Customer Reviews

FRIGATES, SLOOPS AND BRIGS (Pen & Sword Military Classics)

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Judging by the enthusiasm of most of the previous reviewers, my somewhat qualified endorsement of this book may strike a sour note. So, to pre-empt some of the possible adverse reaction, this is where I'm coming from: British, and fond of the place with all its faults, son of a long-service Royal Navy officer, and with a life-long interest in naval history. I do not, in short, criticise out of national or personal bias.

Henderson's book is fundamentally a collection of anecdotes, rather uneven in quality, about frigate actions during the Revolutionary, Napoleonic and American (1812) Wars. Some of these, especially Cochrane's wasted effort at the Basque Roads, and Hoste's victory at Lissa (a miniature fleet action) are analysed in considerable detail and provide real insight into what went on. Henderson writes well, and as other reviewers have noted, he was a practical sailing man and does not make mistakes about ship-handling.

On the plus side, he is far more balanced than many writers of his generation (the book was first published in 1970) about the relative merits of the Royal Navy vis-a-vis its opponents. He gives credit to brave and skilled opposition where it is due, and includes a fair selection of British defeats as well as victories. And if he reports more victories than defeats - that's the way it was. Even the rude awakening given by the big American spar-deck frigates in 1812 hardly put a blip in the graph of British naval success in the period he covers.

On the minus side, he idolises his heroes amongst the frigate captains, especially Pellew and Cochrane, and is strongly partisan about everything to do with them. He rails against the ill-favour in which the Admiralty held Cochrane, but fails to note that Cochrane was damned not only by his own headstrong (to put it mildly) conduct, but also by the fact that his political patron Dundas was the most outstandingly corrupt politician of his generation (a hard title to carry off), who was doing all he could to thwart the Admiralty's efforts to put its own house in order.

The action chapters are preceded by and interspersed with with some fairly summary (and in a few instances inaccurate) information on how frigates were crewed, armed and supplied. The problem here is that Henderson doesn't really take proper note of the changes over his period. He notes the phasing out of the small 12-pounder frigates in favour of the 18-pounder classes, but otherwise tends to gloss over the quite considerable changes, including the shaking off of French design influence, to which he attaches far too much weight. Perhaps the book suffered in my mind from being read at the same time as Robert Gardiner's masterful volume on the Napoleonic frigates, which addresses these issues in great detail (and had the benefit of an additional 20 years' accrued research by the naval history community).

What Henderson wrote was a well worthwhile book at the time of its publication. That was more than 30 years ago, and internal evidence (e.g. comparisons with classes of 20th century British warships long-defunct even in 1970) suggests that some sections had been drafted (or at least had gone firm in the author's mind) decades before that. As a collection of blood-stirring tales it is still first class, but naval scholarship has moved on a long way since then. If you want the real story behind the actions Henderson describes, you should invest in Gardiner's book, or Tom Wareham's new book on the frigate captains.

First of all, Mr. Henderson is an experienced "canvas" sailor. He shows this in every word, and even provides some examples of seamanship from his own background to bolster his tales. Each chapter illustrates some aspect of the character of these independent world cruising hunter-killers. The frigate captains were the functional equivalent of the submarine or surface commerce-raiding helions of the First and Second World Wars. Frigates were not quite powerful enough...in weight of shot per broadside...to join in with the "line of battle ships" in the great fleet-to-fleet contests. Nonetheless their firepower and speed made them superior to most of the vessels they might encounter along the far-flung mercantile trade routes. Because of the poor communications with the commodore to whom they were nominally responsible, let alone the Admiralty, the British frigate captains were pretty much on their own, sailing under general orders they might interpret as circumstances permitted. Just like Francis Drake and the raiders of Elizabeth I's time, these men took their vessels into the midst of formidabbly escorted convoys, fortified and heavily gunned harbors, and even chanced encounters with lone warships carrying almost double their cannon. There are a few negative examples of frigates commanded by spoiled heirs promoted solely due to social connections and those commanded by men who despised their crews, often comprised of desperate gamblers and paroled debtors. However these examples stand out as lonely exceptions. It is hard to realize that many of the shrewd adventurers populating these lively pages are barely into their twenties. One clearly sees the apprenticeship and development of future Nelsons and Cochranes. The chapters are short and to the point. The actions are supported by maps, some at tactical level, as well as contemporary woodcuts and paintings illustrating a number of the actions. To give you an idea of the desperate tactics of these swashbucklers, there are three or four episodes in which the attacking frigate crew finishes their journey as the crew of the conquered vessel, their own ship having been sunk or disabled. The sail and rigging plan of a typical frigate at the front of the book is quite helpful, as is the glossary. There is no bibliography or footnotes, but so authoritatively does the author write, it is as if he had taken part in these sea chases himself.

This is the real-life story of Hornblower, Aubrey and Maturin.

The real heroes of this collection of tales from the Napoleonic wars are the captains and crews of these remarkable vessels. James Henderson manages to place the Horatio Hornblower stories of CS Forester into their real historical context with verve, passion and a terrific eye for historical detail. Any modern captain of industry would be well advised to read this remarkable book to see how an elite group of seaman came into being. A book full of genuine heroes, gallant captains and true escapades told with elegant english understatement and poise.

The book The Frigates is a historic account of battles between warships from 1793-1815. The term 'frigate' originated in the Mediterranean, in French frégate, in Spanish fregatta, and was first applied to a galleass type warship, about 250 tons, fitted with oars as well as sails. The word was also used loosely for describing small swift ships of force until the eighteenth century when the Royal Navy made a strict rating system.
The book tells how frigates came into regular use as warships in navies worldwide. The illustrations throughout the book show many diverse battle tactics that were used during this time. Tables in the back of the book compare relative strengths of different sizes of frigates in 1794 and 1814. The French originally developed frigates, which were superior in size and speed to British ships. However, the British frigates were generally built from the bases of French ships that had been seized in battle.
During the years from 1794 to 1814, privateers, which were pirates that had been royally pardoned, were generally enlisted in navies to raid merchant transport ships. The privateers, however, were required to pillage enemy ships at their own expense and contribute a small percentage of their loot to the government. Despite the royal contribution, being a privateer was especially profitable as an estimated four billion Pounds was transported in pure gold between the Spanish colonies in Central America and Spain.
The Frigates is a spectacular book describing early naval warfare. Many battles between ships of many nations are accounted in this book. In addition, the author gives explanations to parts that may be hard to understand. I would enthusiastically encourage anyone who has an interest in naval warfare, or mass pillaging and plundering to read this book. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

There was a time when I thought I knew the difference between a Frigate, a Sloop and a Brig, but then I began to get quite confused. Now that I have had time to study this particular work on the subject, I realise just how much I was confused to start with. Thankfully, all is now becoming quite clear and I can see myself returning to this book time and again to check this or clarify that.

Always, the smaller ships of the Royal Navy, Frigates, Sloops and Brigs have historically been assigned the some of the Royals Navy's most important tasks without ever receiving the glory - something that was always reserved for much bigger warships. Nevertheless, in the days of Nelson an adventurous and ambitious young commander could easily make his name by providing the Admiral with the most important news regarding enemy fleet movements and, at other times, quite often take enough prizes to set themselves up for life.

A well-written book in which the author recounts many of the battles fought by these vessels, what I found particularly interesting was the historical facts about each specific ship. I do believe this aspect of the work will prove to be a great boon for those involved with research.

Altogether, a good read and something of a bargain as well.

NM