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Thomas Baker (Royal Navy Officer)
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Baker KCB (1771 – 26 January 1845) was an officer of the Royal Navy, who saw service during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He had obtained his own command during the French Revolutionary Wars and was to play a part in bringing about three of the battles of the Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of Copenhagen, the Battle of Trafalgar, and the Battle of Cape Ortegal. He only directly participated in the third, but his actions there, and the capture of the French frigate beforehand brought him honours and rewards. While towing the ''Didon'' to a British port, he and another vessel were sighted by the combined Franco-Spanish fleet under Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, and mistaken as scouts for the Channel Fleet. He therefore turned south to Cadiz, leading to the abandonment of the planned invasion of England, and the destruction of the French fleet at Trafalgar by Horatio Nelson some months later. He rose throu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Greater London to the north-west. The county town is Maidstone. The county has an area of and had population of 1,875,893 in 2022, making it the Ceremonial counties of England#Lieutenancy areas since 1997, fifth most populous county in England. The north of the county contains a conurbation which includes the towns of Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham, and Rochester, Kent, Rochester. Other large towns are Maidstone and Ashford, Kent, Ashford, and the City of Canterbury, borough of Canterbury holds City status in the United Kingdom, city status. For local government purposes Kent consists of a non-metropolitan county, with twelve districts, and the unitary authority area of Medway. The county historically included south-ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napoleon's Planned Invasion Of The United Kingdom
Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom at the start of the War of the Third Coalition, although never carried out, was a major influence on British naval strategy and the fortification of the coast of South East England. In 1796 the French had already tried to French expedition to Ireland (1796), invade Ireland in order to destabilise the United Kingdom or as a stepping-stone to Great Britain. The first French Army of England had gathered on the English Channel, Channel coast in 1798, but an invasion of England was sidelined by Napoleon's concentration on the campaigns in French campaign in Egypt and Syria, Egypt and against Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars#Bonaparte's war, Austria, and shelved in 1802 by the Treaty of Amiens, Peace of Amiens. Building on planning for mooted invasions under France's ''ancien régime'' in Planned French invasion of Britain (1744), 1744, Planned French invasion of Britain (1759), 1759, and Armada of 1779, 1779, preparation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Channel
The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busiest Sea lane, shipping area in the world. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to at its narrowest in the Strait of Dover."English Channel". ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', 2004. It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some . The Channel aided the United Kingdom in becoming a naval superpower, serving as a natural defence against invasions, such as in the Napoleonic Wars and in the World War II, Second World War. The northern, English coast of the Channel is more populous than the southern, French coast. The major languages spoken in this region are English language, English and French language, French. Names Roman historiography, Roman sources as (or , ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Bligh
William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was a Vice-admiral (Royal Navy), Royal Navy vice-admiral and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1806 to 1808. He is best known for his role in the Mutiny on the Bounty, mutiny on HMS ''Bounty'', which occurred in 1789 when the ship was under his command. The reasons behind the mutiny continue to be debated. After being set adrift in ''Bounty''s Launch (boat), launch by the mutineers, Bligh and those loyal to him stopped for supplies on Tofua, losing one man to native attacks. Bligh and his men reached Timor alive, after a journey of . On 13 August 1806, Bligh was appointed governor of the British colony of New South Wales, with orders to clean up the corrupt rum trade of the New South Wales Corps. His actions directed against the trade resulted in the so-called Rum Rebellion, during which Bligh was placed under arrest on 26 January 1808 by the New South Wales Corps and deposed from his c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plymouth
Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and southwest of London. It is the most populous city in Devon. Plymouth's history extends back to the Bronze Age, evolving from a trading post at Mount Batten into the thriving market town of Sutton, which was formally re-named as Plymouth in 1439 when it was made a borough status in the United Kingdom, borough. The settlement has played a significant role in English history, notably in 1588 when an English fleet based here defeated the Spanish Armada, and in 1620 as the departure point for the Pilgrim Fathers to the New World. During the English Civil War, the town was held by the Roundhead, Parliamentarians and was besieged between 1642 and 1646. In 1690 a dockyard was established on the River Tamar for the Royal Navy and Plymouth grew as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sloop-of-war
During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all unrated warships, including List of gun-brigs of the Royal Navy, gun-brigs and Cutter (boat), cutters. In technical terms, even the more specialised bomb vessels and fire ships were classed by the Royal Navy as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the role of a sloop-of-war when not carrying out their specialised functions. In World War I and World War II, the Royal Navy reused the term "sloop" for specialised convoy-defence vessels, including the of the First World War and the highly successful of the Second World War, with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capabilities. They performed similar duties to the destroyer escorts of the United States Navy, and also performed similar duties to the smaller corvettes of the Royal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South Asia and Southeast Asia), and later with East Asia. The company gained Company rule in India, control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent and British Hong Kong, Hong Kong. At its peak, the company was the largest corporation in the world by various measures and had its own armed forces in the form of the company's three presidency armies, totalling about 260,000 soldiers, twice the size of the British Army at certain times. Originally Chartered company, chartered as the "Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East-Indies," the company rose to account for half of the world's trade during the mid-1700s and early 1800s, particularly in basic commodities including cotton, silk, indigo dye, sugar, salt, spices, Potass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
City Of Halifax
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agreed definition of the lower boundary for their size. In a narrower sense, a city can be defined as a permanent and Urban density, densely populated place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, Public utilities, utilities, land use, Manufacturing, production of goods, and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organisations, government organizations, and businesses, sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving the efficiency of goods and service distribution. Historically, city dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fifth Rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal Navy as originally devised had just four rates, but early in the reign of Charles I, the original fourth rate (derived from the "Small Ships" category under his father, James I) was divided into new classifications of fourth, fifth, and sixth rates. While a fourth-rate ship was defined as a ship of the line, fifth and the smaller sixth-rate ships were never included among ships-of-the-line. Nevertheless, during the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century, fifth rates often found themselves involved among the battle fleet in major actions. Structurally, these were two-deckers, with a complete battery on the lower deck, and fewer guns on the upper deck (below the forecastle and quarter decks, usually with no guns in the waist on this deck). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Downs (ship Anchorage)
The Downs is a roadstead (an area of sheltered, favourable sea) in the southern North Sea near the English Channel, off the east Kent coast in southern England, between the North Foreland, North and the South Foreland, near the town of Deal, Kent, Deal. From the Elizabethan era onward the presence of the Downs helped to make Deal one of the premier ports in England, and in the 19th century it was equipped with its own telegraph and timeball tower to enable ships to set their marine chronometers. The anchorage has depths down to . Even during southerly gales some shelter was afforded, though under this condition wrecks were not infrequent. Storms from any direction could also drive ships onto the shore or onto the sands, which—in spite of providing the sheltered water—were constantly shifting, and not always adequately marked. The Downs served in the age of sail as a permanent base for warships patrolling the North Sea and a gathering point for refitted or new ships coming o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Canadian Navy, Canada (Naval Cadet), Royal Australian Navy, Australia, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh, Namibian Navy, Namibia, Royal New Zealand Navy, New Zealand, South African Navy, South Africa, Indian Navy, India, Pakistan Navy, Pakistan, Republic of Singapore Navy, Singapore, Sri Lanka Navy, Sri Lanka, and Kenya Navy, Kenya. In the 17th century, a midshipman was a Naval rating, rating for an experienced seaman, and the word derives from the area aboard a ship, amidships, either where he worked on the ship, or where he was Berth (sleeping), berthed. Beginning in the 18th century, a commissioned officer candidate was rated as a midshipman, and the seaman rating began to slowly die out. By the Napoleonic era (1793–1815), a midshipman was an a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Voyage Of HMS Beagle
The second voyage of HMS ''Beagle'', from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836, was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, HMS ''Beagle'', made under her newest commander, Robert FitzRoy. FitzRoy had thought of the advantages of having someone onboard who could investigate geology, and sought a natural history, naturalist to accompany them as a wikt:supernumerary, supernumerary. At the age of 22, the graduate Charles Darwin hoped to see the tropics before becoming a parson, and accepted the opportunity. He was greatly influenced by reading Charles Lyell's ''Principles of Geology'' during the voyage. By the end of the expedition, Darwin had made his name as a geologist, and fossil collector, and the publication of his journal (later known as ''The Voyage of the Beagle'') gave him wide renown as a writer. ''Beagle'' sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, and then carried out detailed hydrographic surveys around the coasts of southern South America, returning via Tahiti and Australia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
