Jack Tar: Life in Nelson's Navy

clon_man

Greeting all Naval enthusiasts. Before I start I must admit I know nothing about anything naval!

However, I am currently reading ‘Jack Tar: Life in Nelson's Navy’ because I wanted some idea of how harsh life in the British Navy was at that time – it was extremely harsh, much more than I imagined it would be.
What struck me in the book was the amount of Irishmen that were included and the importance of ports such as Waterford and Cork (to name but a few). The Irishmen are probably the most mentioned of all the home nations. Many of them were probably conscripted and lots probably volunteered.
I never learned of such things while in school in the 80’s and 90’s and I feel this is a great shame. I guess I am only at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Irishman in Naval service........

A Harsh life to the extreme, it’s a pity their stories are not celebrated more (forgetting any political topic, just focus on the individual sailor).

Freedive Ireland

Haven't read that one Clon man but if that area interests you check out the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O Brian. Maturin the main character is half Irish half Catalan. He also has other books one called the Golden Ocean based on Irish officers I think or midshipmen in the Navy. A lot of his books were based on the Naval letters and chronicles of actual battles or campaigns of the time and some are scarcely believable yet they happened. The writing is more classical than a modern novel but stay with them, they become like old friends after a time.

clon_man

Freedive Ireland wrote: »

Haven't read that one Clon man but if that area interests you check out the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O Brian. Maturin the main character is half Irish half Catalan. He also has other books one called the Golden Ocean based on Irish officers I think or midshipmen in the Navy. A lot of his books were based on the Naval letters and chronicles of actual battles or campaigns of the time and some are scarcely believable yet they happened. The writing is more classical than a modern novel but stay with them, they become like old friends after a time.

Great, thanks for that, I'll look them up. I understand whay you mean about the classic writing since Jack Tar has many first hand accounts, word by word. I find I have to read some of them twice.
A very interesting subject, I'm gripped by it all.