by Richard Hiscocks | Mar 18, 2018 | 1785, The Peace of 1784-1792
The second year of peace remained a quiet one for the navy, with very little activity. The otherwise under-occupied Admiralty was forced to recall Commodore Sir Charles Douglas from his position as the commander-in-chief at Halifax in February due to disputes...
by Richard Hiscocks | Mar 17, 2018 | 1785, The Peace of 1784-1792
The trial of Captain Isaac Prescott for cruelty to his wife – 1785 It is fair to say that Captain Isaac Prescott was probably a typical old school sea officer, but as his trial in the Consistory Court of Doctor’s Commons for ‘wanton, tyrannical,...
by Richard Hiscocks | Mar 6, 2018 | 1785, The Peace of 1784-1792
Sir Charles Douglas is recalled from Halifax – February 1785 In July 1783 the esteemed Commodore Sir Charles Douglas arrived back at Spithead from the Leeward Islands where he had been captain of the fleet to Admiral Hugh Pigot, the position from which he...
by Richard Hiscocks | Mar 18, 2018 | 1785, The Peace of 1784-1792
In 1783 a 29 year-old budding balloonist by the name of Count Francesco Zambeccari arrived in England having recently witnessed the first unmanned balloon flights in Paris by the Montgolfier brothers. That November the count sent his own unmanned balloon up...
by Richard Hiscocks | Mar 8, 2018 | 1785, The Peace of 1784-1792
The 26 year-old Captain Horatio Nelson was one of the navy?s more fortunate officers in so much that his early career had benefitted from the patronage of the comptroller of the navy, Maurice Suckling, and that having achieved the rank of post captain at an...
