The Billy Ruffian: The Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon

by David Cordingly

David Cordingly, a leading authority on pirates and maritime history, The Billy Ruffian is the story of a real-life H.M.S. Sophie, named Bellerophon, or Billy Ruffian as her crew called her, barnacles and all. Under fourteen captains, she played a conspicuous part in three of the most famous of all sea battles.

But her crowning glory came six weeks after the Battle of Waterloo, when Napoleon, trapped in Rochefort, surrendered to the captain of the ship that had dogged his steps for more than twenty years. Packed with letters, pictures, and first-hand accounts, The Billy Ruffian is an enthralling account of sea adventure.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Naval History, Nautical, Military History, War, Military Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

David Cordingly is an English naval historian with a special interest in pirates. He held the position of Keeper of Pictures and Head of Exhibitions at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England for twelve years.
David Cordingly organised several exhibitions at the National Maritime Museum, including Captain James Cook, Navigator and The Mutiny on the Bounty. One of these exhibitions was Pirates: Fact and Fiction, which became a critical and popular success, followed by a book of the same title, authored by Cordingly and John Falconer. Cordingly explored the subject further in his book Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates. This was followed by Heroines and Harlots: Women at Sea in the Great Age of Sail (published in the U.S. under the title Women Sailors and Sailors' Women: An Untold Maritime History), expanding on a subject Cordingly had touched upon in Under the Black Flag in a chapter entitled "Women Pirates and Pirates' Women".
In 2002, Cordingly wrote an introduction to the republication of Captain Charles Johnson's 1724 book A General History of the Pyrates.
The Billy Ruffian: His Majesty's Ship Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon, published in 2003, was longlisted for the 2003 Wolfson History Prize. It tells the story of an English warship, HMS Bellerophon, which played an important part in many battles and held captive the defeated Napoleon following the Battle of Waterloo.
Cordingly appears on the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl DVD bonus features in a section called "Below Deck", a virtual tour of a pirate ship. This consists of several documentary shorts, hosted by Cordingly, comparing piracy fact and fiction along the same lines as Under the Black Flag.
Cordingly resides with his wife and family in Brighton, Sussex.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

Not a bad book, the subtitle is a crude attempt to have a famous name tow the unfamiliar one of this ship into the would be reader's consciousness which rather sells the central idea short - which is that this is a biography of a ship the Bellerophon ,a 74 gun ship of the line, from construction to deconstruction, her moment of fame was that she was the ship that carried Napoleon to Britain after Waterloo, where he was transferred to the Northumberland which took him to St.Helena. This kind of title suggests both a lack of confidence on the part of author (or the publisher?) in the intrinsic interest in the story or, or maybe and, an absence of confidence in the buying public whose dulled senses need to be whipped into buying through the mention of some famous name at which I suppose we're lucky that the title didn't allude to the possibility of Admiral Nelson and Lady Hamilton, making adulterous yet patriotic love on her decks . However the biography of this ship, the Bellerophon, which also saw action, at Trafalgar & the Battle of the Nile among other battles, as well as undertaking other duties during the long wars against France - the book takes us through those, the descriptions of the battles I thought a real strength from how the ship was readied for action to the physical damage she endured (masts downed, rigging and sails ruined) has much to commend it to the curious reader. On the downside Nelson and Napoleon were distractions from the ship, (likewise that George III saw a theatre piece about Joan of Arc), if one wants to read about Nelson & Napoleon, one has I suspect, no immediate shortage of books to turn to, on the other hand if you want to know about a typical ship of the line of the period, then this is pretty much it. Although not relevant to the life-story of the ship, I did like Cordingly's description of Collingwood, who took command of the fleet after Nelson's demise, unable to tell any of the officers that Nelson was dead, for fear of also presenting them with the sight of his own inconsolable grief - all the fleet captains instead were left to infer the news - a reminder that we are just at the tail end of the era of the man of feeling. Perhaps such a sense of man's emotions as bottomless chasms, required a fine surface performance of sang froid?

Anyway back to the ship, Cordingly traces her birth, from imaginative conception on the drawing board, to contract (to be constructed at a private yard, round the corner from the royal docks at Chatham now open as a museum the process of scouring the countryside for suitable oak and elm, felled, carted to navigable rivers and hauled downstream, sawn into timbers private yards didn't go in for seasoning the lumber for a year or more, on cost grounds which were constructed into a hull. She than sat on the river Medway 'in mothballs' until called in to service when she was fitted out with guns and masts and rigging at Chatham and was ready to do her duty from 1786 to 1815 when she was converted into a prison hulk ie the thing which Magwitch escapes from at the beginning of Great Expectations until she was sold to a scrap yard for £4,030 in 1836, sadly the story ends there, we don't learn what became of the bulk of the hulk as she was reduced into her constituent parts.

On pages 209-212 there is a discussion of the make-up of the ship's crew, broken down into country of origin (22% of the crew were Welsh, there was one black man (country of origin unknown), the average height of the sailors was five foot five (being short an advantage at sea as there wasn't much headspace between decks), the oldest sailors were in their fifties, the average age thirty, curiously the captain also logged details about eye colour results not detailed in the bookand tattoos (also not detailed), sadly Cordingly doesn't put the composition of the crew in much of a context other than explaining the prevalence of men on board due to having been seized by press gangs and thus the mixture of trade backgrounds on board there was one lawyer as well as men from various manual trades backgrounds. I would have been glad to have read more on the typical crew of a ship in this period and less about Wellington's victories in India and the Iberian Peninsula.

Still quite fun, and the frequency that she had to be repaired in dock was remarkable, not just after battle but due to storm damage, and wear and tear too, while all the work was done by hand with the assistance of some cranes (and occasionally a dry dock). The ship's name came, allegedly, at random from Lempriere's classical dictionary, though since one of the hospital ships was named the Charon I wondered if some malicious humour wasn't also involved, at least at times. However the crew tended to pronounce Bellerophon as Billy Ruffian (hence the title of the book), or variants thereof.

There is a chapter on her life as a prison hulk off the north Kent marshes, haunting the imagination of young Dickens. Life on aboard the prison hulk was a parody of naval life, the prisoners were divided into messes of about eight, each of which shared one cage, they slept in hammocks which at dawn were stowed in lockers on deck, as in the service, one man from each mess had to fetch their rations to the mess, though they drank cocoa rather than grog, and they were supposed to work and learn chunks of the bible by heart in the belief that such knowledge of the tricks of the biblical patriarchs or the wars, bloodshed, and polygamy of the kings of ancient Israel would convert the depraved criminal into a decent Victorian. Unfortunately men and boys were mixed in the cells and the boys were prey to crimes ' to horrible to mention', under Prime Minister Melbourne there was a move to reduce the use of hulks in favour of transportation to Australia instead the hulks were also damp and physically unhealthy with inadequate workshops there's no such thing as a free lunch after all and lacking chapel facilities. Such was the life of a warship.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well written account of the ship of the line, the 74 gun Bellerophon or the Billy Ruffian as the sailors called her. The author has a great narrative, going into detail but not getting bogged down in detail and using actual anecdotes from dispatches or letters from the sailors/officers on the Bellerophon which makes the battles very vivid to the reader. Even though I consider myself very knowledgeable about Britain's navy during the 7 Years War and Napoleonic wars, I didn't know much about Bellerophon.
For one, she was in the thick of all of the major battles of that era, the Glorious First of June, Battle of the Nile and the Battle of Trafalgar. The Bellerophon had a reputation for going after bigger ships than her due to her speed and got often mauled. In both Trafalgar and the Battle of Nile, she was completely dismasted and the sails and cordage shot away so badly that she had to be towed away from the battle once it finished. Secondly, the Bellerophon was known for the ship that intercepted Napoleon Bonaparte in Rochefort and brought him back to England in 1815.
I loved the beginning about how the ships of the line were built. I also understood another mystery. I knew that French built ships were much better than English built ships in terms of strength and speed. However, the British Navy in terms of battle were much better compared to the Spanish or French despite the poorer quality ships. The main reason was the British navy was very effective at blockading ports and escorting merchant convoys that were critical to support Britain's economy. Some of these blockades lasted years which kept the French and Spanish ships and sailors at port, which means that British sailors and officers were sailing in all kinds of conditions, practicing the guns regularly and they became an effective, well oiled war machine as a result.
Lastly, the one doesn't need a lot of knowledge about ships or sailing to understand, unlike some other nautical historical books I have read. Highly recommended for those who want to gain an insight to one of the most notable ship of the line in Britain's navy during the Napoleonic era.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy reading book about one of the great 'wooden walls', which enabled Britain to maintain its edge against France and Napoleon. HMS Bellerophon, a 74, fought in some of the most important battles of the period, including the Glorious 1st of June, the Nile, and Trafalgar. Under her captains she served faithfully until 1815, when she achieved fame as the ship to which Napoleon surrendered himself after Waterloo. He spent three weeks aboard her on the trip to England where he hoped to be allowed to settle since he could not be allowed to go to America.

This chapter is quite interesting as it reveals a world now at peace, but unsure what to do with the man who had so recently brought it to war again. Considering the fate of some defeated rulers in history, Napoleon got off easily in some ways, but he obviously didn't think so. As they say, he made 'hay' in reclaiming his reputation by writing his memoirs. Memoirs are useful, but they are rarely totally objective. His certainly are not, but his 'star' has continued to shine for over 200 years.

Unfortunately, 'Billy Ruffian's' (the name used by many of Bellerophon's seaman) life was not illustrious after 1815. The ship became a prison hulk for adults and eventually for boys. After a period of years, the need for economy and the fact that most convicts were sent to Australia, allowed the navy to have her broken up. A sad end to a fighting ship.

[Ian Fraser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book, but I am, admittedly, a Royal Navy history anorak! This book is a narrative of a crucial period in the history of the Royal Navy, including the Napoleonic Wars, when the RN was arguably at its peak. The narrative is cleverly told as a biography of a ship, from its birth in a shipyard in Rochester, in 1782, to its death in a breaker's yard in 1836, after several years of use as a prison hulk. The ship was HMS Bellerophon, charmingly nicknamed by its crew "Billy Ruffian". Her career in the RN was both celebrated and crucial. She played a conspicuous part in the most famous sea battles of her era: the battle of The Glorious First of June (1794) which was the opening action against Revolutionary France; the Battle of The Nile (1798) which halted Napoleon's eastward expansion; and the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) during which her captain was shot dead by a sniper an hour before Nelson was fatally wounded. Her crowning glory came in 1815, six weeks after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. Trapped in Rochefort, Napoleon surrendered to the captain of the Bellerophon, throwing himself to the mercy of his "ever constant foe, the English". On Bellerophon Napoleon traveled to England, and was kept on board as a guest until his fate was decided, exile on St Helena. Utterly fascinating, and rich with details of the period taken from accounts and log books. There are valuable lessons for today to be learned, for individuals and organisations, about how to really focus on a few core strengths in order to excel. The RN prevailed not because the ships were any better, they weren't. A few simple principles and technical advantages were enough: fast and accurate gunnery; the extreme aggression of the officers; naval discipline; copper-bottomed ships; superior navigation. This was enough to ensure that the enemy was blockaded in their ports, with ships and crews rotting, whilst the RN practiced the arts of seamanship. The Royal Navy's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805, in which they lost no ships, and decimated the French navy, ensured that there was no serious competition for over a century. Nothing to hold back the growth of an Empire the likes of which had not been seen before or since. This book is a little gem, and an invaluable addition to the lexicon of this period.

[Nooilforpacifists · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant, easy read--the history of one of England's "Wooden Walls." Requires a bit of Napoleonic Naval background. Seemingly inconsistently, however, the book's flaw is that for large sections in the middle, it becomes a generalized history of the conflict. So, when Nelson's fleet first arrives in Alexandria, without spotting Napoleon, "We do not know how Captain Darby took the news." The book is far better when reporting on specific events, especially based on recollections of crewman or paintings of the famous ship. Bellerophon, of course, reaches the pinnacle of fame in its last days of active service: ferrying Napoleon from France to Torbay Harbor in England where the decision was made to exile the ex-Emperor in St Helena.

Worth a read for the Battle of the Nile and its most famous passenger.

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as thrilling as my first foray into naval history. But good nonetheless. Left me wanting to learn more about 19th century europe and Napoleon. Seemed like a bad mf

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1782, a 74-gun ship of the line called the HMS Bellerophon was constructed for use by the British Navy and 54 years later was retired from duty. In those fifty years, the Bellerophon, or "Billy Ruffian" as the salty-drawl-speaking sailors on her decks came to call her, was involved in three seminal naval battles of the Napoleonic Era, including the history-changing Battle of Trafalgar. It also served as a blockade ship and saw convoy action before being converted to prison hulk before its final breakup. In this factual and interesting read, the ship kind of serves as a shadow alternate telling of the story of Napoleon himself.

"The Billy Ruffian: The Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon" (2003) is a well-researched and well-paced naval narrative and Cordingly keeps things moving when it comes to navigating that fine line between a thrilling narrative and informational relation that is so important with nonfiction reads. His treatment of the characters involved, from the shipbuilders and captains to the gunners and carpenters to select European socialites to Napoleon and Nelson, and the character of this plucky ship itself, is well done.

The hardcover edition I read has a number of smartly placed diagrams and illustrations, three sections of full-color illustrations at good intervals, and Cordingly's wording is never too complicated with navy jargon if you attempt it without being knowledgeable about the Age of Sail (though there is a nice glossary in the appendices if the reader is so inclined). Just a well-constructed historical information adventure, if you will.

Verdict: An interesting tale, showing important historical events and ideas through the lens of a ship that was actually present for many of them. A must-read for anyone interested in naval history, 19th-century European politics, or the Age of Sail.

Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13

[Susan Paxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

While there are a lot of books about the age of fighting sail, there are surprisingly few books about individual ships - yes, HMS Victory and the American frigate Constitution have numerous individual volumes about them, but apart from what might be called "celebrity ships" with very long histories (both ships mentioned have survived to the present), the workaday warships have been pretty much briefly mentioned in longer works and otherwise ignored. So David Cordingly's biography of HMS Bellerophon was certainly a refreshing addition to the literature when it appeared in 2003.

HMS Bellerophon was not a fast frigate like Constitution or a stately first rate like Victory. She was a third rate ship of war, a 74 gun two decker, colloquially referred to as a "seventy four," the class of ship that dominated the battle line during the wars with France, a type blessed with great versatility; nearly as fast as a frigate, drawing less water than a first rate, weatherly, of a size convenient to serve as a private ship or a flagship at need, and equipped with a powerful, balanced armament - usually 32 pound smoothbore guns on the lower deck, 18 pounders on the gun deck, and 9 pounders (later partly replaced by carronades) on the quarter- and foredecks. The Royal Navy built hundreds of them.

One such was HMS Bellerophon, ordered by the Royal Navy from a small private shipbuilding yard in 1782. The Admiralty ordered her to be built to a draft by a man who was already dead - Sir Thomas Slade, whose designs dominated the Royal Navy until after the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 - at the same time ordering a number of sister ships from other yards. Bellerophon was launched in 1786.

Cordingly's choice of ship for his "biography" was inspired. Many seventy fours had careers full of incident, but Bellerophon - known affectionately to her crew as the "Billy Ruffian" - was engaged in three major battles: the Glorious First of June (a battle that ought to be better known than it is), the Nile, and the Battle of Trafalgar. Her long fighting service was capped off in 1815 when Napoleon Bonaparte, defeated at Waterloo, surrendered himself to Captain Frederick Maitland on the quarterdeck of the Bellerophon.

Cordingly handles all the action well, and his research into the many fascinating characters who populate his story is thorough. The book is well illustrated with greyscale images in line with the text, a section of greyscale plates, and two sections of color plates.

A couple mild gripes. Like most of the fighting ships of her day, Bellerophon had a dreary end, becoming a prison hulk in 1816, which dismal career she followed until she was finally sold to the breakers in 1836. Cordingly's book features a couple of very strange false starts leading into this, for what reason I don't know, but an editor should have caught it. The second place he falls down, more seriously, is in skipping over the ship's periods spent in dock being repaired. Wooden ships required a lot of work. In fact, he missed a chance for a good explanation because in 1812 the ship was taken in hand and subjected to what the Royal Navy called "doubling." Too old to justify a complete rebuild but needed for further sea service, she was docked at Portsmouth and her hull completely encased with three inch oak planks, with iron knees and braces and possibly diagonal iron riders added internally. All of this makes a lot of sense when in 1815 it was decided that Bellerophon was in no condition to take Napoleon on his long trip to St Helena exile, and a newer seventy four, HMS Northumberland, did the honors. The reason that the "Billy Ruffian" was hulked becomes obvious once you know all of this but for reasons I can't understand, Cordingly glossed completely over that part of the ship's career.

Those are pretty mild flaws; this is an excellent book, and would there more along its lines. Highly recommended.

[Alex Helling · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle ‘The biography of a ship of the line, 1782-1836’ nicely sums up David Cordingly’s Billy Ruffian. This is a book about the life of the third rate, 74 gun, warship Bellerophon from its’ initial conception on the drawing boards of Sir Thomas Slade (even though dead by the time!) through to the breakers half a century later. The Bellerophon served in some of the most famous actions of the period; The Glorious 1st of June, the Nile, and Trafalgar. But she is best known as the ship Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered to in 1815 after losing the battle of Waterloo.

The actions are solidly told but it is the period with Napoleon onboard that really shines. This is the end note to the Napoleonic wars when the ship briefly takes centre stage in momentous events of high politics. It is a rich account of the weeks leading up to his surrender and the 24 days in which Napoleon was on board as guest come prisoner.

The life of a ship of the line is not all glory and battles. Endless patrolling off Ushant is mentioned in the book but understandably skated over. But I feel it could have benefited from a more in depth look at a single otherwise dull, boring and uninteresting patrol as an example precisely because it is such an important part of what Bellerophon spent her time doing.

We do get an impression of the crew in 1806 due to a survey the ship’s Captain carried out (p.209) and this is followed by a few pages on the day to day life on board (pp.213-16). Given Cordingly has made good use of diaries and letters as well as logs I would be surprised if there were not more individual details that could have been mined to provide further colour and individuality on a particular voyage.

The retirement of a ship like this is not something that is often told. As a prison hulk a ship of the line must have undertaken a dramatic change from a certain elegance to a dark and brooding prison with little light or air. Yet I wonder if this is not overdone – while the poor conditions are dwelt upon the numbers of prisoners mentioned, 450 (p.286), is less than the complement of 550 (p.50) she would have had as a functioning warship.

Billy Ruffian then is an interesting concept well put together and brought to fruition.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book written from the logs and writings of the Bellerophon and its captains, but nothing insightful or illuminating for someone who has read Patrick O'Brien or the Hornblower series. Of course, that is non-fiction versus fiction, so it was good to get validation for the fiction versions of the Battle of the Nile and Trafalgar that I had already read. Cordingly plumped for the death of Napoleon from stomach cancer as claimed by the doctor doing the autopsy in 1821. However, I believe the 1960's tests are more accurate than anything they could come up with in 1821, so I was surprised he did not even mention that Napoleon was probably murdered with arsenic, a little at a time. Not that it made much difference. The stomach cancer would have gotten him sooner rather than later. An interesting book but don't read it for any insights into Napoleon (although Cordingly does point out several differences between what actually happened and what Napoleon's memoirs claimed happened). Read it to get a feel for what it was like to be on a British man of war from beginning to end.

[Gilly McGillicuddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cool idea to do a biography of a ship. It makes sense, of course, because the ship was everywhere, even if the captains changed. It was made just before the war broke out, built along the famous lines of the Bellona, present at the Glorious first, at the Nile, at Trafalgar, and most famously it was the ship in which Napoleon surrendered to Captain Maitland and was brought to England.
For some reason it took me a while to finish, but then one can never spend too much time with Cordingly. I'm thinking of starting up a little fanclub.

[Julian Blatchley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another re-read, I first read this as a schoolboy. After Hornblower's adventures I had a keen interest in the navy under sail, and as far as I recall, this was my first scholarly book on the subject (and probably on any subject!)

It stands the test of time. A very readable account which tells the tale of a 'workhorse' 74-gun ship that happened to be in more significant actions than most. The book also gives a solid background on the navy and the sea-wars of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. Well worth a read.

[Joseph Sellors · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book which I must admit surprised me somewhat. I expected to struggle with nautical terms and find a history of just on ship too specific but Cordingly does an incredible job bringing the plucky Bellerphon into context with the larger events of the time. The ship haunted Napoleon throughout his wars with Britain fighting at the glorious first of June, Trafalgar, the Nile and then playing the role of host to Napoleon when he surrendered.

[Shane Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not enough stars for this book.

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent 'biography' of an British warship in the 'Age of Fighting Sail', one with a particularly distinguished lineage. The HMS Bellerophon was a '3rd-rate' (74 guns) ship-of-the-line built around the time of the French Revolution and destined to play a key part in the ensuing Napoleonic Wars. He takes the story from it's conception and birth in 1786 to it's final humiliating days serving as a prison hulk in the 1820s. I could have stood more on the actual construction of the ship, though it does go into some detail, with amazing statistics on how much wood (oak and elm) was required to build one of these and the incredible labor with no power tools! He also provides an interesting sociological survey of the ship's crew. This is necessarily a partial history of the naval wars with France with a singular focus where possible. Major actions in which the Bellerophon was an active combatant included the 'Glorious First of June' in 1794, the Battle of the Nile in 1798 and Trafalgar in 1805. But the vast majority of the ship's time was spent in much less glorious pursuits, mainly blockade duty. She became notable as the Royal Navy ship that carried Napoleon and his entourage from Rochefort back to England after Waterloo, which was perhaps the most interesting portion of the book as I had little knowledge of the details. The final chapter on her role (among others) as a prison hulk makes for some grim depictions.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The biography of a British 74 gun ship of the line, from her construction to the auction of her remains, with an epilogue covering the fates of some of her captains and her most famous passenger.

The Bellerophon had the distinction of being an important player in three of the most important naval battles of the Napoleonic Wars, and of being the ship that Napoleon surrendered to after Waterloo. Following her history gives an interesting look at the history behind the historical fiction of C.S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian.

Well worth reading, although I felt the last quarter necessarily dragged a bit as it deals with Napoleon's time on the ship, and its history as a prison hulk. Important parts of its history for which a lot of documentation exists, but less interesting from the perspective of someone primarily interested in the ship's history as an active duty warship.

[Commander Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dull at times

[Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enthralling story, masterfully told.

[Lee Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read, makes you proud to be English ,

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting and well researched text on the life of one of the many "Wooden Walls" of Britain that fended off Napoleon. The story of HMS Bellerophon is representative of the Royal Navy as a whole during this period. It is representative of many of the ships that protected Britain in the long struggle against Napoleon. The depictions of the naval battles (The Glorious First of June, The Nile, Trafalgar) are excellent, particularly in the description of the part Bellerophon played in them. The character sketches of the men who commanded and called her home, at least those who left some record, are fascinating. Bellerophon reached the height of her glory in 1815 as she and her captain was the representative of the British government to whom Napoleon surrendered. However, the laurels of glory are fleeting, as the mighty ship was humbled by its conversion into a prison hulk shortly after, an ignominious fate that would mark her later years. All in all, the story of this fighting ship follows the contours of human life from birth to the height of ability and glory and finally to the end, in Bellerophon's case in the breaker's yard in 1836.

This book is marred by a number of errors. First, it states the Adm Howe recaptured Gibraltar in 1782. Any historian of the War of Independence or the history of the 18th century Mediterranean should know that Gibraltar hasn't fallen to anyone since the British captured it in 1704. It also states, on several occasions, that Louis XVII took the French throne after Napoleon's abdication when it was Louis XVIII. Beyond this, I could recommend this book to any student of the Napoleonic period.

[Curtiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

The career of H.M.S. Bellerophon, a 74-gun ship-of-the-line which formed part of England's "Wooden Walls" and fought in three of the most decisive sea battles of the late 18th and early 19th centuries: The battle of the Glorious First of June, won by Admiral Lord Howe against the fleet of Revolutionary France in 1794; The Battle of the Nile, won by Admiral Lord Nelson in 1798, which ended Napoleon's eastward ambitions; and the Battle of Trafalgar, won by Amiral Nelson against the combined fleets of Imperial France and Spain.

The final crowning glory for the old "Billy Ruffian" was when her commander Captain Maitland accepted the surrender of Emperor Napoleon Bonapart, six weeks after his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.

A stimulating look at the career of a ship which exemplified the professionalism and ultimate triumph of Britain's Royal Navy over the forces of continental despotism.

[Trawets · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Cordingly gives us the complete history of the 74 gun British warship Bellerophon (her crew found her name difficult to pronounce) right from her design, the cutting down of the trees for her timbers, her birth on the Medway till her death in the breaker's yard over fifty years later. From 1782 to 1836 the Bellerophon took part in many of the most significant sea battles of the Napoleonic Wars including the battle of the Nile and Trafalgar. Her most famous achievment was though the trapping of Napoleon as he fled France after the Battle of Waterloo, the negotiations by her Captain for his surrender and his carriage to England.
This is a fascinating tale of a ship's Captains and her crews during one of the greatest periods of British seapower.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightful. The biography of a ship which is a newer way of addressing Naval history. Some line of battle ships saw more history than Captains or their crew. The Bellerophon (Billy Ruffian) fought in the glorious 1st of June, the Nile, Trafalgar and carried Napoleon away from France on his final trip into exile.

What a history, what a ship!! This book followed the ship from construction to dismantling.

The narrative was strained at times and it was a little wordy.

The final chapter was full of too many Dickens quotes. Just give us the historical info and your impressions. The quotes didn't really fit in the final chapter, they were forced.

[David Bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an attempt to tell the story of Nelson's navy from a fresh angle, and in that largely succeeds. Bellerophon was a Zelig-ship, present at Trafalgar, but also the ship to which Napoleon surrendered after Waterloo, when he entered British custody. Cordingly's description of the ship's later role as a prison hulk ties Nelson's navy to the world of Great Expectations and The Fatal Shore.

[Fern · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a sailor, so a lot of the details about ships and maneuvers are lost on me . . . but the battles are exciting, and its an intersting chronical of the development of the Napoleaonic Wars.

[Rob Godfrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this one. There's just the right balance of narrative and technical detail to make a book that's intereting all the way through.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of a ship at the heart of the naval wars against Napoleon, and the men who served on her.

[Hayley Dunning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow start, building to emotional farewell.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book. Generally well written and it covers a particularly fascinating period of naval history. A very worthwhile read for any navy buff.

[Tarquilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book packed full of facts and information.