Nelson & His World

Hello

I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on the following for me and put me in the right direction in my research.

In some hand written notes by one of my 2 x great grandfathers he writes the following.



John died in 1827 aged 55 years so that has him born around 1772. If he left home at 14 that would make it 1786 and away for 14 years means he came home 1800, so between 1786 to 1800 or thereabouts JOhn Hayles was one of Nelson's marines.
Was Sea Horse the name of one of Nelson's ships.


Sue

Probably refers to the Seahorse, 38 gun frigate, built at Rotherhithe in 1793. Under the command of Captain Thomas Freemantle she was part of the Inshore Squadron under Nelson in 1797 - when N lost his arm at Santa Cruz he was brought home in the Seahorse (Freemantle was also wounded).

A check in the Pay and Muster books of the Seahorse (now in the National Archives) would show whether you ancestor was onboard at this time.

Thank you. Will look into this.

Sue

Hi Sue,

If John Hayles was on board Seahorse at Santa Cruz, then Betsey Wynne's diary will be of interest to you. Betsey Wynne had married Thomas Freemantle a few months before, and was on board throughout that period. See also this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=933

Seahorse also returned to the Mediterranean under Captain Edward Foote in 1798 and joined Nelson's squadron shortly after the Battle of the Nile. The Seahorse had previously sighted the French fleet after capturing the French frigate Sensible, but had been unable to find Nelson's squadron to pass on the intelligense. She remained in the Mediterranean until arround 1800/1801 which may tie in with your dates.

Hi Sue,
Heres a further snippet with reference to the Frigate Seahorse presumably running aground:

437/iii Nicolas Letter-Book
NELSON TO CAPTAIN BALL. HM SHIP ALEXANDER.
My dear Ball, 12th August, 1799
I have directed the Queen of Portugal and St Sebastian to join you off Malta, and will spare you the Foudroyant for a few days; and I hope the sight of such a force will finish your hard labours. I am sorry to tell you the Seahorse has been on shore and greatly damaged. The weather is intolerable: Cordone will, I hope, get the money this evening. Send Lieutenant . . . . , the Agent for Transports, here as soon as you can, as Mr Lamb is gone to Mahon. All quiet in Naples, by letters of the 11th. Lady Hamilton, I know, intends to write you a line; therefore, I will only say, God bless you! and believe me ever your obliged friend, NELSON

Great to see you made contact with the Good Ship N&HW and its happy crew.

Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions. I have managed to get a second hand copy of the Wynne Diaries so will go through this to see if it offers any clues and then will get on to the National Archives to see what they can find for me.
Still open to any further suggestions on the subject.

Sue