This could also be titled Nelson’s Navy or Russell Crowe’s Navy. The Royal Navy was a potent weapon in the fight against Napoleon and has been immortalised in works of fiction. With Ioan Gruffudd in the central role, C.S. Forester’s Hornblower stories have been brought to the television screen. In the cinema, Captain Jack Aubrey (played by Russell Crowe) has fought the French around the coast of South America, in Master and Commander.
What exactly was the role of the press gang? Was the sailor’s food really that bad? What ships were available to the Royal Navy?
This presentation looks at the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, examining the officers, seamen, food, weapons and ships that played a major role in thwarting Napoleon’s ambitions, examining the fact behind the fiction.
Paul is a retired Government Scientist who worked on viral vaccines and blood products. He has a life-long interest in the Napoleonic era, writing and lecturing extensively on the subject, with a specialist interest in prisoners of war of the period.
He is Editor-in-Chief of the Napoleon Series website, a major research source for all aspects of the Napoleonic period. https://www.napoleon-series.org/