Bridgemont Series-Historical Commentary

[Mark Arbour]

I thought I'd create a forum here to talk about some of the historical events that happened during the stories. Some of the events are factual, many are fictional, but I figured you all may want to know what I found out when I did the research.

[Mark Arbour]

On this date, 200 years ago:

 

 

 

Shipwreck of HMS Agamemnon

The 64-gun ship Agamemnon was built at Adam's Yard, Bucklers Hard, and launched on 10 April 1781. On 20 June 1809 the vessel, commanded by Captain Jonas Rose, was wrecked in the River Plate when she struck a sandbank. The entire compliment of 491 men and boys were saved; it was stated that many men wept when they were ordered to leave the old ship.

 

[Note: This was Nelson's favorite ship, a.k.a. "Eggs-and-bacon" . For more info on her career check out her wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ HMS_Agamemnon_(1781) or watch the Lost Ships episode regarding the shipwreck "The Ghost of Trafalgar".]

[Nephylim]

That's extremely interesting. I am a complete history freak so thank you. I will keep my eyes on this thread carefully

[Mark Arbour]

In "The Wardroom," Granger helped prepare four ships of the line for a voyage to the French Atlantic ports. These ships were disarmed, and there were 5000 French sailors crammed aboard these ships. These sailors were loyal to the Revolution, and Lord Hood wanted them away from Toulon so he didn't have to feed and guard them. His decision to send the French that many sailors and four battleships, albeit disarmed, was much-criticized in the Royal Navy. But what happened to those ships and men?

 

The officers and crews of the deportee fleet expected to be welcomed as brothers, fellow-revolutionaries, or perhaps even as heroes. That didn't happen. When they arrived at the French Atlantic ports (all of them made it), they were viewed suspiciously by those in charge. These were the days of Robespierre and the Terror, so it wasn't unusual or unlikely for today's patriot to be tomorrow's traitor. The French government assumed that these ships carried malcontents, officers and men whose goal was to spread the seeds of revolution against the government.

 

The Patriote and Entreprenant arrived in Brest. Their officers and crews were imprisoned immediately. 2 officers and 4 seamen were sent off to Paris for trial and ultimately guillotined.

 

The Apollon arrived in Rochefort and fared the worst. The political commissar in Rochefort immediately convened a tribunal and condemned 10 officers to death.

 

L'Orion arrived in L'Orient, but I wasn't able to ascertain the fate of their sailors/officers.