Pirates and Privateers - Mark Jessop's Books

This look at the Royal Navy, known as the Senior Service for being England’s first permanently armed force, begins towards the end of the French Revolutionary War. It covers the disarmament after the Peace of Amiens, rearmament with the resumption of hostilities, and the entire Napoleonic War. But that does not mean the story is in chronological order. Various aspects of manning and building the Royal Navy, as well as the battles fought, are explored in each chapter. Still, little escapes the author’s attention, much to our delight.

What makes this history unique is the way it is told. Instead of just the traditional author narration of events and facts, where Mr. Jessop introduces us to actual people – naval officers, politicians, and Frenchmen – he also intertwines anonymous characters and ships into the narrative. This is done to show how individual men and women, often nameless in history, were swept up in the tide of war.

We witness these events through their eyes and thoughts as they experience different scenarios. This allows us to see what happens from the different perspectives of a Danish pilot, a German émigré, a nurse, a poet and his wife, a chaplain, an invalided sailor, three friends off the same ship who meet up with three sisters of a fallen comrade after Trafalgar, a laborer, and an abolitionist, among others.

Without realizing it, we acquire a host of information in a far more memorable way than had Jessop presented the data in a more traditional manner. Among the topics he incorporates into this book are building ships and growing the Navy, tactics and training, blockading, the moral makeup of the fleet, warships lost to fire and wrecking, combat, fraud and embezzlement by navy vendors and builders, the growth and increase of dockyard establishments, major battles, and single ships trying to capture each other, such as the great frigate contests or duels between smaller vessels, like Frolic and Wasp.

How the war affected the people of the British Isles is also explored. Everything from fear of and preparation for a French invasion, the impact of the blockade to merchants and the economy, Orders in Council, privateers preying on shipping, to the attention folks paid to the heroes of the day.

Even the slave trade is touched upon, mostly through the story of abolitionists’ outcries on its evils. This ultimately led to the end of British participation in slavery and the stationing of their warships off the African coast to end these deprivations by other nations’ merchants.

The War of 1812 is also covered. The causes for America declaring war, especially the impressment of her sailors, are presented. The mention of stunning losses of British frigates defeated by the Americans leads to coverage of the plight of French and American sailors captured during the fray. Yankees also faced the possibility of being forced to fight for their enemy or being considered a traitor and punished. The horrors of the prisons and prison hulks – former ships of the line stripped of their masts and boarded over on top – demonstrate why few ever left. Starvation, sickness, daily deaths, paroled officers, and prisoner exchanges are discussed.

In addition to the eminently readable text and all it contains, a chronology of major events comes before the first chapter. A detailed bibliography, with a separate listing of journals and articles, is found before the hundreds of notes that carefully document where the book’s facts were found. A section of plates includes maps, battle diagrams, and pictures of ships and people mentioned in the book.

This is truly one of the most enjoyable history books I ever remember reading! The way the gems of wisdom contained in each chapter are presented is refreshing. If you want to learn more about the naval side of the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain’s Senior Service, or are just looking for an informative read, you will be hard-pressed to make a better selection.

Reviewer’s Note: Although unnamed, the Reverend William Hamilton Drummond is the poet we meet with his wife. The poetry lines we read are from his 124-page The Battle of Trafalgar, A Heroic Poem, which he published in 1806.

Another e-book containing this poem was compiled by Betty T. Bennett and is entitled British War Poetry in the Age of Romanticism, 1793-1815 (1976). There are 350 poems, on 528 pages, written between 1793-1815. Naval fiction and history texts of this era often include lines from one of these poems.