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The Billy Ruffian: The Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon

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Sorry I couldn't fit the whole quote in the title to this review. The above is an excerpt of something said to Captain Maitland of the "Bellerophon" in the summer of 1815 when Napoleon was being held on board, waiting to learn what his fate would be. (He hoped to be allowed to buy and live in a home in the English countryside. Alas, it was not to be.) Here is the full quote: "If it had not been for you English, I should have been Emperor of the East; but wherever there is water to float a ship, we are sure to find you in our way." As David Cordingly demonstrates in this wonderful book, the "Bellerophon," during the period 1794-1815, was an integral part of "find(ing) you in our way." Before ending her career as a "floating prison" she was in the thick of the action at the Battle of the Glorious First of June, the Battle of the Nile, and the Battle of Trafalgar...in addition to pulling extensive blockade duties, and being a temporary home/prison for Napoleon before it was decided to place him on St. Helena. Mr. Cordingly calls this a biography of a ship of the line, and he is true to his word. To start, we learn about the construction of the ship (it was built based on a "generic" design by sir Thomas Slade. Slade was a great ship designer and "it became recognised that a British ship could invariably beat a French ship...even though the French ship might be up to 50 percent more powerful in terms of her guns"). This gives Mr. Cordingly the opportunity to tell us about how ships were built at this time - how long it took, what kind of wood was used (oak - the trees had to be a certain age, not too young or too old, and they were "branded" after selection so that the public would know they'd been selected for use by the navy), etc. Sometimes, after construction had started at the dockyard, the ship would be left sitting for several years, so the wood could age properly. I found this entire section fascinating. However, if this kind of information isn't your cup of tea, have no fear - the author quickly gets down to the business of battle. In the past I'd read quite a bit about the Battle of the Nile, and the Battle of Trafalgar, but I had never read anything about the Battle of the Glorious First of June, so I learned quite a bit in that section. (It was interesting to read that Lord Howe, who was in command of the British fleet at this action, was sixty-nine years old at the time. The battle lasted several days and Howe, besides ordering fleet movements, was actually involved, on his flagship, in the action. It was also interesting to find out that, despite being soundly thrashed, the French considered this encounter with "the nation of shopkeepers" a victory, because the British were not able to stop French grain ships from getting through safely to port.) Even if you know a lot about these battles, I think you will still find these sections interesting, because a large part of the action is seen from the viewpoint of the "Bellerophon," i.e. - what happened to the ship and its crew. The ship seemed to live a charmed life: despite being dismasted and severely battered, she managed never to run aground or to be boarded as a prize. (One time she barely escaped being blown to kingdom come, when a fire was put out just before finding its way to the gunpowder.) One of the most enjoyable sections of the book detailed the "goings-on" when Napoleon was aboard. While anchored at Torbay and Plymouth Sound, the ship and its famous guest became quite a tourist attraction. On one day "it was estimated that the ship was surrounded by ten thousand people in yachts, fishing boats, and rowing boats." The crew held up chalkboards with messages scrawled on them (such as "At breakfast") to let the public know what Napoleon was up to any particular moment. It was amusing to read that when Napoleon was given a tour of Captain Maitland's cabin, he zeroed in on a portrait of Maitland's wife. Napoleon commented that she was "very young and very pretty," and he was greatly disappointed that, due to security restrictions, she was not allowed on board for a visit. Bonaparte had just lost an empire, but he could still appreciate a beautiful woman! Another big plus for this book is the quantity and quality of the black-and-white anc color reproductions. (Works of top-flight painters of maritime scenes, such as Nicholas Pocock and J.M.W. Turner, help bring the battle scenes to life.) This was a very clever idea for a book, and whether you are primarily interested in ships, or naval battles, or Napoleon, I think you will find much here to enjoy.

HMS Bellerophon - commonly known as the "Billy Ruffian" by Royal Navy sailors who inevitably turned any classical reference into something more humble and easier on the tongue - was in most respects a typical 74-gun ship-of-the-line during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. And she is the focus of a new "biography" written by David Cordingly: "The Billy Riffian: The Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon, The Biography of a Ship of the Line, 1782-1836". Codringly is no stranger to nautical studies, with both his "Under the Black Flag" (about pirates) and "Women Sailors and Sailors' Women" having been well received. Where the Bellerophon perhaps departed from the typical ship-of-the-line was her knack at being involved in important events. Not only was she at the Glorious First of June victory in 1794, the "Billy Ruffian" did some of the very hardest fighting at both the Nile and Trafalgar. And she was quite literally at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, for it was aboard the Bellerophon in 1815 that the French emperor presented himself for surrender after Waterloo. In between these great events, the ship served a more prosaic career, including blockade and convoy duty, sailing in the waters of the Caribbean and Baltic as well as the Mediterranean and North Atlantic.

Codringly's history covers not only the war years, however, but starts when she was ordered to be built in 1782 and follows her through construction and the 1786 launch and then as part of the Royal Navy's fleet of ships in ordinary before the outbreak of the French wars in 1793. And it extends beyond the end of those wars when the Bellerophon served less happily as a prison hulk, straight out of a Dickens novel. Finally, in 1836 the old ship was sold to a shipbreaker's yard for dismantling, and Codringly invokes the famous JMW Turner painting of "The Fighting Temeraire" being ingloriously hauled off to the same fate two years later.

"The Billy Ruffian" is not just a history of a machine built from wood and iron and rope and sailcloth, of course. The men who served aboard her and the events that embraced them are the real heart of the narrative, and the reader becomes well familiar with a good cross-section of real Royal Navy seamen who fictional counterparts people the novels of Patrick O'Brian, C.S. Forester, Dudley Pope and others. Although primarily a narrative text, there are sufficient illustrations provided so that both the ship and the events can be readily visualized. Codringly's prose flows easily, filled with lively details. The result is a book that can be enjoyed not only by the nautical enthusiast, but also by more general readers who simply want a slice of history vividly realized.

I was very fortunate last week to be in London with a day to spare and
visited the National Maritime Museum for the third time. Following on from a
conference the week before I was introduced to one of the directors of the
Museum who was kind enough to spend an hour with me. What a difference it
makes when you get to know someone who is in charge of a museum.

What may be of interest to members is reading a book he recommended to me
called " Billy Ruffian" by David Cordingly. . The book covers the life of
the ship Bellerophon which spanned 1782-1836. It is beautifully written and
easy to read. For those of you who like to read about naval history but find
reading historical digest difficult you will find this book refreshing.

Kevin

By Bill Marsano. Well here we are, me hearties, smack in the middle of the Age of Fighting Sail, when the Royal Navy--Nelson's Navy--made clear to the world that Britannia ruled the waves. Our foe be the awful French led by the beastly Napoleon, who makes no secret of his imperial ambitions. Britain, that nation of shopkeepers, aims to stop him. Are we having fun yet, or what?

Shakespeare put it about that "ships are but boards," yet few sailors would agree. Most come to believe that ships--some, at least--are living things, possessed of souls. They love them as if they are living beings. Such a ship is the subject of this "biography," which reads like a novel but is factual from keel to truck. The ship is HMS Bellerophon--Billy Ruffian to her crew. A most fortunate ship, designed by Britain's leading naval architect, Sir Thomas Slade, and built by a great constructor, Edward Greaves. Launched in 1786, she was officered and crewed according to her deserts, and then sailed uniquely into history. No other ship, I think played such a part in the conflicts of that era.

Bellerophon fought splendidly in the three greatest seafights of the Napoleonic era, the Glorious First of June in 1794, the Battle of the Nile in 1798 and Trafalgar in 1805. For her, the greatest of the trio was doubtless the Nile. In that action Nelson found the French at anchor in Aboukir Bay, west of the mouth of the Nile, formidably protected by their advantage in numbers of both ships and guns, by their powerful defensive formation in a shallow, treacherous bay, and by the approaching night.

That didn't stop Nelson nor did it stop the Ruffian. She laid alongside the French flagship, L'Orient, and the two hammered each other with unrelenting broadsides. The Ruffian was dismasted and hideously mauled, but although L'Orient had bigger guns and more of them (120 to the Ruffian's 74), the Ruffian had Jack Tar and Dick Nastyface--and they had hearts of oak. L'Orient was set afire, and as the fire spread toward her powder magazines the Ruffian slipped her cables to drift clear of what would become that battle's single best-remembered moment: L'Orient blown to kingdom come in a detonation that was heard and seen 20 miles away--and re-created in countless paintings of the fight.

Then came Trafalgar and after that a remarkable post-Waterloo climax. For it was on Billy Ruffian's deck that Napoleon, after much shilly-shallying about whether to flee or to fold, and deluded with the notion of an honorable retirement as a prisoner on a little farm in the English countryside, finally surrendered to the Crown, his implacable enemy.

And then? Peacetime doldrums. In time, Bellerophon was struck from the list, disarmed, dismasted and "hulked"--turn into a prison ship or hulk for the remainder of her days. The veteran David Cordingly does a handsome job of telling Bellerophon's story, and he doesn't slacken his attention even during her days as a hulk. The result is salty pleasure from beginning to end.--Bill Marsano is a longtime devotee of sailing books.

During the height of the great age of sail, the late 1700 and early 1800's, the two most famous ships in the world were the HMS Victory and HMS Bellerophon. The history of the Victory is well known, especially since she was designed and served as the flagship of many a fleet, especially under Nelson at Trafalgar.

Yet, the second most famous ship of the period, the Bellerophon, has largely faded into history. No more, with the publication of Billy Ruffian. She was dismasted twice in battle (at the Nile and at Trafalgar). At the Battle of the Nile, she took on and destroyed the largest ship in the world, the L'Orient, and at Trafalgar, she was at one point engaging five enemy ships simultaneously. Yet, today she is virtually unknown.

I have been a `fan' of the Bellerophon for years, to the point that I named my sailboat the Bellerophon (which causes me a lot of problems at marinas, in registering her, etc.). Yet until now, information on her, except for her exploits in battle and in the surrender of Napoleon, were largely unknown. This situation has been rectified by the publication of this well written and researched book.

It is indeed fitting that Napoleon surrendered to the captain of the Bellerophon, instead of to Wellington or a famous Admiral. The `nation of shopkeepers' were the people who eventually defeated Napoleon, and the Bellerophon was not the flashy flagship of the period, but a typical, everyday 74 gun ship-of-the-line of the period, manned by the typical Briton, many of who had been shopkeepers before being pressed (drafted) into service.

The book is entitled Billy Ruffian, because most people of the day (and even more so today, I believe) did not know who Bellerophon was (he was the Greek who defeated the Chimera and tamed and rode Pegasus, thus Bellerophon was the first to `ride the wind' or to fly) and called her the more pronounceable 'Billy Ruffian'.

Getting back to the book, if you enjoy the Hornblower series by C.S. Forester, or you enjoy the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian, are into the history of the Royal Navy, maritime history, or Napoleonic history, this book is a well researched and written portrait of a typical ship of the period. Very highly recommended.

Instead of the usual biography of a famous captain or battle, Mr. Cordingly treats us to the life of a famous ship of the line - Bellerophon.
From a protracted birth in the slips of the Medway, through the highs and lows of the American and European wars, to an ignominious return to her birthplace, we read the history of the Georgian Navy as written by her commanders, officers and crew,
The author's painstaking research of the Admiralty records and Naval chronicles breathes life into what could have been a simple catalog of events and postings ... first-hand accounts, log-books and extracts from letters flesh out the bare bones of ports and locations, while the background of contemporary historical events puts Bellerophon's role into full perspective - this is the real stuff that Forester and O'Brian drew on to create their adventures.
Why Bellerophon? There are plenty of other famous ships, but none had the fortune to engineer the collection and safe conduct of the most famous and wanted man in the world from his enemies in France. This was to be the high point of a long and distinguished career, as immediately afterwards she was decommissioned and spent her last 21 years as a prison hulk.
An informative and absorbing read.

Veteran scribe of the seas David Cordingly has wrought a spellbinding biography of HMS Bellerophon, "The Billy Ruffian: The Bellerophon and the downfall of Napoleon: The Biography of a Ship of the Line, 1782-1836", one of the most important warships in Great Britain's Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. "Billy Ruffian", as she was know affectionately by her sailors and much of the fleet, played a pivotal role at three of the most important battles during these wars with Revolutionary France and Napoleon's French Empire; The Glorious First of June, the Battle of the Nile, and Trafalgar. At the Glorious First of June HMS Bellerophon fought decisively against a French fleet nearly twice the size of the British fleet commanded by the elderly Admiral Lord Howe, the Royal Navy's most distinguished fleet commander at the onset of the French Revolutionary wars. At the Battle of the Nile, HMS Bellerophon fought a fierce duel with the larger, more powerful French ship-of-the-line L'Orient, the flagship of the French fleet, only to be rendered a drifting hulk with the loss of much of its crew killed or wounded, a short time before L'Orient blew up and sank; an explosion which was heard twenty miles away. And then, of course, was Bellerophon's heroic struggle against French and Spanish warships at Trafalgar, made most memorable by the death of her captain during the battle's climax. Yet the most important episode in her celebrated career occurred at the close of the Napoleonic wars, as the warship which carried Napoleon Bonaparte back to England at the end of his "Hundred Days", mere weeks after his defeat at Waterloo by an Allied army commanded by the British general Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington. Tragically, Bellerophon's distinguished career as a Royal Navy ship-of-the-line would end shortly thereafter, with the last two decades of her life spent as a prison hulk. Coordingly is a captivating, mesmerizing writer who has created a splendid biography of this important, yet forgotten, warship. Fans of naval warfare and of course, C. S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian, will find this memorable book well worth reading.

The Bellerophon -- or Billy Ruffian to Jack Tar, who wasn't familiar with Greek mythology -- is, or at least used to be, a familiar ship to English schoolchildren, because it was the ship that collected Napoleon on his final failure and used to be regularly illustrated in textbooks.

In David Cordingly's deft and straightforward biography, the Billy Ruffian turns out to have had an unusually interesting career, with even some echoes still reverberating in the 21st century.

Cordingly does not attempt to retell the history of the Napoleonic wars, or even just the naval wars, through the experiences of the ship, but he does nevertheless give a concise review of the naval strategy and most of the important battles. Billy Ruffian took a brave part in three of the most important -- the Glorious First of June, the Nile and Trafalgar.

Billy Ruffian was badly knocked about in all three, actually being driven from the field at the Nile, although only after giving a stout fight to a much bigger French ship.

Although slugfests in the Age of Sail could be very bloody, not many men died in the Bellerophon's fights: four at the First of June, 49 at the Nile, 27 at Trafalgar. Compared with the butcher's bills presented at places like Waterloo and Borodino, seapower was a cheap way of dealing with tyrants.

The heroes of the Billy Ruffian also were true Britons. Although a myth has grown up that European ships' crews were cosmopolitan, one captain of Bellerophon wrote down a unique list of the origins of all his sailors. (Why he did this odd thing is unknown.) Fully half were English and most of the rest Irish, Scots and Welsh. Many foreign places were represented in the crew, but only a small proportion were foreigners.

After the war, Bellerophon was converted into a floating prison, and Cordingly's description of this episode is as interesting as all the war stories.

The part of Billy Ruffian's history that still resonates concerns what to do about Napoleon. The situation was very similar to that faced by the American administration today, and the outcome was similar, too.

Napoleon's status was uncertain. At times he wanted to be considered a prisoner-of-war, at other times not. The British Cabinet was convinced that, whatever his legal status, he had to be put away. In this, they were undoubtedly correct.

The interference of lawyers in matters that were beyond the scope of law was then, as now, a danger to innocent lives, and while Bellerophon never ran from an armed enemy, she did flee in the night from a lawyer, who was thought to be carrying a writ of habeas corpus. (In fact, it was only a subpoena in a civil suit.)

In the end, Napoleon went to St. Helena, the Guantanamo Bay of 1815.

"The Billy Ruffian" is a satisfying ship biography, with one exception. It is lavishly illustrated, as might be expected from Cordingly, formerly Keeper of Pictures at the National Maritime Museum. Unfortunately, in the paperback edition the reproductions are too small to be examined. The hardcover edition (which I have not seen) is probably, therefore, the better bargain.

This is an absolutley fabulous book and read, for both the knowledgeable reader of the 19th century Royal Navy or the novice regarding that era. There is naval history, social commentary and history, as well as of adventure and seamanship.

A great book to read, keep and read again.

were a joy to read. It was cleverly written with not a dull moment in the entire book. Read this book on a weekend because you won't be able to put it down. This book has saved itself from the cardboard Goodwill box and I can't wait to read something else by David Cordingly.