"How HMS Flora died hard: 1808" Topic

"A blog some weeks ago, "HMS Flora 1780: the Carronade's arrival"(click here to read it), dealt with a spectacular action in which this 36-gun frigate was engaged shortly after her first commissioning. The present article is however more melancholy, since it tells how this fine ship met her end over a quarter century later. The manner of her wrecking is illustrative of just how strong such ships were and how much battering they could endure before finally succumbing. HMS Flora's demise was slow and nightmarish but the efforts of her crew to save her were all but superhuman.

The image that immediately comes to mind of the Royal Navy's years-long blockades in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars is of the squadrons stationed off Brittany and Toulon. No less important, and as dangerous as duty off Brittany, was blockading of North Sea coasts. That of the Netherlands, a staunch and committed vassal of France for much of the period, was especially dangerous in view of the shallow waters and shifting sandbanks. It was when patrolling close to the Friesian Islands north of the Netherlands mainland, that HMS Flora, then under the command of Captain Loftus Otway Bland (1771 – 1810), ran aground on 18th January 1808 off the island of Terschelling…."
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Amicalement
Armand

That is a great brief account. It shows just what nautical skill these professionals had.

I suppose I have the landlubber's idea that you just put up lots of sails and got that chap to turn that wheel occasionally and away you went……

That was well worth a read (Dunno how you do it)

Happy you enjoyed it my good friend!. (smile)

The five magic balls!…(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Interesting.

Glad you enjoyed it too my friend!.

Amicalement
Armand