In
'The Letters and Correspondence of Henry Addington,' which I'm reading at the moment, there's a reference to a conversation with Nelson in one of Nicholas Vansittart's reports during the Copenhagen expedition:
Quote:
"The next morning I received
a message from the Admiral requesting to see
me, and I accordingly went on board his ship, and
had a long conference with him and Lord Nelson,
and a very interesting conversation with the latter in
the stern gallery, while Sir Hyde Parker was writing
the letters of which I was to take charge. We were
inconveniently crowded in the Kite, and had a contrary
wind, which occasioned us to be nearly a week
on the passage to Leith, which was the first British
port we could make, and from whence I came to
town with the despatches, leaving Dr. Beeke, who
was again indisposed, at Edinburgh."
Nelson's private conversation with Vansittart in the stern gallery of Hyde Parker's ship is interesting in itself and indicates perhaps that a lot of politicking went on.
I know so little of the working of the ships of the time or their construction, but it got me wondering about stern galleries and what their purpose was. Were most large ships of the line built with stern galleries, and how did they connect to the ship? Were they for decorative purposes or actually used by officers and men in the running of the ship, more than a place to hold a confidential conversation, as seems to be the case here?