Comments | following_sea: Hornblower in the Indefatigable

sarlania in following_sea

Hornblower in the Indefatigable - Some History

Jan 13, 2010 14:09

Today (January 13th) is the anniversary of Edward Pellew's most famous frigate action. On this day in 1797 he, in the Indefatigable, alone with another frigate the Amazon, fought and destroyed a French 74. This is pretty big because 74s have much greater firepower than one, even two, frigates. To cap it off, the battle was fought in a storm, with ( Read more... )

book: commodore hornblower, discussion: history, character: edward pellew, character: horatio hornblower, book: midshipman hornblower, episode: the duchess and the devil

Comments 14

canarypaper January 13 2010, 03:24:37 UTC

This never stops being exciting. *nerds out* :D

gayalondiel January 13 2010, 09:26:20 UTC

*joins the nerdage*

Hurrah for Captain Pellew!

princess_s January 13 2010, 09:30:31 UTC

Woah, awesome. Thank you for putting this up. My naval history is woefully inadequate and getting tidbits like this always helps.

sarlania January 13 2010, 20:02:41 UTC

No problems! Just sharing the Pellew love. =) And it's always good to have a historic grounding.

anteros_lmc January 13 2010, 10:12:34 UTC

More thanks! Will look forward to reading this later.

I swear, someone NEEDS to write a fic about this battle from Hornblower's perspective
How happy would I be if I could even _attempt_ to write a sea battle with _any_ kind of historical accuracy?!

sarlania January 13 2010, 20:04:43 UTC

You're welcome. I only linked the Wikipedia article because it is a Featured Article. XD

How happy would I be if I could even _attempt_ to write a sea battle with _any_ kind of historical accuracy?!
Exactly what had prevented me from writing it thus far. I was going to do it for the Alphabet Soup but thought of a less painful idea instead. XD

anteros_lmc January 13 2010, 21:47:02 UTC

Actually having read the wikipedia entry I don't think I could ever attempt this. The wreck of the Droits de l'Homme sounds utterly horrendous. Sobering to be reminded of the horrific loss of life that resulted from these "dazzling displays of seamanship". Think if I was ever to try writing something about this it would have to be a reflective piece on the aftermath.

On a side note...wikipedia's entries on naval engagements generally seem to be quite good. The summary of Aboukir is excellent.

thehappyreturn January 13 2010, 10:42:53 UTC

Wow, someone does need to write this.

...[Hornblower] could remember as a midshipman in Pellew's Indefatigable being at the lead that wild night when they went in and destroyed the Droits de l'Homme in the Biscay surf.

And I can't think of anyone less capable of being at the lead on any ship, ever. How did they survive? :D

sarlania January 13 2010, 20:08:03 UTC

Wow, someone does need to write this.
Indeed. *hint hint*

How did they survive?
Probably because battle mostly took part in open sea. =)

anteros_lmc January 13 2010, 21:50:37 UTC

How did they survive?
Sounds like a combination of luck, canny seamanship from Pellew and the Droits de l'Homme inability to direct her guns due to the loss of her topmasts. Not a single life lost on the Indefatigable. Incredible.

sarlania January 13 2010, 22:20:44 UTC

Yes it was indeed a most amazing accomplishment. I don't think Pellew got any sort of recognition out of it though, which is a pity. But then, he just got created a baronet a few months ago for swimming out to a foundering East Indianman and with the help of others managed to save everyone on board. Now that is what I call real courage. =)

Btw I was being sarcastic in my comment about the open sea and Hornblower at the lead.

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