The Royal Navy

The Royal Navy

Personnel

The Commissioners ("Lords") of the Admiralty, 1828-1895
The principal Commanders-in-chief, 1830-1899
Officers in command: career details of some 1500 Mid-Victorian Royal Navy officers (in command of any vessel in the period 1840-1860 and/or in command of unarmoured wooden screw vessels).
(officers A - B; C - E; F - G; H - K; L - O; P - R; S - T; U - Z; search)
Queens regulations and Admiralty Instructions - 1861.
Legislation concerning the discipline of the Royal Navy (Naval Discipline Act, Articles of War, Naval Mutiny Act)
Naval Administration - Admiral Sir Vesey Hamilton's 1896 description of the structure and function of the Admiralty.

Vessels

Vessels, 1840-1880: brief details of all the significant vessels (about 1700 in number) of the Mid-Victorian Royal Navy. The list also includes some earlier or later vessels, for example, because they are mentioned in the Loney webpages.
(vessels A; B; C; D; E - F; G - H; I - L; M; N - P; Q - R; S; T - U; V - Z; search)
Unarmoured wooden screw warships: career details and newspaper extracts concerning the principal unarmoured wooden screw warships (sloops and larger) of the Royal Navy.
Russian ("Crimean") war gunboats.

Campaigns

The First Anglo-Chinese War ("Opium war") of 1838 - 1842 as described by William Laird Clowes
The Syrian campaign of 1840 as described by William Laird Clowes
The Anglo-French Uruguayan campaign of 1845 as described by William Laird Clowes
The Anglo-French Uruguayan campaign of 1845 as described by Henry Norton Sulivan
The Russian ("Crimean") War of 1854 - 1856
- The 1853 Royal review of the fleet prior to the outbreak of the war as described by the Times newspaper
- The naval campaigns of the war as described by William Laird Clowes
- The naval campaigns of the war as described in Sir Henry Keppel's autobiography
- The Baltic campaign as described in the biography of Bartholomew James Sulivan
- The 1856 Royal review of the "Great Armament" assembled for, but not sent to, the Baltic as decribed by the Times newspaper
- The 1856 Royal review as decribed by the Illustrated London News
The Second Anglo-Chinese War ("Opium war") of 1856 - 1860 as described by William Laird Clowes
The New Zealand Wars of 1860 - 1864 as described by William Laird Clowes
The Anglo-Japanese hostilities of 1863 - 1864 as described by William Laird Clowes (and the same events described by the Times newspaper)
The contribution of the Naval brigades from Shannon and Pearl during the Indian Mutiny of 1857 - 1858 (map) as described by William Laird Clowes
British involvement, 1860 - 1862, with the Taiping rebellion as described by William Laird Clowes (and the Times on Sherard Osborn's "Anglo-Chinese Squadron")
The contribution of the Naval brigades to the conquest of Upper Burma in 1885 - 1886 as described by William Laird Clowes

Fleets

The "Experimental Squadrons": in the mid 1840s the Tory Admiralty sent a number of "Experimental Squadrons" to sea to investigate (actually, to attempt to disprove) the suitability of the ships designed by Sir William Symonds, the Surveyor of the Navy, appointed by the previous Whig administration.
The Channel Squadron in 1858-1862: as decribed in the Times newspaper
The 1869-82 Flying Squadrons: economies made by William Ewert Gladstone's 1868 cabinet led First Lord of the Admiralty Hugh Culling Eardley Childers to reduce the number of ships on foreign stations. These reductions were compensated by the formation of successive "Flying" (or "Detached") Squadrons of screw ships which - in peacetime - undertook extended world-wide cruises for training (and flag waving). Both the log of HMS Glasgow, and William Loney's Medical Journal record meeting Rear-Admiral Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour's Flying Squadron at Bombay on 26 April 1872

The loss of ships as reported in the Times newspaper

The loss of HMS Osprey on the New Zealand coast on 11 March 1846.
The loss of HMS Lively during a storm off the Dutch coast on 23 December 1863.
The loss of HMS Orpheus on the bar of Manukau harbour, on the west coast of New Zealand, on 7 February 1863.
The loss of HMS Eurydice; this 26 gun frigate, in which Edward Loney served in 1855, was later converted to a training-ship for ordinary seamen, and foundered with the loss of more than 350 lives in a squall off the Isle of Wight on 24 March 1878.
The loss of HMS Racehorse off Chefoo, China on 4 November 1864.
The loss of HMS Bombay accidentally burnt off Montevideo on 14 December 1864.
The loss of HMS Osprey on the South African coast on 30 May 1867.
The loss of HMS Ferret during a storm in Dover harbour on Easter Monday 1869.
The loss of HMS Megaera, beached on St Paul's Island in the Indian Ocean in 1871, and the accounts and illustrations in the Illustrated London News, an eyewitness account from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, the description from the journal kept by the vessel's Surgeon, William Hogarth Adam, and the Report of the Royal Commission appointed to investigate the case.

Miscellaneous

The surrender of Libau (modern Liepaja) in the Baltic on 17 May 1854 to Captains Astley Cooper Key and Arthur Cumming, later Captain of HMS Glasgow when William Loney served in that ship.
Captain Kynaston's hook: In 1857 Captain Augustus Frederick Kynaston patented "an improved slip or disengaging hook" to facilitate rapid and safe lowering of ships' boats.
The drowning of Captain Boyd during rescue work on 9 February 1861 during a storm in Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire), Ireland; report from the Times.
Captain McKillop's flexible cofferdam: In 1863 Captain Henry Frederick McKillop invented a "flexible cofferdam" to enable cleaning of the hull of iron ships in the water.

The Naval Surgeon

The tasks of the surgeon (from: "The Naval Officer's Manual, for Every Grade in Her Majesty's Ships", 2nd edition. London. 1848: sold by Parker, Furnivall & Parker and W. Blackburns, and written by Captain W.N. Glascock, R.N.)
Entry requirements (as printed in the Lancet - changes from previous versions shown in red): (1844, 1845)
Instructions for Medical Officers from the 1861 'Queen's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions'.
The organisation of the Medical Department of the Royal Navy, from the Napoleonic wars to the present day.
The Medical Officers of the Royal Navy in 1840 (from the Navy List for January of that year)
A comparison of the careers of the 40 Assistant Surgeons joining the Royal Navy in 1839.
The struggle to improve conditions for Assistant Surgeons; letters and editorials from the Lancet (1846, 1847, 1848, 1849)
The suicide of Assistant Surgeon Thomas Hart of HMS Conway, 1847.
The Royal Naval Hospital, Green Mountain, Ascension Island.
The Royal Naval Hospital, Hong Kong.

The West African Squadron and slave trade

British legislation concerning the slave trade (inclusion of full texts in progress)
The legal and diplomatic background to the seizure of foreign vessels by the Royal Navy, including texts of treaties and related documents (Instructions for Ships of War employed to prevent the illicit Traffic in Slaves, Regulations for the Mixed Commissions, &c) and milestone events per country
Instructions for the guidance of Her Majesty's Naval Officers employed in the Suppression of the Slave Trade (1844 edition).
1846 regulations for the distribution of the proceeds of prizes captured at sea.
The commanders and ships of the West African Station, 1808-1870 (incomplete - under development)
The divisions of the West African Station and the ships appointed to each division on the 30th of April 1846 [on which date William Loney was serving in Pantaloon].
Annual reports concerning the Mixed Courts at Sierra Leone from the British Commissioners (1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847, 1848)
Denman's destruction of the barracoons at the Gallinas River in November 1840
Jones' destruction of the barracoons at Dombocorro and elsewhere in February 1845:
- the Lieut.-Governor of Sierra Leone's request to Commodore Jones
- Commodore Jones' reports to the Lieut.-Governor
- Commodore Jones' report of a subsequent conference with the Chiefs
A list of some 280 vessels seized or destroyed by ships of the West African Squadron in the period 1838-1845, with details of name and type of ship, date seized, location seized, seizing vessel and commander, number of slaves onboard, court where tried, and verdict
A list of 17 vessels seized or destroyed by ships of the West African Squadron in which William Loney was serving
Court reports concerning the vessels seized by navy cruisers when William Loney was on board:
- Eliza Davidson seized by Wanderer, 4 April 1840 (2 slaves on board); Advocate Generals opinion
- São Paolo de Loando seized by Wanderer, 3 June 1840
- Maria Rosaria seized by Wanderer, 9 June 1840
- Republicano seized by Wanderer, 14 August 1840 (case withdrawn; condemned earlier after being seized by Fantôme)
- Firmé seized by Dolphin, 30 May 1841 (armed resistance offered)
- Nova Fortuna seized by Dolphin, 6 June 1841 (contested case)
- Josefa seized by Amphitrite, 8 september 1848 (taken to Vice-Admiralty court)
"Reports of Proceedings" from Commodore W. Jones, Officer commanding the West African squadron (5th April 1845, 23rd April 1845, 12th June 1845)

The 1841 Niger expedition

In 1841 a British expedition ascended the River Niger in three specially built iron paddle ships - Albert, Wilberforce and Soudan - to make anti-slavery treaties with the Chiefs along the river. One third of the white participants died of fever. The "invalids" were evacuated from the river mouth to Ascension by Dolphin, in which William Loney was serving as Assistant Surgeon. As revealed by an Admiralty abstract of Loneys services, the survivors presented him with a sword and an epaulette as a mark of thanks.

"A Narrative of the Expedition sent by Her Majesty's Government to the River Niger in 1841", Captain William Allen, R.N. and Thomas R.H. Thompson, M.D., Surgeon, R.N. (London, 1848) - the (almost) complete text of this officially sanctioned account of the expedition, written by the Commander and one of the Assistant Surgeons of Wilberforce.
Prospectus of the Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade and the Civilization of Africa.
The case note of two fever patients from "Medical history of the expedition to the Niger during the years 1841-2" by James Ormiston McWilliam, M.D.
T.R.H. Thompson's letter to the Lancet on the value of Quinine in African Remittent Fever.
William McWilliam's description of Dr Reid's ventilation system on the Niger expedition vessels.
Reports, letters and leading articles from the Times.
Additional documents from the Parliamentary Papers relative to the Expedition to the River Niger (1843 [472] 48).

The Zanzibar slave trade

The texts of original documents in this section are derived from (the IUP reprints of) British Parliamentary Papers concerning the Slave Trade.

A brief history of Zanzibar, the Zanzibar slave trade and the 1873 Frere mission to end it
The Al-bu-Said rulers of Muscat and Zanzibar, and the British Consuls at Zanzibar
The hurricane in Zanzibar on 15 April 1872
The slave market at Zanzibar, described in the Illustrated London News
The Anglo-Zanzibar treaty of 1873 (and a supplement of 1875)
1873 correspondence from Dr John Kirk, British Consul at Zanzibar
- A tour of inspection just after the Frere Mission had left the coast
- Another tour of inspection after the Frere Mission had left the coast
- A tribute to the Naval Officers and men on the station in the period leading up to the signing of the treaty
- Events around the signing of the Treaty
Rear-Admiral Cumming's annual reports concerning the East African slave trade (1872, 1873, 1874 (1st half))