Chapter 11

From Portugal to the Adriatic

Once she had refitted and repaired the damage done to her by the French batteries, Revenge was allocated to support a secret military expedition against Walcheren on 30 July. Revenge took troops on board and sailed with another forty ships of the line in addition to a variety of other ships and craft of all sizes. The military element consisted of about 40,000 soldiers and 15,000 horses, along with field artillery and two siege trains.

One member of this expedition was a young Captain of the 95th Rifles (2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade) by the name of John Kincaid. In his celebrated book, Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, Kincaid tells us how he arrived at Deal with a ‘donkey-load of pistols in my belt’,¹ possibly an indication of his apprehension. Kincaid was embarked first upon the frigate Hussar and then the 74, Namur, which took them to the island of South Beveland. Kincaid was among many who were victims of what Robinson calls an ‘ague’, which became known as ‘Walcheren fever’, but which was in fact malaria. Although Kincaid survived, at least 4,000 British troops died, only 106 of whom lost their lives in combat.

The task of the Navy was to destroy the French fleet which was thought to have been at Flushing. Although the British captured Flushing, poor co-ordination between the Navy and the Army allowed the French to escape upstream to Antwerp.

Captain John Kincaid returned to Scotland after this disaster in order to recover from his illness. He was then posted to join Wellington in Portugal where he would write one of the most celebrated personal accounts of the Peninsular War. Like many of the soldiers who had been through the Walcheren experience, the malarial disease continued to dog him for years to come:

I cannot shake off that celebrated Walcheren fever without mentioning what may or may not be a peculiarity in it – that a brother-officer and I experienced a return of it within a day of each other, after a lapse of five years, and again, within a week, after the lapse of the following three years.²

William Robinson recounts that, after Revenge returned from the Walcheren expedition at Christmas 1809 there was little sense of satisfaction among the crew. This had not been a noble feat of arms and indeed Dutch civilians had taunted them for doing little more than destroying the houses of local citizens.

Revenge was soon back on station in the Channel, this time watching the port of Cherbourg. At one point she went in pursuit of a French frigate near the batteries of La Hogue and as a result received a severe raking of fire.

In Spain and Portugal, the comparatively small British army was making its presence felt, though it was still not powerful enough to deal a decisive blow. Arthur Wellesley had advanced into Spain and defeated the French at Talavera (27–28 July 1810) but he was not able to push through to Madrid. The British army then retreated to Portugal, followed by Marshal Massena, though they dealt a stinging temporary defeat on the French on the ridge of Bussaco (27 September 1810) before continuing the retreat to Lisbon. As they went, they laid waste to the countryside and villages around them in a deliberate scorched-earth policy and evacuated the local population of about 200,000. This, however, was not a sign of desperation and this was not an army in headlong flight. Wellington, as he now was, had predicted this eventuality over a year before and had ordered Colonel Richard Fletcher of the Royal Engineers to construct a line of about 152 fortresses and redoubts, making best use of the natural features of a series of high rounded hills extending from the small town of Torres Vedras near the west coast, across to the Tagus River to the east. The sea and flanks were protected by Royal Navy vessels. The ‘lines’, as they came to be called, were largely manned by Portuguese militia and British marines and artillerymen, while first-line troops were ready to intervene where required.

The lines of Torres Vedras were an extraordinary engineering achievement and one can only imagine the reaction of Marshal Massena as he first came upon them. French map-making was not of a high standard at that time and Massena may have been unfamiliar with the local geography. He was to discover that there were enemy forces perched on almost every hill in carefully constructed redoubts and with accurately enfiladed artillery. All the tree and scrub cover had been cleared and every valley was either filled with obstacles or had been flooded, in addition to being covered by deadly firepower. The Portuguese Ordenança, or ‘militia’, were roaming around the countryside, waiting to pick off any Frenchmen who strayed in small enough groups. The countryside had been methodically cleared of anything that might pass for a square meal.

As Wellington had predicted, Massena could neither attack without losing a large part of his force nor stay for long without his men starving or morale plummeting. By 14 November, Massena had had enough and began his retreat. The tide had turned.

Despite his tactical success, Wellington was always short of resources and Revenge was despatched in 1811 to disembark fresh troops at Lisbon. Among these was a Private William Wheeler of the 51st Foot, who, like Kincaid, would record his experiences in a memoir. Wheeler comments on the high standards he found aboard Revenge and on the concern that Captain Nash showed for his crew. This was in marked contrast to the behaviour of some of the captains William Robinson had served under. However Admiral Strachan, who commanded the Channel fleet, for all that he was terse by nature, was also well liked as the men knew that beneath the tough exterior he had their best interests at heart.³ Admiral Collingwood was also well meaning and took the view that if the men were happily occupied, albeit the work was hard, they would be less inclined to what Saint Benedict has described as ‘murmuring’.

The fact that seamen such as William Robinson and privates such as William Wheeler could write so vividly about their experiences was a sign in itself that the world was changing. Education was making even the humblest aware of their circumstances and able to write about them. They had also demonstrated their ability to influence events by uniting in mutiny when maltreatment went too far.

The tradition of flogging was a vicious one and William Robinson takes care to describe it in grisly detail. A man could be almost literally flayed alive by the vicious cat-o’-nine-tails and some died of their wounds. Some floggings included twenty-five lashes on each ship present by way of example to the others. Instilling fear by degrading a particular offender was seen to be an effective way of maintaining discipline.

By October 1813, Wellington’s army had pursued the French as far as Bayonne and the Royal Navy continued to harry the French Navy wherever it could find it. The French brig-corvette Flibustier, for example, anchored near Bayonne, did not have much choice but to put to sea, filled with armaments and provisions for the French garrison at Santana. She was almost immediately spotted, however, by the British schooner Telegraph (Lieutenant Timothy Scriven), the 18-gun brig sloop Challenger (Captain Frederick Vernon) and the 12-gun brig Constant (Lieutenant John Stokes). Although the Flibustier sought protection from some shore batteries, the Telegraph came within close enough range to fire a broadside which persuaded the French crew to abandon their ship and to set fire to it.

This continual watch on the Spanish and French coasts meant that the French forces could barely move by sea without being spotted and marines being landed to destroy enemy batteries and other fortifications.

On 2 May 1813, the Repulse landed a force of 100 marines, to combine with marine detachments from Volontaire and Undaunted, to destroy new enemy fortifications near Marignon. The marines attacked and held back local enemy forces while boats were sent out to capture enemy vessels. The guns in the enemy batteries were destroyed.⁴

The 38-gun frigate Bachante – commanded by Captain William Hoste, who hailed, like Nelson, from Norfolk – and its marine detachment under Lieutenant Hood, made their presence felt, capturing gunboats near Cape Otranto and forcing the enemy battery at Karlbego to surrender. Off the coast of Gela-Nova, marines despatched from Bachante under Lieutenant Hood took on seven large gunboats, three smaller gun vessels and fourteen armed merchant vessels, which were backed up by enemy forces on land. The marines pressed home the attack, captured the enemy shipping and forced the enemy troops on the nearby beach to surrender. Two British seamen and one marine were killed.

Under the command of Rear Admiral Thomas Fremantle, Bachante and other ships attacked the town of Fiume, forcing the garrison of about 350 to retreat and capturing about ninety vessels.

The Revenge was also involved in this inshore naval warfare in the Adriatic, which bears so much resemblance to the exploits of what would later be called the Commandos in the Second World War. On 8 November 1813, Revenge, by now commanded by Captain Sir John Gore, sent boats under Lieutenant William Richards and Captain of Marines John Spurin into the harbour of Palamos to attempt the capture of a French felucca privateer. They set out under cover of darkness at about 8.30 p.m. and reached the felucca at 11 p.m. Having boarded the enemy vessel, they brought her back to Revenge, which they reached at about 1 a.m.

Revenge continued with her duties and after the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the defeat of Napoleon the Royal Navy continued its work of endless patrols, and both major and minor actions. There was a substantial naval presence in the Mediterranean and the Navy took the responsibility of dealing with pirates whenever it could find them. The pirate base of Algiers was attacked by the Royal Navy in 1815 and, temporarily at least, brought to heel. The Battle of Navarino in 1827 resulted in the defeat of Turkish and Egyptian navies by the Royal Navy, which bore the brunt of the battle, though French and Russian ships assisted the British later in the day.

When Mehemet Ali Pasha of Egypt seized Syria from Turkey, the British came to the aid of Turkey and provided arms for rebels against Egyptian rule in Lebanon. The next target was Acre, where Admiral Stopford began a bombardment on 3 November 1840. Revenge, along with Rodney, Cambridge, Carysfort, Medea and Vanguard, had previously been detached to blockade Alexandria to prevent Egyptian vessels from sailing to relieve Acre. Then, with the support of Revenge, the British squadron destroyed the batteries at Acre, the success of the operation being partly due to a fortunate misalignment of the enemy’s guns.

This demonstration by the British of accurate gunnery against shore targets underlined the range and effectiveness of the Navy and its deterrent influence.

The new Revenge, launched on 16 April 1859 at Pembroke Dockyard, was a Second Rate two-decker with a wooden hull. She had a displacement of 5,260 tons, was 245 feet in length and carried 91 guns. What distinguished her from her predecessors was that she had the option of screw propulsion. The new Revenge represented a navy in a state of fundamental transformation. The days of sail were almost over and the shape and means of propulsion of new ships demonstrated the advances achieved by the Industrial Revolution.

The new Revenge was built at Pembroke in Wales by the firm of Maudslay, Sons, and Field. Henry Maudslay (1771–1831) had been employed by Marc Isambard Brunel (1769–1849) to build machines to manufacture ships’ blocks. Maudslay later took an interest in the development of marine steam engines, but his greatest contribution was to be in the design of precision machines that could be used to create other machines, such as steam engines. His attention to detail and insistence on high-quality materials demonstrated that British industrial strength was built on virtues of attention to detail and quality that later were to become associated with German manufacturing. The engineers who were apprenticed under Maudslay maintained his standards. Henry Maudslay’s son, Joseph (1801–1861) followed his father’s example and was responsible for manufacturing the first steam engine used by the Royal Navy.

The Admiralty had used a number of paddle steamers which proved popular for inshore actions and by 1836 a successful design for a screw was being developed. The Ratler was fitted both with a screw and a Maudslay steam engine, and trials demonstrated to the Admiralty that the screw had several advantages, one being that the paddles of a paddle steamer were far more vulnerable to damage from enemy attack.

Pembroke Dockyard superseded Milford Haven as a shipbuilding establishment from about 1815. Apart from building Revenge, it would be famous for building such historic ships as the Dreadnought and Empress of India. Pembroke remained a viable shipyard by adapting to the rapid changes that were taking place at the time as hulls changed from wood to iron, and later from iron to steel, as propulsion changed from paddles to screws and from sail power to steam-engine power. Although the building of the Dreadnought was an epic achievement for the yard, it also proved its limitations and it only survived into the early 1920s by building a smattering of smaller vessels. Although Milford Haven was used as a flying-boat base for the RAF during the Second World War, the great days of shipbuilding were over in the region.

In the same year that Revenge was launched, Isaac Watts, naval architect and chief constructor, designed the Warrior, the British response to the French armoured warship Gloire. Having gained naval mastery by defeating the French at Trafalgar in 1805, the British were not going to sit back and concede technical mastery at the noon of empire. The Warrior effectively knocked Gloire into a cocked hat. It was an all-iron ship, about a third larger than Gloire, with about double the horsepower and a significant advantage in speed. It carried more and bigger guns. The Warrior carried technically advanced armour which resolved the problem of vital bolts failing under impact.

Watts had been involved with the development of the screw battleship and had taken wooden battleships to almost unimaginable lengths. Having reached the limit of wood construction, it was appropriate that Watts should design the ground-breaking, all-iron Warrior.

The Crimean War (1854–1856) now over, the new Revenge sailed into a period of relative peace. After she was commissioned at Plymouth in 1861, she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Robert Smart in the Channel Squadron, carrying out duties familiar to her ancestors. Later she was to serve in the Mediterranean and otherwise saw duty as far afield as the Mediterranean and Queenstown, County Cork, Ireland.