Nelson & His World

Discussion on the life and times of Admiral Lord Nelson
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 Post subject: Re: Info on the "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" by Thomas Davidson
PostPosted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 10:36 pm 
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That is a most interesting analysis, Starshell. My one comment would be that I think some of your conclusions may have been affected by the choice of the 1810 edition of Clarke and M'Arthur's Life of Nelson. The 1810 edition was the second edition, and a much abridged version of the first edition published in 1809. The 1810 edition does not contain the anonymous officer's Narrative, although much of the account of the battle is summarised from the Narrative, and a number of important sentences from the Narrative are included verbatim. The 1809 first edition does contain a long extract from the Narrative, missing only the first page or so. Nicolas states in Volume 4 of his 'Dispatches and Letters' (published 1845):
Quote:
The most interesting account of the Expedition to the Baltic, and of the Battle Of Copenhagen, is that which occurs in Clarke and M'Arthur's "Life of Lord Nelson," who state that it was written " by an Officer who was with Lord Nelson." The extracts in that work commence with the words " Lord Nelson's plan would have been to have proceeded with the utmost despatch," occ;, tvide p. 300, post,) but the Nelson Papers contain the previous part of the Narrative, which proves it to have been written for Drs. Clarke and M'Arthur's work, by the Honourable Colonel Stewart, who commanded the Troops embarked. The entire Narrative is now given:

I believe the later 1840 edition of Clarke and M'Arthur's 'Life' also does include all the text from the 1809 first edition, with some additional appendices, but I am away from my books at the moment, and can't check. Unfortunately, as far as I know there are no copies of the 1809 or 1840 editions available online, except perhaps via subscription services.

My own personal opinion is that there is no reason to doubt that the author of the Narrative is Stewart. The Narrative published in 1845 by Nicolas is quite explicit that the writer was in overall command of the troops, made up of the 49th Regiment and a company of Rifle Corps. From the Narrative, it is also clear that the writer first sailed with Nelson in the St George before transferring to the London and finally to the Elephant for the attack, all of which fits with Stewart. The writer was also present at the council of war, with Nelson on Elephant's quarterdeck during the attack, and in close contact with Nelson throughout. I can't envisage any candidate other than Stewart for all this. I think the Narrative, which was obviously written for publication, only uses the third person for Stewart where it is in effect quoting Nelson's orders, but it is not unusual to find a narrative using the third person for the author - as Nelson sometimes did himself.

I also personally believe there are signs that the Narrative and Stewart's journal were written by the same person. The wording is certainly completely different, but you would expect that with documents written at different times for different purposes. The journal is a formal officer's journal, compiled on a daily basis, and concentrating mainly on factual detail. The Narrative was written several years later specifically for publication, and contains much embellishment (perhaps even invention for dramatic effect), and to present Nelson (and Stewart) in the best possible light. But strip away the embellishment and you find many of the same little details in both, such as Nelson dictating orders from his cot, Riou's skilful navigation of the channel, and so on. I think that if you look beyond style at content, there is too much in common for coincidence. The Narrative of course also benefits from information from other sources in the intervening years, one of these perhaps being Ferguson, misidentified in many biographies as the surgeon of the Elephant, but in fact a doctor in the rifle corps. It is thus reasonable to assume that Stewart and Ferguson would have compared notes on their return to England.

I should here declare a 'vested interest', as my article a couple of years ago in the Nelson Dispatch on the legend of Nelson's blind eye included some analysis of the various accounts, and how they changed in successive publications. None of my analysis has any specific bearing on your own, but you may find the article of interest.

All of this is of course just my own personal opinion, but I hope that this contrasting opinion may be of some interest.

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 Post subject: Re: Info on the "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" by Thomas Davidson
PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 10:59 am 
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On the other hand, volume 25 of the Naval Chronicle, published in 1810, attributes the Narrative published in Clarke & M'Arthur's 1809 edition to Ferguson. Given that Clarke & McArthur were editors of the Naval Chronicle, this carries some weight!

However, the Narrative contains much detail which cannot have been witnessed by Ferguson, and most likely comes from Stewart. I wonder whether perhaps Ferguson supplied Stewart's Narrative to Clarke & M'Arthur, and they published it without Stewart's authority, omitting the first page identifying him as the writer so that they could claim it was anonymous?

Just to be clear, the Narrative published by Clarke & M'Arthur in 1809, and quoted by the Naval Chronicle in 1810, does include the following section:
Quote:
On board the Elephant, the night of the 1st of April was an important one. As soon as the fleet was at anchor, the gallant Nelson sat down to table with a large party of his comrades in arms. He was in the highest spirits, and drank to a leading wind, and to the success of the ensuing day. Captains Foley, Hardy, Fremantle, Riou, Inman, his Lordship's Second in Command, Admiral Graves, and a few others to whom he was particularly attached, were of this interesting party; from which every man separated with feelings of admiration for their great leader, and with anxious impatience to follow him to the approaching battle.

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 Post subject: Re: "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" - Historical Accuracy? - Part 1
PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:24 pm 
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Starshell, that's quite an amazing amount of research & analysis you did here! Thank you very much for posting all this. I will try and make a couple of suggestions to the few topics were I might be of any help.

Starshell wrote:
[...] the aft cabin (not the "Ward Room") in the painting appears to not have been readied for quarters (i.e. a midshipman lounging against a starboard gun not readied for action; aft windows not covered and secured; furnishings not removed and stored below decks to minimize splinter injuries, etc ...). [...]


This wouldn't necessarily have to be inaccurate. There was no need to clear the ship for action that evening. It was a rather cold night and clearing for action would have robbed the crew of what little comfort they enjoyed (including warm food and stoves). As far as I gather a Danish attack was not expected and a British night attack into unknown and unmarked waters was out of the question.

Starshell wrote:
[...] One would need access to the ship’s log to be certain; however sunset probably occurred shortly before the 8:00 pm anchoring. With Hardy venturing off on his covert operation “as soon as it became dark”, he likely would not have attended the spirited dinner.



According to the Elephant's Journal (NMM, ADM 51/1356), Elephant anchored at 5 PM already. Alas, the times given in the logs and journals vary considerably.
Quote:
Thursday 2 Mod.e. breezes and fair weath.r. At 3 PM weighed with the Van Division Bombs &c. and run though the Passage between the middle Ground and Flatholm At 5 Anchored in 6 fath.s. the marks for the South Buoy NWbW 1/4 W the Lime kilms SW 1/4S and the middle of Flatholm SEbE. AM fresh breezes and cloudy Emp.d. as Necessary [...]
(Sorry, it's only a rough transcript which I have not corrected yet and the typos are all mine...)


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 Post subject: Re: Info on the "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" by Thomas Davidson
PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 11:40 am 
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By the way: Does anyone among you have an excerpt or a copy of that letter Stewart wrote to Clinton (NMM; AGC/14/27) and would be willing to share it? (I was ignorant of that one when I visited the Caird Library and now I am more than vexed about that oversight...)


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 Post subject: Re: Info on the "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" by Thomas Davidson
PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:21 am 
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Ned, I don't have a copy of the letter, but there is also an extract in Nelson and the Hamiltons by Jack Russell. If I remember rightly it is a lengthy extract, but I don't have the book with me to check.

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 Post subject: Re: Info on the "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" by Thomas Davidson
PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 1:21 pm 
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Here is the extract from Colonel Stewart's letter to Sir William Clinton quoted on pp. 194-195 of 'Nelson and the Hamiltons' by Jack Russell (pub. Anthony Blond, 1969). I have retained the spelling, capitalisation etc. of the published version. I hope this is helpful, Ned; Russell's book has an appalling index and only very general references. It does not give a precise reference for this extract but it is the only one I can find in the book.

'The nature of the battle on the 2nd is, I believe, unparalleled in history and for enterprize, and difficulties, as well as the length of the contest (for we were five hours in one incessant roar of cannon) infinitely superior to the famous action of Aboukir. I was during the whole of the action, except whilst employed in working my Carronade on the poop or carrying Captain Foley's orders to the different decks, on the quarterdeck of the 'Elephant' with Lord Nelson, and never passed so interesting a day in the course of my life, or one which so much called for my admiration of any [i]Officer.
[/i]
After the action had lasted about three hours, and that we had fired about forty broadsides, (we fired about 60 in all) he said to me, 'Well, Stewart, these fellows hold us a better Tug than I expected, however, we are keeping a noble fire, and I'll be answerable that we shall bole [i]them out[/i] in four if we cannot do it in three hours. At least, or give it them until they are sick of it.' Our grand fleet was under sail all this time about two leagues on the starboard beam and as there are a number of Croakers, or what you may call Cautious Men, in it (this is a fact) and is a source of much 'conversation' in our fleet now. Ld. N. however, never answered it and expressing his astonishment to me at the circumstance, turned and said what I have written above in the most animated manner - the only signal which the here kept flying was the reverse, viz. "for Close Action"'.'

Oddly enough, the Colonel did not mention the incident which he later included in his narrative of the campaign and which became so famous. 'He also observed, I believe, to Captain Foley, 'You know, Foley, I have only one eye - I have a right to be blind sometimes;' and then with an archness familiar to his character, putting the glass to his blind, he exclaimed, I really do not see the signal'.

The letter continued, 'His distress at the Pilot's refusing to take the ship closer to the Enemy was very great, and he called me down at the beginning of the day from the Poop to tell me the indignation he felt at the fellow's refusing to go nearer than 1/4 less five - which is within a fathom of what the Elephant draws. All our fleet engaged at anchor by the Stern in the Nile stile. At times, the contest was most desperate, for we were opposed to a force infinitely superior to us, from its composition, the floating batteries and the Ships of the Enemy being without any rigging, mere hulks, and consequently as difficult to contend with as any batteries on shore.

The Colonel went on to describe the Elephant's part in the battle, and the Danish line which extended nearly four miles and consisted of six sail of the line (four more were in the harbour's mouth) and elven floating batteries of various sizes. Nelson attacked with twelve sail of the line and a squadron of smaller ships which were of little use. The strong point of the Danish defence were two forts built out in the bay called the Crown Islands. There were, said the Colonel, about 500 yards between the two lines. "'Tis this last circumstance which causes us regret now that we have examined the Channel since the Action, for it is proved that we might have gone within pistol shot of their whole line. Whereas we conceived it to be formed on the Southern Shoals, and therefore gave it a supposed necessary wide berth - the contest had we been aware of this could not have lasted one fourth of the time.'

When seventeen Danish vessels had been sunk, burnt or taken, and the whole line south of the Crown Islands had been defeated, Nelson sent a flag of truce ashore suggesting a cessation of hostilities - Nelson said in the cause of humanity, to save the Danes in the captured vessels from falling in the crossfire between the squadron and the Crown Islands, and everyone else said to extricate himself from an impossible situation.

The Colonel thought it 'a masterpiece of policy of the little hero's, for victorious as we were, the narrowness of the Channel in which our Ships were engaged, and the commanding batteries on shore, had left our Ships, six of which were aground, in a most perilous situation...Lord Nelson then commanded a cessation of hostilities, and by prolonging it under one pretext or another, in four and twenty hours after got our crippled Ships off the Shoals, and from under the guns of the Enemy's batteries, and he also took possession of our prizes, which otherwise we should have had some difficulty in doing.

So ended the battle, with a vast number of Danish casualties, seventeen prizes, only one of which could be taken to England, and at a cost to the fleet of no ships but 254 dead and 698 wounded. 'There are many people in this fleet,' concluded Colonel Stewart, about Headquarters too, who thought our victory bought infinitely too dearly.'

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 Post subject: Re: Info on the "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" by Thomas Davidson
PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:14 pm 
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Thanks for digging that out, Anna. I only have the second paragraph recorded in my notes, but it looks like you have skipped a few crucial words about the signal:
Quote:
After the Action had lasted about three hours, & we had fired about forty broadsides (we fired above 60 in all) he said lo me ‘Well, Stewart, those fellows hold us a better Tug than I expected, however we are keeping up a noble fire, & I’ll be answerable that we shall bole them out in four if we cannot do it in three hours, at least I’ll give it them till they are sick of it’ — Our grand fleet was under Sail all this time, about two leagues on our Starboard beam, & as there a number of Croakers or what you may call Cautious men in it (names I shall not mention) the Signal was made for us to leave off Action — this is a fact, and is the source of much “conversation” in our fleet now. Ld N. however never answered it, & expressing his astonishment to me at the circumstances, turned & said what I have written above, in a most animated Manner — the only Signal which the hero kept flying was the very reverse viz ‘for Close Action’.

Interestingly his letter differs from his own journal and is incorrect in saying the signal was never answered. His journal states the signal was acknowledged but not repeated. It gets hard for historians when even a single eyewitness provides contradictory accounts! (Hope Kester will accept an exclamation mark here :wink: )

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 Post subject: Re: Info on the "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" by Thomas Davidson
PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:43 pm 
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I am so sorry! I had numerous interruptions as I was trying to answer the post and got distracted. Many thanks for the correction.

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 Post subject: Re: Info on the "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" by Thomas Davidson
PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 5:53 pm 
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Tony,

On this occasion I will allow it!!! :roll:

Btw, interesting discussion developing here.

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 Post subject: Re: Info on the "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" by Thomas Davidson
PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:42 pm 
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Tony and Anna: I am amazed and grateful - thanks a lot for providing Stewart's letter. I think his tone and mood vary widely from his two other reports of the battle.


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 Post subject: "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" - Historical Accuracy? - Part 3
PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 10:00 pm 
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Tony -- Thank you for additional information and pointing out earlier editions of references cited in my earlier entries:
    1810–Clarke & M’Arthur (there is a 1809 edition which does include details of a dinner with attribution to the 1808?-Narrative); and
    1884-Nicolas (Nicolas' book, with the circa 1808 Narrative included, was first published in 1845).
I expect that there may be earlier editions of some of the other cited references which would allow further refinement of the timeline of various authors' contributions to the legend of the spirited dinner.

Ned -- Elephant's log documenting the time (5.00 pm) of her anchoring is an interesting find. Elephant would have been one of first ships to anchor. In the cited references, there are some errors and abiguities regarding whether the author is referring to the Elephant or the squadron, however I believe that we can now assume that the last of Nelson's 30 ships anchored at about 8 pm:
    1801-Stewart -- Stewart does not record the times of anchorage by Elephant or squadron.
    1806-Harrison -- "As our [Elephant's] anchor dropped, at eight in the evening, Lord Nelson emphatically called out ..."
    1808?-Narrative -- "... Riou [Amazon] lead the way ... About dark [about 8:00 pm], the whole fleet was at its anchorage ..."
    1810-Clarke & M'Arthur -- "As our own [Elephant's] anchor dropped at eight in the evening, Nelson emphatically called out"
In Davidson's painting, the named participants were from 5 ships: (AMAZON: Riou); (ELEPHANT: Nelson, Hardy, Foley, and Stewart); (DEFIANCE: Graves); (GANGES: Freemantle); and (DESIREE: Inman). AMAZON would likely have anchored before ELEPHANT. If the spirited dinner did occur as depicted in the painting, it would have likely occured after DEFIANCE, GANGES and DESIREE anchored and before 8 pm when Hardy left on his covert operation.

Regarding the historical accurancy of the spirited dinner as depicted in the painting, below is the third set of observations from my review of a sampling of the historical references.

WD

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Part 3: (1902 – 1978) – Historical Accuracy?

1902 - Flechett
In W. H. Flechett’s 1902 “Nelson and his Captains: Sketches of Famous Seamen”, he includes an un-attributed narrative in the Foley chapter.
Quote:
“Foley ... took part in that famous dinner-party on board the Elephant the night before the day of the battle. Round the table sat a group of the most gallant spirits that ever fought for the honour of England – Nelson himself, Hardy, Fremantle, Riou, and others in whom the sense of the coming fight ran like wine in their blood. When the party broke up, ... it was with Foley and Riou that Nelson sat down to plan ... the coming battle.”
In popular 1902 literature, unfortunately, the dinner is becoming “that famous dinner-party” before the “coming battle”. Flechett has obviously misinterpreted the word “party”, as used in earlier books, to mean “a social gathering of invited guests, typically involving eating, drinking, and entertainment” rather than the originally intended “a group of people taking part in a particular activity or trip” (i.e. Nelson’s comrades in arms).
Mahan’s popular 1897 book, Davidson’s 1898 RA exhibition of the painting, and sales of the circa 1901 print probably had a lot to do with the spirited dinner now being considered “famous” by Flechett and others.

1910 – Grant
An image of Davidson’s “The Evening before the Battle of Copenhagen” was included in the 1910 reprint of James Grant’s epic 1873 “British Battles on Land and Sea”. I have not yet located a copy of the reprint in order to review any new material related to the spirited dinner and any credits for the image (i.e. owner of either an artist’s proof or the original painting). However; the image being in the 1910 reprint of Grant’s popular and comprehensive history likely added much to the legend and general acceptance of the historical details of the spirited dinner, as depicted in Davidson’s painting.

1912 - Callender
The Life of Nelson” by Sir Geoffrey Callender was published in 1912.
Quote:
“On the morning of 1st April ... The St. George was too large ... and he shifted his flag to ... the Elephant. ...
The Outer Deep ... was navigated complete success and the twelve anchored at its southern end. “the moment I have a fair wind, I shall fight,” signaled Nelson as he signaled to prepare for action.
That night he gave a dinner party on board the Elephant. Hardy was there and Foley, Colonel Stewart ..., Riou and others. He drank to a leading wind. ...”
According to other sources, Nelson actually shifted his flag to Elephant on 29 March.
In popular literature, the dinner is now clearly being characterized as being a “dinner party”.

1929 – C.S. Forester
Below is a narrative from the 1952 reprint of C.S. Forester’s 1929 “Nelson, a Biography”:
Quote:
“On April 1st they took advantage of the westerly wind to run down the northern channel and to moor at the southern end of the shoal which lay between that passage and the King’s Channel ... Then all that remained to do was to issue the orders for the attack, and to wait for a easterly wind which would carry them back up the King’s Channel against the weaker end of the long line of defences.
It was an exciting night, for delay meant not merely the further strengthening of the Danish defences, but actual danger from the shells if the Danes brought up sufficient mortars into range of the mooring, as they could do. Nelson dictated his orders – as it grew late he continued them from his cot ... The orders were given to the clerks to transcribe at one in the morning, but Nelson could not sleep. He was too anxious about the wind, and sure enough, his previous promptitude was rewarded by the wind shifting into the east. ... At seven o’clock [2 April] all the captains were on board the “Elephant,” and a last conference ... was held. At eight o’clock the attack was ordered. ..."
In his research for this 1929 book and his Nelson-inspired Horatio Hornblower series, Forester likely consulted the references cited above ... and many others. It is interesting to note that he decided to omit any reference to there being a spirited dinner onboard Elephant on the “exciting night” before the battle of Copenhagen.

The reference to the “cot” in Forester’s 1929 book (and in the circa 1808?-Narrative) would imply that the Aft Cabin had been readied for action by removing and stowing furnishings below decks; which would be contrary to Davidson’s depiction of the dinner.

Forester does mention that all of Nelson’s captains were required onboard for a pre-attack conference, the next morning. This is consistent with the circa 1808?-Narrative which records "... Their work being finished about six in the morning, his Lordship, who was previously up, and dressed ..., and about seven made the signal for all Captains." Forester's interpretation is that this signal required all captains to repair onboard Elephant for a short pre-attack conference.

1949 – Leslie W. Lewis
The original painting was sold into Canada by Leslie W. Lewis (and his associate Henry Alfred Sutch, of Old & Modern Paintings, 11 Bury Street, London) from an unknown UK estate. The Montreal art auction catalogue states that the paintings were “assembled from collections shipped from Great Britain ... owing to war liquidation ... from important estates”. The catalogue includes the following historical details which accompanied the painting:
Quote:
“The Evening before the Battle of Copenhagen, T DAVIDSON, Ex. Royal Academy, 1898
The evening before the Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson sat down to table with Admiral Graves, second in command and Captains Foley, Hardy, Fremantle, Riou, Inman, Col Stewart and a few others ... Nelson drank to the success of the ensuing day.”
Over the fifty years since the 1898 RA exhibition, Davidson’s attribution of the historical details of his painting to Mahan had not survived.

1951 - Kennedy
In Ludovic Kennedy’s 1951 “Nelson’s Band of Brothers”, he includes an illustration of an artist’s signed proof (with credit to Major George Benson DSO). The inscription beneath the illustration is:
Quote:
“THE EVE OF COPENHAGEN“
From the artist’s signed proof of a painting by Thomas Davidson. The scene is the cabin of Elephant on the evening of April 1st 1801. Rear-Admiral Graves is standing on Nelson’s right. The officer in the foreground having his glass filed is Riou. Also present are Hardy, Fremantle and Foley.”
The following details are also provided:
Quote:
“Nelson’s squadron, ... came to anchor south of the Middle Ground a little after eight in the evening. As the Elephant’s cable ran away, Nelson called out: “I will fight them the moment I have fair wind.” He sat down to dinner with Graves, Foley, Hardy, Fremantle, Riou and others. Colonel Stewart wrote that Nelson was in the highest spirits and drank to a leading wind and to the success of the ensuing day. After dinner the captains returned to their ships except Riou, whom Nelson took with Foley into the after cabin to prepare the orders for the attack. ...”
Similar details can be found in Kennedy’s other books. (See <Ned’s 1 Sep 2010 posting> related to “Nelson and his Captains”). Kennedy appears to have based his narratives on the earlier works by Mahan (1897) and/or Nicolas (1884).

1978 - Whipple
As was pointed out in <Anna’s 2 Sep 2010 posting>, a photograph of an artist’s signed proof (with credit to Riou Benson) was included in A.B. C. Whipple’s 1978 "Fighting Sail". The details beneath the photograph are:
Quote:
"On the eve of the Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson and his captains lift their glasses in a toast to a leading wind and success the following day. Colonel William Stewart (left of the pole), who led the soldiers assigned to the fleet, wrote that at the end of the feast aboard the Elephant, “every man separated with anxious impatience to follow their great leader to the approaching battle.”
Whipple based his narrative on the works of Mahan (1897) and/or Nicolas (1884), however Whipple implies that Stewart considered the dinner to be a “feast”. There is no evidence that Stewart or any other officers used such a festive term to describe a dinner shared by Nelson with his “comrades in arms”, before any battle.

------

Conclusions:
I now have even more doubts about the historical accuracy as depicted in the painting ... and in some of the historical references cited above. The use of phrases such as “large party of officers” and “this interesting party” in the early references has proven to be ambiguous and most unfortunate, since some historians have interpreted their source material differently than intended.

Lt. Col. Stewart's 1801 Journal may offer the most historically accurate synopsis of the evening before the battle of Copenhage:
    "As soon as the fleet was at anchor, Lord Nelson had a consultation with a number of pilots and officers; and having digested his plan of operations most admirably in his own mind, proceeded with the assistance of Captains Riou and Foley, to draw up the following general orders ... should the wind be fair, and such as would carry the ships, if crippled off shore.

Davidson (with some artistic license) did a very commendable job of interpreting and dramatically depicting the event as written by his contemporaries Nicolas and Mahan. However, the details in his painting may have been overly relied upon by some of the later twentieth century authors.

Davidson also added a bit more to the legend of the spirited dinner by including Lt. Col. William Stewart at the dinner ... along with a midshipman who really should be someplace else, ensuring that his part ship and men are ready for the upcoming action.

There are still many more interesting questions (or shiny stones to look under) related to Davidson's intriguing painting, the related historical references and the events on the evening before the battle of Copenhagen:
    - If Stewart did not write the circa 1808 anonymous Narrative, then who did? Comparing the circa 1808 Narrative with the 1801 Journal (and with other books and unpublished papers from that period) using today’s literary forensics techniques might yield interesting results.

    - In Davidson's painting what was his intended symbolism of including the unidentified midshipman? He looks very similar to the midshipman that Davidson prominently included in the "On Hostile Ground - The landing of Nelson at Copenhagen" and in the "Lady Hamilton's first sight of Lord Nelson". (The uniform is likely not correct for the period. According to J.M. Drent's 1960 "British Naval Dress"; the round hat garnished with a loop of gold twist was not the normal cap worn by midshipmen until 1827 when it replaced the cocked hat for use at sea and became the standard headgear for all occasions in 1856.)

    - From which estate was Davidson’s original painting "The Evening before the Battle of Copenhagen" sold into Canada in about 1949?

    - and more ...

----------
WD


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 Post subject: Re: Info on the "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" by Thomas Davidson
PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:02 pm 
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I respect thorough historical research and stand in awe of the quality of the work shown by Starshell and others in this correspondence. However if we focus on Davidson’s picture - rather than on the evidence for the event being shown – and the historical accuracy of what he painted in this and similar works, I think we are expecting too much. Let me offer a few thoughts
1 .Like all painters, Davidson worked to make his living and his pictures (and derivative prints) were produced to satisfy a growing public demand for Nelsonian/Napoleonic themes in the later Victorian period. To his credit however, Davidson did not produce ‘pot boilers’ but works of art which were as accurate he could make within a reasonable time frame and using the more limited research facilities than exist today. Indeed what is remarkable is not the fact that Davidson made a few mistakes but that so much of what he depicted was right.
2. The ‘HMS Elephant’ work we are discussing here seems to me to be par for the course. True it is not the ‘ward room’ and the dimensions of what is presumably the admiral’s day cabin are too generous, but there has been careful research into uniform patterns (and wine glasses!) and the ‘feel’ of the occasion seems right. As Starshell says, the depiction of the round/top hat with cockade for midshipmen (as at ‘The Landing at Copenhagen’ is probably anachronistic, but the belief that it was worn then seems to have been common at the time.
3. In terms of the cast of characters in the picture, I think Davidson was (perhaps had to be) selective. He was, after all, painting for a public which was principally interested in the naval celebrities involved. The outstanding figures – Nelson and Graves (in command), Riou (famous for his death) and Stewart (distinctive principally because of his striking red uniform) - have been carefully researched and closely resemble well known portraits of these individuals. The rest however look like a generalised group of middle aged naval officers. I am not familiar with the appearance of all who were there, but I find it difficult to reconcile the look of the character in profile labelled ‘Freemantle’ with the same stocky individual shown full face in the portrait in the NMM; and the person labelled ‘Hardy’ (with whose appearance I am familiar) bears no resemblance to the actual bulk, colouring or features of that officer. (Neither for that matter does the portrayal of him in ‘Nelson’s last Signal at Trafalgar.’)
4. But these are small reservations. Generations of naval enthusiasts and students owe an enormous debt of thanks to Davidson for capturing the dramatic events of Nelson’s life and battles in superb, memorable and popular pictorial form.
Brian


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 Post subject: Re: Info on the "Ward Room of HMS Elephant" by Thomas Davidson
PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 1:48 am 
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Location: England
Thanks to all your research and analysis, Starshell, we can now be pretty sure that there was only one original source of information about a dinner on board HMS Elephant, which was the narrative published by Clarke and M'Arthur in 1809 (and later by Nicolas). All other published accounts of the dinner (including Nicolas and Mahan) simply quote the narrative almost verbatim, or paraphrase it to some extent. Nicolas of course added the first section of the narrative identifying the writer as Stewart. Although it would be nice to have a second source confirming the story, it is not all that surprising that there is only one original source for the description of the dinner, as any description would have to come from someone who was there, in either a first-hand or second-hand account. I am not aware of any published account from any of the other named guests at the dinner. Does anybody know different?

One other account that does provide some details of the evening of the 1st April is by Millard, a midshipman of the Monarch, who went on board Elephant during the evening to collect Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchinson, commander of the 49th regiment, and returned to Monarch with Hutchinson by boat. Millard's account was written about 1807, but not published until 1895. He describes a shell landing not far from the boat. Millard also says:
Quote:
When I went on board Elephant at night, I found the quarterdeck full of officers, and heard Lord Nelson give his orders to a party which was going to take soundings along the enemy's line. The last direction his Lordship gave in my hearing was as follows: "Are your oars muffled?" " Yes, my Lord." "Very well, should the Danish guard boat discover you, you must pull like devils, and get out of his way as fast as you can."
(Millard, William. The Battle of Copenhagen. Macmillan's Magazine. 1895, Vol. LXXII, June, pp. 81-93.)
During the boat trip back to Monarch, Hutchinson told Millard that Nelson planned to attack in the morning, and described Nelson's plan for his division of troops. From the fact that Hutchinson was on board Elephant that evening John Sugden, in "The Sword of Albion", concludes that the army lieutenant-colonels, including Stewart, the commander in Chief, were at the dinner that evening. Sugden also has no doubts that it was Stewart's narrative that was published by Clarke & M'Arthur and by Nicolas.

It is, however, not surprising that Stewart's journal makes no mention of the dinner. As is usual, Stewart's journal includes only what is relevant to operational matters, and does not include descriptions of social occasions. Dinner on the previous day is only mentioned in passing to provide the timing of the council of war held after it.

Dinner at the Admiral's table certainly was a social occasion, with good food, wine, invited guests, servants on hand, and that surely could be called a dinner party by anyone's definition? The admiral's and captain's domestic staff would not have been involved in operational preparations, and I feel sure would have laid on as good a spread as ever, if not better (and probably a feast in seamen's eyes!). I think that it is also normal for a midshipman to have been present. Admirals and captains frequently invited a midshipman from their retinue to dine at their table, and there are various accounts, both biographical and fictional, of midshipmen mortified by some gaffe they have uttered on such an occasion. By 1902 the description of this dinner party on board Elephant had been published dozens of times, so I would even suggest that it was then reasonable to call it 'that famous dinner party'.

According to Millard the hammocks were piped up on board Monarch at six the next morning, and the ship was then prepared for action, which seems to confirm that the ships were not cleared for action the previous afternoon or evening.

Personally, I am happy to go along with all the biographers that accept the narrative is Stewart's, albeit with some input from Ferguson (as I concluded in my article a couple of years ago), and I see no particular reason to suppose that the dinner is an invention. It seems to me more likely than not that Nelson would have dined with some of his senior officers. I think, as Brian says, there is more that is right about the picture than is wrong.

(By the way, Nicolas died in 1848, so it is stretching it to describe him as a contemporary of Mahan and Davidson. His seven volumes of Dispatches and Letters were published from 1844 to 1846, I think. Where does your 1884 date come from?)

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Tony


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