill made a
six-hour flight in a balloon nineteen years before
Trafalgar.
To supplement the narrative,
Hore includes a map of the memorials to these men and a
wealth of colorful photographs and artwork. Two
additional essays cover Americans in Nelson’s Navy, some
of whom became Brothers, and the Class of Captains,
World War II frigates built for the Royal Navy in the
United States and named for some of the captains in the
Band of Brothers. A list of sources and a bibliography,
as well as a general index and an index of ships, round
out the volume.
One minor omission is an
explanation of the acronyms that occasionally appear.
While British readers will readily know that KCB
represents Knight Commander of the Bath or GCB stands
for Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, readers outside of
that country probably will not.
One entry points out that it
corrects a mistake repeated in histories for two
centuries. Contrary to what other accounts indicate,
Thomas Charles Brodie was actually the officer in
command of the Arrow
at the Battle of Copenhagen. On the other hand, the
essay on the Class of Captains perpetuates the oft-cited
myth of the White House being called such because of the
paint used to hide the blackened walls from when it was
burned by the British in 1814. While it was more often
referred to as the President’s Palace or President’s
House during that time period, the name ‘White House’
was actually used prior to 1814. It first appears in the
Baltimore Whig
in 1810 and the next year a British minister used the
term in a letter.
For me, the most interesting
entries were those written by the nine descendants. The
details they provide make these men more personable and
real. Equally interesting are individual details of
officers that provide a truer portrayal of them as men
rather than how history remembers them. The entry on
William Bligh is a good example of this. The
contributors are to be commended for the depth and
breadth of their research and the editor does a fabulous
job in collecting their work into a single volume which
is neither excessively long nor expensive. Best of all,
the information in this book is enjoyable to read and
easily comprehended by those unfamiliar with naval
tactics and jargon. Aside from being an invaluable
introduction to these officers, Nelson’s Band of Brothers
is a fascinating glimpse into these men, who resolved
not to let down their Admiral, and their heroic,
sometimes forgotten and, on occasion, infamous, deeds.
Review Copyrighted ©2015
Cindy Vallar
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