IIn late 1774, a newly built ship was launched into the cold waters of the River Humber in the northern English city of Hull. named after BoreasThe ship was one of a series of Mermaid-class frigates, a derivative of the 28-gun warships common among the 270 or so ships that made up the Royal Navy.
HMS was completed at Chatham Dockyard in October 1775. Boreas She also saw action in the Caribbean, attacking and capturing French and American ships, and took part in the failed Battle of Grenada in July 1779.
Captain who took over command Boreas The spring of 1784 also saw considerable activity. His name was Horatio Nelson, and he was to achieve almost mythical status as a hero of the Royal Navy and victor of the crucial Battle of Trafalgar (see January 2008 issue) caribbean beat).
Nelson, 28, had already served in the Arctic, East Indies, North America and the Caribbean, and had established a reputation as an intelligent and ambitious officer, with strong connections in the naval hierarchy. .
his command is Boreas Although it was a little plain, it had a specific mission attached to it. It was to enforce the Navigation Acts (laws aimed at protecting the trade of the British Empire from foreign competition and interference) in and around the Leeward Islands base, a naval base in the British Caribbean colony of Antigua. . .
Antigua’s southern coast had a large natural harbor, providing protection from hurricanes and a strategic advantage on the leeward line towards Barbados. It was also a huge sugar producer based on the inhumane system of plantation slavery, and was a valuable asset of the British Empire.
The economic needs of the empire led to the enactment of the Navigation Acts. Simply put, Britain’s Caribbean colonies were only allowed to import and export from Great Britain. However, this closed circuit was disrupted starting in 1776 with the independence of the United States and the sudden emergence of new, powerful trading states near the Caribbean.
NElson’s mission was to prevent the British colonies from trading with America, and this put him in direct contact with the colonists, who preferred trading with their new neighbors over distant London. It was decided to collide. Although other British officials, the island governor and naval officials took an apparently tolerant attitude towards regular breaches of the Navigation Laws, choosing to maintain friendly relations with local planters and exporters, , Nelson wasn’t going to turn a blind eye.
From the moment he arrived in Antigua in July 1784, he purchased sugar from the Leeward Islands and led the interception of foreign ships (mainly American ships) that attempted to sell industrial products in the Leeward Islands.
He hated Antigua from the beginning, just as Antigua’s colonial elite hated him. Since Britain was not at war with America, the American traders believed that the seizure of his assets was illegal and sued him. Merchants from the neighboring island of Nevis assisted the Americans, and for a time Nelson was in danger of arrest and imprisonment.
Knowing that his superior, Admiral Hughes, based in Barbados, was unlikely to be able to help, Nelson withdrew from his official residence to relative safety. Boreasmoored at the naval base in English Harbour. He refused to compromise, writing in January 1785:
I have the honor of commanding the British military, but I will never allow myself to be subservient to the Governor-General’s wishes or to co-operate with his illegal activities…I know the laws of navigation.
Nelson had a strict sense of duty and endured rather than enjoyed his stint in the Caribbean. Attacked by mosquitoes, his hut infested with vermin, and faced with the constant indiscipline of his men, he succumbed to a debilitating fever. “I hate seeing English Harbour,” he complained.
But there were also bright moments. He valued his association with Mary Moutley, the young wife of the shipyard director, and they were probably more than friends. “Wasn’t that for Mrs. Mautley? very, very “Good, now I have no choice but to hang myself in this hellhole,” he wrote to a confidant.
Things changed when he met Fanny Nisbet, a young widow of a doctor and the daughter of a senior judge in the colony of Nevis. Nelson met Fanny while visiting his uncle, the island’s speaker of parliament, and may have been attracted to her status as a member of the colonial elite. Although they corresponded, Nelson confessed to loneliness and frustration.
While the ship was being renovated, I was alone in the commander’s house, with no one to talk to from sunrise to bedtime. I think you can relate to me a little bit. I didn’t really like sitting alone. When the old “Boreas” can live in my cabin, I plan to fly there to avoid mosquitoes and depression.
The two were eventually married in March 1787, four months before Nelson returned to England at the end of his three-year term. Fanny soon thereafter took her son from her first marriage with her.
HMS Boreas According to Desmond Nicholson, curator of the Antigua and Barbuda Shipyard Museum, Nelson arrived in Portsmouth on July 4th, saying, “Nelson was very unwell on this voyage and was prepared in case he died during the voyage.” He sent me a glass of rum.” ”
aMuch of my three years in Antigua. BoreasNelson could find some success. Legal action brought against him was dismissed by the District Court, and his uncompromising stance against breaches of the Navigation Act was supported by the Admiralty.
Merchants from the neighboring island of Nevis assisted the Americans, and for a time Nelson was in danger of arrest and imprisonment.
But he makes enemies by questioning his boss’s perceived laziness and acting on his own instincts. He was considered a heretic and it took five years before he was given another command.
He also oversaw improvements to Antigua’s shipyards, particularly the Engineer’s House and Pitch and Tar Store, built in 1785. These developments continued until the end of the 18th century, and the shipyard was finally abandoned by the Royal Navy in 1889. The renovation and transformation into the current luxurious historic venue dates back to the 1950s.
Nelson’s career after the events at Antigua has been widely documented, and he remains a symbol of the long-lost British naval supremacy. Although his views on slavery were scrutinized and found to be abhorrent, if typical for the era, he still stands on a memorial column overlooking Trafalgar Square.
Fanny Nisbet’s story was not so bright. Nelson dumped her due to a high-profile affair with Emma Lady Hamilton. Although distraught, Fanny reportedly remained true to her husband’s memory after his death in 1805. Fanny lived until May 1831.caribbean beat Her profile and relationship with Nelson were published in the July and August 1998 issues. )
Regarding HMS Boreas The ship was downgraded to a ‘slop ship’ in 1797 and sold necessities such as clothing and bedding to naval crews on the Thames Estuary. It was sold at Sheerness, probably for scrap, in 1802, three years before Trafalgar’s deification.
