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 "The
masterly manner he has conducted the Fleet and the attention he has
shown to unpatronized merit when ever it has been conspicuous has gained
him the hearts of all under his Command."
Grandson of John
Stuart, the 3rd Earl of Bute, second son of General Charles Stuart of
Military renown, and brother to Ambassador Sir Charles Stuart, Lord Rothesay; John
James Stuart chose a naval career which placed him as Flag Captain on board the "HMS Royal
Sovereign" on December 22nd 1804, the ship that broke the line at Trafalgar. A wonderful concordance of
events putting Nelson on the deck of the legendary Royal Sovereign,
later Collingwood's
flagship.
It is perhaps apocryphal, but it is
said that during the Battle of Trafalgar, as Nelson stood on the quarter
deck of the Victory and watched Collingwood and his flagship "HMS Royal
Sovereign"
go "straight at them", cutting the enemy line alone, and
engaging the "Santa Ana", he pointed to her and said, "See how that
noble fellow Collingwood carries his ship into action!" At approximately
the same moment, Collingwood reportedly remarked to his captain, "What
would Nelson give to be here?" Neither would have to wait long as this monumental naval battle soon
encompassed all the ships of the line.
Nelson was assigned to HMS Victory in
May 1803 and joined the blockade of Toulon, France. He would not set
foot on dry land again for more than two years. On 23 April 1804, Nelson
had been promoted to Vice Admiral of the
White (the fifth highest rank) while still at sea. A wonderful relevant Nelson
content
letter that epitomizes Nelson's character and the esteem in which he was
held by the fleet, and the nervousness felt by a pending change in
Command. A moment not lost on
those present as Nelson, Collingwood and Stuart would all be sailing the seas of heaven by the time of
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The
connection between the young Captain John Stuart and Nelson went
somewhat deeper. John's father, a younger son of the 3rd Earl of
Bute, the Hon. Charles Stuart, embarked upon a military career in 1768
when he enlisted as an ensign in the 37th Regiment of Foot. In 1770, he
became a lieutenant in the 7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers), and
was promoted captain in 1775. Later that year he became a major
commanding a battalion of the regiment, and in 1777 was commissioned
lieutenant-colonel of the 26th Regiment of Foot, which he commanded
until 1779. He was promoted colonel in 1782.
He had been elected MP for Bossiney in 1776, succeeding
his elder brother Viscount Kingarth, who had been created Baron Cardiff.
In 1792, on the death of his father, he inherited the estate of
Highcliffe House in Hampshire (later rebuilt by his eldest son Lord
Rothesay). On April 19, 1778 , he married Anne Louisa Bertie, daughter
of Lord Vere Bertie . They had two sons: Charles Stuart, 1st Baron
Stuart de Rothesay (1779 – 1845) and Captain John James Stuart (1782 –
1811).
On May 23, 1794 General Stuart was given command
of the army in Corsica and with Nelson's help drove the French from
Calvi (the action in which Horatio Nelson lost an eye), their last
remaining stronghold on the island. His energy and bravery during the
siege won him the admiration of Sir John Moore (of later Peninsular War
Fame), who served as his second in command. Stuart was promoted to
Lieutenant-General for this action. Unfortunately he quarreled with
Admiral Lord Hood, who commanded the Mediterranean Fleet, over the
conduct of the siege, and later with Sir Gilbert Elliot, Viceroy of
Corsica. His unwillingness to take orders from a civilian (albeit a
Viceroy), his siding with the Corsican patriot General Pasquale Paoli in
disputes with Elliot, and his conviction that Corsica could be ruled
only by a military man, led to his resignation of his command in
February 1795.
In January 1797 Stuart was given command of a force
sent to Portugal at the urgent request of the Portuguese government,
threatened with invasion by France and Spain. There he succeeded in
transforming his army, made up partly of foreign troops who lacked
discipline and motivation, into a very effective force. The foreign
regiments later fought in Egypt and there "displayed a steadiness and
resolution which spoke volumes for what Charles Stuart's influence had
done". In 1798 he received a commission to capture Minorca from the
Spanish with a force of 3000 men drawn mostly from Gibraltar. His
appointment received the approval of the British Admiral Lord St
Vincent, who told the Secretary of State that Stuart was "the best
general you have … no man can manage Frenchmen so well and the British
will go to hell for him". Though unequipped with siege artillery, he
successfully dissimulated and bluffed the Spaniards into surrendering
the island and their numerically superior forces in November 1798
without the loss of a single man. In recognition he was created knight
of the Bath and Governor of Minorca from November 15, 1798 until 1800.
He radically reformed the island's administration, bringing about
changes described by a French historian as "the most important ever
effected in a country which had not been ceded by treaty" .
While in Minorca, in March 1799, Stuart responded at
once to a plea by Admiral Nelson to send troops to Messina. Stuart
brought the 30th and 89th Regiments under Col. Blayney to Palermo where
they were dispatched to secure Messina against the threatened French and
Spanish invasion. Nelson had the highest opinion of Stuart, whom he
described as an officer who "by his abilities would make a bad army into
a good one" (Dispatches and Letters, 3.226). Stuart accompanied two
regiments to Messina and then paid a fleeting visit to Malta, where the
French still held out in Valletta. He reported to Pitt that, contrary to
the views of other senior officers, Valletta could be reduced only by
continuing with the naval blockade. Stuart died in 1801 and is buried in
St. Peter's Church, Petersham. Nelson was clearly familiar with the
quality of a Stuart.
A Note on Captain John James
Stuart
Born on 29 August 1780, Stuart entered the RN on 23 March 1794. He made
Lieutenant on 12 August 1800, Commander on 18 March 1802, and Captain on
6 August 1803; a very fast career, no doubt helped along by his family's
connections and relationship with Nelson. He is listed from Sept 1803
until Oct 1804 as flag-captain to Rear Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton on
board the Kent (74) then on board the Royal Sovereign (100) from April
1805 till Sept 1805. Interestingly, both these letters (see other Stuart
letter) are datelined "Royal Sovereign" in June of 1804 and December
1804. Bickerton was Second in Command under Nelson. Collingwood took
command of the "Royal Sovereign" only in October 1805, just prior to
Trafalgar.
Captain John Stuart was in command of the "HMS
Saldanha" Frigate when he died on board in March 1811. His memorial at
St. Peters Church, Petersham, London sates: "Sacred to the Memory of
Captain John Stuart, R.N. second son of the Honourable Lieutenant
General Charles Stuart K.B. whose great example he steadily pursued
supporting discipline by manly firmness and benevolence and encouraging
virtue by the precepts and practice of religion. He died on board the
"Saldanha" Frigate which he commanded on the 19th day of March 1811 aged
30 years and was interred here near the remains of his beloved father
whom he strongly resembled". "Saldanha" (named after a bay in South
Africa) was a 36 gun frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1809. The
"Saldanha" herself, then under Captain Packenham, was shipwrecked in
Lough Swilly, Donegal in a gale on the night of 4 December 1811. There
was one survivor, who later died, out of the estimated 253 aboard. (The
ship's complement was 274 men, and 21 are known to have been off the
ship at the time.)
A Note on Admiral John Orde
In the event, Admiral
Orde did not "supersede" Nelson: Sir John Orde, 1st
Baronet (1751 – 1824), was the third son of John Orde, of Morpeth, and
the brother of Thomas Orde-Powlett, 1st Baron Bolton. He joined the
Royal Navy, promoted Captain 1778, Rear Admiral 1795, Vice Admiral 1799
and was eventually promoted to an Admiral of the Red. He served as
Governor of Dominica from 1783 until 1793. and on 9 August 1790 he was
made a baronet. In 1797 he became so exasperated with the Earl St
Vincent that he challenged him to a duel. Arriving in the Mediterranean
December of 1804 as a Vice Admiral, Orde subsequently
commanded his squadron of six ships of the line off Cadiz, his flagship
"HMS
Glory". From 1807 until 1812 he served as Member of Parliament for
Yarmouth.
A Note on Cape St.
Sebastiàn/Cap Sant Sebastiàn/Cabo de San Sebastian)
Cape San Sebastian (not
to be confused with the Spanish city of San Sebastian on the Bay of
Biscay on the northern shore of Spain) is on the Costa Brava (Rugged
Coast) of Spain's Mediterranean Coast and one of the last headlands
before the Pyrenees tip into France. Here in 1857 was built one of the
most important and famous Spain's lighthouses. The cape is a bulge in
the coastline that marks the
southeastern end of the Pyrenees and the southwestern
corner of the
Golfo de Léon, or Golfe du Lion as it is better known in French. The
listed range of the light is 37 nautical miles (59 km) but the port
authority claims it can often be seen at a distance of 50 nautical miles
(93 km). Located high on the cape on the east side of Llafranc, now a
tony resort town, and about 4 km (2.5 mi) southeast of Palafrugell. Site
and tower closed, but the lighthouse can be viewed from nearby. (from
Lighthouses of Catalonia)
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The "HMS
Royal Sovereign" was a first-rate launched in 1786. A 100-gun first rate ship of the line of the
Royal Navy, she served as the flagship of Admiral Collingwood at the
Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. She was the third of seven Royal Navy ships to bear
the name. Designed by Sir Edward Hunt, she was launched at Plymouth
Dockyard on September 11 1786, at a cost of £67,458, and was the only
ship built to her draught. On June 16 1795, as the flagship of
Vice-Admiral William Cornwallis, she was involved in the celebrated
episode known as "Cornwallis' Retreat".
The first ship of the fleet in action at Trafalgar on October 21 1805,
Collingwood's "Royal Sovereign" led one column of warships; Nelson's "Victory" led the other. Due to
the re-coppering of her hull prior to her arrival off Cadiz, "Royal
Sovereign" was a considerably better sailer in the light winds present
that day than other vessels and pulled well ahead of the rest of the
fleet.
Although pounded nearly to a wreck by the Spanish fleet, she forced
the "Santa Ana" to surrender and was herself rescued by the arrival of the
rest of her column. After her useful active life she was converted to
harbour service as a receiving ship at Plymouth before being renamed "HMS
Captain" on August 17 1825. Becoming a hulk in June 1826, "Captain" was
finally broken up at Plymouth, with work being completed on August 28
1841. Four of her guns were saved and are incorporated in the
Collingwood Memorial in Tynemouth.
A Note on Admiral
Cuthbert Collingwood
 Cuthbert
Collingwood was born in 1749 near the river Tyne. Joining the Royal Navy
in 1761, he first sailed aboard the frigate "Shannon". Serving under an
uncle, he made midshipman and in 1772 was posted to Jamaica where he met
another young midshipman, named Nelson. They rose through the ranks over
the years and began a life-long friendship that would see them both
through Trafalgar, where Nelson was given the command over the arguably
more experienced Collingwood. Over his career Collingwood spent even
less time ashore than Nelson, logging only three years of land time.
The quintessential Battle of Trafalgar has long been linked with the
name of Lord Nelson, but Collingwood's participation was on an equal, if
much less publicized, footing. On October 21, 1805 the combined forces
of France and Spain were met by the British fleet off Trafalgar. Nelson
was not the only hero that day as Collingwood on his flagship "Royal
Sovereign" broke the line and following Nelson's death took command and
successfully finished the battle for the British without losing a ship.
This decisive battle left Britain in control of the seaways and
effectively forestalled Napoleon's hopes of an invasion of England with
his army assembled at Boulogne. Following Trafalgar, Collingwood
received a pension of £2,000 per annum and was made Baron Collingwood.
He died at sea near Minorca in 1810.
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Biographical Note
Lord
Horatio Nelson
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount
Nelson, KB
(29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805)
Horatio Nelson was born on 29 September 1758 in a rectory in Burnham
Thorpe, Norfolk, England. He was educated at Paston Grammar School,
North Walsham, and Norwich School, and by the time he was twelve he had
enrolled in the Royal Navy. His naval career began on 1 January 1771
when he reported to the third-rate "Raisonnable" as an Ordinary Seaman
and coxswain. Nelson’s maternal uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling,
commanded the vessel. Shortly after reporting aboard, Nelson was
appointed a midshipman and began officer training. Nelson found that he
suffered from seasickness, a chronic complaint that dogged him for the
rest of his life.
Suckling became Comptroller of the Navy in 1775 and
used his position to help Nelson's rapid advance. By 1777 Nelson had
risen to the rank of lieutenant and was assigned to the West Indies.
During his service as lieutenant he saw action on the British side in
the American Revolutionary War. By the time he was 20, in June 1779, he
was made post-captain. The 28-gun frigate "Hinchinbroke", newly captured
from the French, was his first command as post-captain. From 1780 to
1783 Nelson served in the
Caribbean
with a hiatus back in England to recover from illness. Following the
America War, Nelson led a 100 man force in an unsuccessful attempt to
dislodge a French force from the Turks Islands. In 1784 he was given
command of the frigate "Boreas", and assigned to enforce the Navigation
Act in the vicinity of Antigua where Nelson met and married Frances
(Fanny) Nisbet, a widow native to Nevis in 1787 at the end of his tour
of duty in the Caribbean.
Nelson returned "ashore" to England on half pay until
he was recalled to service ad given command of the 64-gun "Agamemnon" in
1793, this started a long series of battles and engagements that would
seal his place in history. First assigned to the Mediterranean in 1794,
he was wounded in the face by stones and debris thrown up by a close
cannon shot during a joint operation at Calvi, Corsica. As a result,
Nelson lost the sight in his right eye and half of his right eyebrow.
Despite popular legend, there is no evidence that Nelson ever wore an
eye patch, though he was known to wear an eyeshade to protect his
remaining eye.
By 1796, the position of Commander-in-Chief of the
fleet in the Mediterranean passed to Sir John Jervis (of St. Vincent
fame), who appointed Nelson to be Commodore and to exercise independent
command over the ships blockading the French coast. Nelson was now
appointed to the 74-gun HMS "Captain". In 1796, on leaving Elba for
Gibraltar, Nelson transferred his flag to the frigate "Minerve"
(commanded by Captain Cockburn). 1797 found Nelson was largely
responsible for the British victory at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
Here he showed his flair for dramatic and bold action. Under the command
of Sir John Jervis, the British fleet was ordered to "tack in line," but
Nelson disobeyed these orders and "wore ship" to alter course and
prevent the Spanish fleet from escaping. He then boarded two enemy ships
in succession, an unusual and bold move which was cheered by the whole
fleet. Nelson himself led the boarding parties, which was not usually
done by high ranking officers.
In the aftermath of this victory, Nelson was knighted
as a member of the Order of the Bath and promoted to Rear Admiral of the
Blue. Promotion to admiral at
this time was not based on merit but solely on seniority and the
availability of positions to fill. Nelson's popularity with his men was
largely based upon his rise from Ordinary Seaman to Admiral by-passing
the normally rigid hierarchy of the British Navy. Later in the year,
while commanding "Theseus" he was shot in the right arm with a musket
ball, fracturing his humerus bone in multiple places. Since medical
science of the day counseled amputation for almost all serious limb
wounds (to prevent death by gangrene), Nelson lost almost his entire
right arm and was unfit for duty until mid-December.
In 1798 Nelson won a great victory over the French. The
Battle of the Nile took place on 1 August 1798. Given its huge strategic
importance, some historians regard Nelson's achievement at the
Nile as the most significant of his career, Trafalgar notwithstanding.
In 1801 Nelson was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Blue (the sixth
highest rank). Within a few months he took part in the Battle of
Copenhagen which was fought in order to break up the armed neutrality of
Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. During the action, Nelson's commander, Sir
Hyde Parker, signaled him to break off the action but Nelson held the
telescope to his blind eye and commented. "I really do not see the
signal!" His action was later approved and in May he became
commander-in-chief in the Baltic Sea. As a reward, he was created
Viscount Nelson, of the Nile and of Burnham Thorpe in the County of
Norfolk.
Assigned to HMS "Victory" in May 1803, Nelson joined
the blockade of Toulon, France. He would not set foot on dry land again
for more than two years. He was promoted to Vice Admiral of the White
(the fifth highest rank) while still at sea. In 1805 he was called upon
to oppose the French and Spanish fleets which had managed to join up and
take refuge in the harbour of Cádiz, Spain and on 21 October 1805 Nelson
engaged in his final battle, the Battle of Trafalgar.
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Document Specifications:
A very fine handwritten letter signed by
Flag Captain John James
Stuart, RN aboard the HMS "Royal Sovereign", later Admiral Collingwood's
Flagship, and dated December 22nd 1804. Folded letter measures 9" tall x 7¼"
wide (227mm x 185mm). On single sheet of batonne laid paper watermarked
"A. BLACKWELL - 1804". Several slits resulting in some edge
tears either from disinfection procedure or
is an
example of the Italian Nizza. This was a method of ensuring that letters
were not read by unauthorized persons, first known used in Italy in the
15th century. A ribbon or part of the paper which was not written on was
folded (or cut) to resemble a tongue, and threaded or folded back
through the cover into slits made for the purpose. It could then be
sealed with wax or a wafer for security and evidence of tampering.
A scarce and meaningful letter concerning Britain's Greatest Admiral and
confirming that:
"the
attention he has shown to unpatronized merit when ever it has been
conspicuous has gained him the hearts of all under his Command."
From the Sir Charles Stuart, Lord Rothesay, Correspondence. Stuart was
His Britannic Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
to Portugal during the greater part of the Peninsular War (10 January
1810 to 26 May 1814). He was a personal friend and confidante of
Wellington and Nelson, member of the Portuguese Regency (the only
British Subject in the war ever permitted to hold an official position
in a foreign government while also representing Britain), and later
ambassador to Netherlands & France. The most important foreign diplomat
of the Peninsular War, his archive of diplomatic, military and
intelligence dispatches are second only to Wellington's Dispatches.
.
Offered
by Berryhill & Sturgeon, Ltd
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