Gibraltarians at Trafalgar.     

   

                                        HMS Spartiate's  last remnant of a Union Flag from Trafalgar. 

It is not surprising, given that Nelson’s force at Trafalgar comprised 21,000 individuals, that it would include men from every nation. Victory’s muster list, for example, recorded 22 different nationalities amongst her crew of 820 souls. In addition to the English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh, there were Americans, Italians, Maltese, French, Swedish, Dutch, German and Swiss as well as Portuguese, Brazilians, Jamaicans, Norwegians, Danes and Manxmen. It was commonplace for British warships to enlist and often to press crew in ports across the globe. So the question for us should be… were there any Gibraltarians fighting at Trafalgar?   Well, the answer is yes… sort of. 

            

                                                                    Trafalgar by Derek GM Gardner           

In the years leading up to Trafalgar a significant portion of Gibraltar residents were immigrants from Minorca and Malta or Genoese refugees from Napoleon's Ligurian Republic. Any who signed on from the Rock would have been listed by the Navy according to their place of birth. However, a number of men born in Gibraltar are recorded.

The documentation is scarce, but at least six men and three ships’ boys listed their birthplace as Gibraltar: Peter Crusoe, HMS Defence, Edward Fox and John Cluskey, HMS Belleisle and John Willis, HMS Polyphemus (ships that formed part of Vice-Admiral Collinwood’s lee division) as well as William Lee, HMS Royal Sovereign, James Holt, HMS Thunderer and a boy each to HMS Agememnon, Sirius and Orion.

                                                                                    HMS Orion

Some of these families were British civilian residents on The Rock and the remainder were military families; no traditional local names are represented. However, here is the story of one; Peter Crusoe, carpenter.

The Crusoe family claimed to have lived in Gibraltar since 1733 and were last recorded in the 1860s. Certainly, Peter’s father, John, held a Governor’s permit issued by General Sabine and in 1777 was employed as a porter at the North Mole gate. John had been born in Turkey (Constantinople) and had endured the Great Siege and is shown (in 1791) as a tavern keeper. Clearly a man of substance by then, he sold his garden on Line Wall road to the Jewish community who built the Flemish Synagogue which opened there in 1799. The old palm tree lately in the patio may have been the last remaining vestige of John’s garden.

Peter Crusoe was a ships carpenter, a Warrant Officer, one of the standing officers appointed to a vessel by Admiralty Warrant. The majority of carpenters qualified as shipwrights in the dockyards and had to pass an examination at Shipwrights Hall before going to sea.

For those unfamiliar with entrance to the rank structure of Nelson’s navy, it went like this. To become a Commissioned Officer one had to firstly be a young gentleman, almost always with a patron. The navy accepted nephews, godsons, etc. of acknowledged gentlemen, usually on the word of the patron. In Nelson’s case his patron was his uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling. These young gentlemen would join as midshipmen and, gaining their education at sea, eventually receive the King’s Commission to become a Commissioned Officer. Though not readily apparent in most historical sources, it was also compulsory to be an Anglican Protestant (The Test Acts); Roman Catholics, Jews, and some Protestant Dissenters were not accepted.

The lower grades of officers were the Warrant Officers. Each was a professional specialist in a particular discipline on board. The (Sailing) Master, Surgeon and Purser were termed Junior Wardroom Officers; that is, they messed with the commissioned officers and enjoyed the freedom of the quarterdeck. The Gunner, Carpenter and Bosun were termed Standing Officers (appointed to a ship not her Captain) and whilst they might be required to stand a watch (in charge of the ship) they did not enjoy the privileges of the wardroom. The common factor amongst Warrant Officers is that they were all literate, distinguishing them from the seamen, few of whom could read or write.

Peter’s sea career commenced in 1797 in HMS Vesuvius, then HMS Boadicea and HMS Adamant before joining HMS Defence, in June 1803. His responsibilities included the maintenance of the ship’s hull and masts and his duties in action were to plug shot holes and regularly sound the well to make sure the vessel was not taking on too much water and at risk of sinking. For this he was rewarded with the princely sum of £4-16s-0d, (in a third rate ship like Defence) per lunar month. It did however have minor privileges; his own tiny cabin, complete with canvas walls which could be de-rigged when the ship cleared for action and in a first rate ship, he might take his wife Isabella to sea.

 

            

                                                                    HMS Defence by Derek GM Gardner.

HMS Defence, Peter’s ship at Trafalgar, was a third rate ship of the line, meaning she mounted between 64 and 80 guns. Third rates typically had two gun decks and were often referred to as two-deckers and in fact they comprised the majority of the fleet at Trafalgar. Built in 1763 at Plymouth Dockyard she was a 74 gun Bellona class full rigged ship of 1600 tons (bm) and measured 168 feet on the gundeck. She had participated in every major sea battle of the previous half century and like Peter, was in her mid forties… and somewhat knocked about.

The battle commenced at 12 noon but Defence’s position, at 14^th in the column, meant it was some 2 1/2 hours into the battle before she could engage the enemy. Her initial engagement was with the French Berwick (74) which she dismasted, before going on to attack the Spanish San Ildelfonso who struck to her after an hour’s fierce fighting. Defence lost 7 killed and 29 wounded and successfully weathered the subsequent storm to bring her prize into Gibraltar where she was taken into Royal Navy service as HMS Ildelfonso.

One year after Trafalgar, Peter was transferred to HMS Impregnable (98) then being built at Chatham Dockyard and finally launched in 1810, remaining in her until 1813 when he was moved  into HMS San Josef (114 gun first rate). In his career he had moved up from the 3-gun Vesuvius, via rated ships to an Admiral’s flagship. For the next 2 years he was carpenter to this famous vessel, flagship of Admiral Duckworth, until the end of the Napoleonic Wars - and Peter’s navy career - in December 1815.

 

First published March 2022 at Gibraltar History Society Chronicle.  Paul Hodkinson.