HMS Bellerophon, known affectionately by her illiterate crew as Billy Ruffian,
endured the Napoleonic and French Revolutionary Wars. She was the first vessel to engage the enemy at the battle of the Glorious First of June, 1794, and was also waiting vigilant, off Rochefort, to escort Napoleon to England when he formally surrendered to the British in 1815. The Secretary to Lord Elphinstone, Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Station, wrote an essay on the surrender of Napoleon and included the correspondence concerning it within the same volume.
An interesting record from the archive is a letter from the Archdeacon of Totnes to a Mr Taylor giving an account of the appearance of Napoleon on board the Bellerophon at Torbay, 1815. Bonaparte was to be later escorted to St. Helena on board the Northumberland captained by Sir George Cockburn.
Captain Matthew Flinders served on the Bellerophon at the battle as a midshipman. The archive holds a wealth of material on this fascinating character, including his tribute to Trim the Cat and loving correspondence to his wife.
She played a decisive role at the battle of the Nile, suffering the highest casualties from the engagement with the colossal French ship L'Orient. Later Captain Rotherham's highly detailed survey of the crew of the Bellerophon gives a fascinating insight into their physical descriptions, who their parents were, previous occupation and distinguishing marks or tattoos.
At the battle of Trafalgar her captain, John Cooke, died in the same circumstances as Nelson, only an hour earlier. The famous arctic explorer Sir John Franklin was 19 years old when he served as the Signal Midshipman on the Bellerophon. From the poop he interpreted Nelson's message: England Expects That Every Man Will Do His Duty. Lieutenant Pryce Cumby of the Bellerophon claimed that the signal 'produced the most animating and inspiring effect on the whole fleet.'
Franklin also recorded that Christopher Beaty, a yeoman of the signals and veteran sailor, after seeing the ensign shot away three times, climbed the mizzen rigging out of pure exasperation. He then proceeded to attach one of the largest union jack's he could find to the four corners of the shrouds. Apparently, from one eye witness account, the French shooters in the poop of L'Aigle cease fire for the duration of his 'task', we presume out of a respect for his heroics.
Mike (Assistant Archivist)
We are pleased to be joining Jenny Wraight, the Admiralty Librarian at Naval Historical Branch, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth, together with colleagues from the Imperial War Museum and Hampshire Libraries, at the forthcoming Meet Your Navy event, being held from Friday 30 July to Sunday 1 August.