Nelson & His World

Discussion on the life and times of Admiral Lord Nelson
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 Post subject: Mansfield of the Minotaur - and Frigate Bay!
PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:33 pm 
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Many of us on the forum will be aware that Tony, one of our contributors, is a direct descendant of Captain Charles Mansfield, who captained HMS Minotaur at Trafalgar.

In the next issue of The Trafalgar Chronicle Tony will publish an article about his distinguished ancestor: 'The early Career of a Trafalgar Captain: Charles Mansfield at the Battle of Frigate Bay and The Siege of Brimstone Hill'. These events took place in January 1782. The account is based on the Lieutenant’s Logbooks for the frigate La Fortunée kept by Mansfield. The narrative is given great immediacy by the inclusion of many of Mansfield’s words, placed in context by Tony’s instructive commentary.

Mansfield’s log identifies him as the previously unnamed officer in Samuel Hood’s account who managed to get through the French lines and bring back intelligence from Brimstone Hill while it was under siege.

The account provides interesting additional material on Hood’s tactics which inspired renewed confidence in the navy prior to the Battle of the Saints.

We congratulate Tony on this revelatory and meticulously researched article which not only adds much to our knowledge of his ancestor’s naval career, but also deepens our understanding of the action in which he was engaged.


Last edited by tycho on Sat Nov 08, 2008 11:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Mansfield of the Minotaur - Frigate Bay
PostPosted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:21 am 
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Tony, you've brought so much information together (some of it unpublished) to present a new, massively informative and masterly account of this early episode in your ancestor’s Naval career. Such fantastic detail really sets the scene and enhances the action.

As one of the more mysterious and least written about Trafalgar captains, your research brings Mansfield to life – an opportunity to hear his own words – and yours. And the fact that you’re linking the generations together by blood (as well as through such meticulous research) makes it extra, extra special.

The wealth of detail, together with your connecting narrative, marks an auspicious beginning that truly whets the appetite to discover more about Mansfield’s life and quietly distinguished career. You’ve produced a wonderful article that brings the young lieutenant out of the wings and onto his own centre stage.

Greatly look forward to the next chapter. Well done and many congratulations.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 8:51 am 
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Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:06 am
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May I second Mira's comments on Tony's article? My first post was made in a rush, after a cursory first reading; but a more leisured re-reading confirms all that Mira says.

It is extraordinarily difficult to make a connected narrative from disparate and fragmented sources, but Tony's account is both fluent and gripping, much enlivened by so many of Mansfield's own words. To piece together an ancestor's experience in this way must be deeply satisfying to the writer; but there is satisfaction too for readers. I find these lost voices, suddenly speaking to us from the past, immensely powerful and evocative, and I congratulate Tony again for bringing this rather reticent and quietly but resolutely dutiful Trafalgar captain into a clearer light.

By the way, Tony, is the Trafalgar Chronicle available to those who are not members of the 1805 Club? Can you advise anyone who wants to buy a copy how to do so?


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 6:56 pm 
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Many thanks for those very kind words, Tycho and Mira.

For those not familiar with it, the Trafalgar Chronicle is the yearbook of the 1805 Club and is published this month. It provided to all members at no additional charge, but last year's edition had an ISBN number and a marked price of £20, so I assume it is also available to non-members. The club has a website at www.1805club.org or can be contacted via email at 1805club@gmail.com or by post at: The 1805 Club, PO Box 3868, Eastbourne, East Sussex. BN21 9FX

Although £20 is not cheap, last year's edition contained 300 pages of material, including articles by Max Adams, Joseph Callo, Stephen Howarth, Andrew Lambert, John Sugden and others.

Alternatively you may consider a year's subscription of £35 to be better value if you wish to support the club's charitable work of the preservation and maintenance of Nelson-related graves and monuments which is described in this PDF: www.1805club.org/uploads/conservationmatters.pdf . Having completed the Trafalgar Captains project, which as well as the preservation of memorials, had the important aim of rescuing the Trafalgar Captains from obscurity, the Club is moving forward with The Nile and Copenhagen Captains project. The Club also promotes research and organises cultural and historical events, and has a presence in the USA as well as the UK. Members also receive the Club’s Newsletter and the Club’s Occasional Papers.

_________________
Tony


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