Nelson & His World

Clearing out old periodicals etc., I came across this letter in the 'Spectator' of December 2008 - which poses one of those 'What If'? questions that historians are fond of asking and answering:

'...as a very young man Napoleon - who even then had a thrusting military ambition - sought service with the greatest fighting force of the age and wrote accordingly to the Admiralty in London. His approach was ignored.

But what if it has been accepted? There would be no 'Trafalgar Square' or 'Waterloo Station'; Arthur Wellesley wouldn't have been more than a sepoy general and Horatio Nelson would have retired as a captain, having served much of his career on half pay. But Europe would have been spared much death and destruction and its 19th century history would have been a lot different. The then Lords of the Admiralty have a lot to answer for'.

Historical speculation aside - how much is known about Napoleon's approach to the Admiralty? I have certainly seen it mentioned in numerous books; but is there any proper source for the story...a letter of application mouldering in the ADM files perhaps? Can anyone say more?

Anna,

I have never heard of Bonaparte applying to join the RN before, but it sounds like the author of this piece is assuming quite a lot!

Anna,
I never heard about Napoleon trying to join the Royal Navy. However, it seems as if he was about to join the french navy once.
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/facts/faqs/people/why-didnt-napoleon-join-the-navy

Ned:

I knew I had read 'somewhere' that Napoleon had tried to join the Royal Navy so the comment in the letter quoted above was not a surprise to me. I searched and searched on my bookshelves to discover where I read this information and could find nothing about it. However, I finally found a mention of it - though this merely says that Napoleon had 'expressed a desire' to join the British Navy, not that he had applied to do so. It appears in a short, but extremely well-reviewed biography, 'Napoleon' by Paul Johnson (Phoenix Paperback 2003, originally published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson 2000):


'Looking outward, to the sea, as a Corsican in Ajaccio would, he formed a boyhood admiration for the Royal Navy, which rode the Mediterranean waters, so far from home, so confidently. He expressed a desire to join the British navy as a midshipman cadet, and in due course to command one of those wonderfully polished, burnished, pipe-clayed, and smartly painted - and formidable - three deckers that occasionally anchored in the harbour. But that required money, and, even more, 'interest' (influence or pull), neither of which his family possessed. So the moment passed.'



The book has no footnotes or references so there is no way of knowing where Paul Johnson found this information.

I have just looked out the book I have on Napoleon, entitled 'Napoleon – The Visionary Conquerer', by Frenchman Eric Ledru, and found a reference of sorts.

In it he writes of the report of Marshal Chevalier de Keralio, on the fifteen year old Bonaparte's preparation for the entrance examination to the Ecole Militaire in Paris. It was largely favourable in that he wrote that he was of 'good constitution, excellent health, obedient character, honest and grateful. His behaviour is very regular. He always excelled in the study of mathematics. He knows history and geography tolerably well. He has very poor social skills.' However, he then went on to say: 'He will make an excellent sailor.'

Whether or not this idea was then suggested to him I have no idea, but perhaps he took the hint!

David and Stephen Howarth in 'Nelson: the Immortal Memory' p.50 (Conway Maritime Press, 2004) also comment on the assessment given on Napoleon while he was a cadet at the Royal Military School at Brienne:

'There he [was] assessed as possessing the necessary firmness of character to join the French navy. The following year, the visiting inspector changed his recommendation: the cadet - 'a scowling, shabby boy who spoke French very badly' - was to be given a career in the Artillery.'

This would seem to be from the same man as I mentioned, Marshal Chevalier de Keralio, formerly the school inspector at Brienne and who, it appears, went on to the Ecole Militaire in Paris.

He seems to have later modified his opinion, on meeting the young Napoleon for the second time. One infers that he also considered the artillery as being an inferior part of the army, although the young recruit seems to have made quite an impression at the Siege of Toulon, not least on the British!