Age of Sail and Civil War Naval History
Before steel and steam took over: the Mary Rose sinking in front of Henry VIII, Sweden's Vasa capsizing on her maiden voyage, USS Constitution and her "iron" sides, French cavalry capturing a Dutch fleet frozen in the ice at Den Helder in 1795, and the Confederate raider CSS Alabama, which took 65 Union ships before sinking off Cherbourg in front of a crowd of spectators.
For about three hundred years, from the Tudor navy to the American Civil War, warships were wooden hulls driven by sail and armed with rows of muzzle-loading guns. The design changed slowly, the tactics changed slowly, and a ship could stay in service for decades. Then, in the 1860s, steam and iron arrived together and the old fleets were finished within a few years. The stories here cover both ends of that period.
Gunports and stability
The heavy gun changed what a warship was. Guns along the lower deck meant gunports close to the waterline, and a ship that heeled too far with them open could flood in minutes. On 19 July 1545 Henry VIII watched from Southsea Castle as the Mary Rose turned, heeled and sank in the Solent. Fewer than 35 of roughly 400 men escaped. The silt kept her hull, her longbows and her crew until the Mary Rose Trust raised her in 1982.
Sweden made the same mistake on a bigger ship. In 1628 the royal warship Vasa nearly capsized at the dock during a stability test. She sailed anyway on 10 August, went over in a gust after about 1,300 meters, and sank in Stockholm harbor. Several senior officers had known she would. The inquiry found no one guilty. She came up in 1961, after 333 years in the mud.
Frigates and fleets
By the eighteenth century the line-of-battle ship and the frigate were mature designs. Some of the strangest events of the period had little to do with gunnery. In the frozen winter of 1795 the Dutch fleet was iced in at Den Helder, and French hussars rode across the ice and captured 14 warships without a shot.
At Trafalgar in 1805 a musket ball from the French ship Redoutable hit Nelson on Victory’s quarterdeck. The story that sailors drank the rum his body came home in is still told. The surgeon who sealed the cask wrote down what he actually did, and it was brandy, topped up at Gibraltar.
The United States built its navy in this period. The Naval Act of 1794 paid for six heavy frigates to deal with the Barbary corsairs. One of them, USS Constitution, beat HMS Guerriere in 1812 and earned the name “Old Ironsides” when shot seemed unable to get through her oak. A student’s poem saved her from scrapping in 1830, and she still carries a Navy crew in Boston.
Steam, iron and the Civil War
The American Civil War of 1861 to 1865 showed both the last of the old navy and the start of the new one. The Confederate raider CSS Alabama, built in Birkenhead, captured 65 Union merchant ships in 22 months under Raphael Semmes. In June 1864 she came out of Cherbourg to fight USS Kearsarge in front of spectators and was sunk.
Two years earlier, at Hampton Roads, the iron had already arrived. CSS Virginia, rebuilt from the burned frigate USS Merrimack, sank USS Cumberland and burned USS Congress on 8 March 1862. The next morning she met USS Monitor in the first battle between ironclads. They fired at each other for hours and neither sank. Neither ship survived the year, and the wooden battle fleet did not last much longer.
All Age of Sail and Civil War stories
The Night French Cavalry Rode Across a Frozen Sea and Captured a Fleet
In January 1795, French hussars wrapped their horses' hooves in cloth, crossed a frozen harbor, and boarded 14 Dutch warships. No shots fired. The only time in history cavalry captured a fleet.
The Confederate Raider Who Captured 65 Ships and Sank in Front of French Tourists
CSS Alabama spent 22 months capturing Union merchant ships. Her final battle off Cherbourg became a spectator event. Manet painted it.
Vasa Failed Her Stability Test, Sailed Anyway, and Nobody Was Blamed
Sweden's royal warship Vasa nearly capsized at the dock during a stability test in 1628. She sailed anyway and sank in Stockholm harbor within minutes. The inquiry found no one guilty, and the only man left to blame was already dead.
Old Ironsides: The 1797 Frigate a Poem Saved and the Navy Never Retired
USS Constitution beat HMS Guerriere in 1812, survived a scrapping scare in 1830 thanks to a student's poem, and still carries a US Navy crew in Boston.
The Mary Rose Sank in Front of Henry VIII, and the Mud Kept Her Crew
Henry VIII's warship Mary Rose capsized in the Solent in 1545 while the king watched from shore. Nobody agrees on exactly why. The silt that buried her preserved longbows, a ship's dog and the bones of the men who sailed her.
Tapping the Admiral: How HMS Victory Brought Nelson Home in a Cask of Brandy
After Trafalgar, Victory's surgeon sealed Nelson's body in a water cask full of brandy for the voyage home. Sailors supposedly drank it dry. The surgeon's own report says otherwise.
Monitor vs Virginia: The Ironclad Duel Where Nobody Could Sink Anybody
On 9 March 1862 USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fought the first battle between ironclads at Hampton Roads. It ended in a draw. Neither ship survived the year, and Monitor's turret came up from the seabed in 2002.