Weapons of sea war - 1802

During the Napoleonic wars such lethal weapons were fired from cannon on board fighting ships.
The design of the weapons was to facilitate maximum damage to the enemy - both man and ship.
Here you see Chain Shot and Shot with Points for a 12 pounder smoothbore gun.

I don't expect my forthcoming book to have such devastating effects however I can advise that FLOATING GOLD, and age-of-sail adventure, will be published in late May 2010.

I took this picture in the Maritime Museum in Valparaiso, Chile.

Funicular railways, ascensors, cable cars - worth a visit

An invention of the late 1800s, some original funicular railways around the world are still operating.
The ascensor (funicular) Artilleria in Valaraiso, Chile was built in 1893 and still runs every few minutes from the busy Port area to the houses and Maritime Museum at the top of the hill.
I rode it last year.
In Wellington New Zealand people are building private funiculars to transport themselves to their houses built on the inaccessible steep sides of hills overlooking the bay.

The funicular railways still operating in Scarborough, Yorkshire, attract locals and tourist and for me they are a reminder of childhood holidays at the seaside town.

If you would like to read more go to my new site I'm building about funiculars.
Pic: Ascensor Artilleria in Chile
Pic: Scarborough, UK, funicular

Hornblower and Aubrey reflections of Admiral Lord Cochrane

Having just re-read Memoirs of a Fighting Captain – the autobiography of Admiral Lord Thomas Cochrane, I am truly blown away by this British naval officer’s exploits, the number of his victories (in just one period of 13 months he took 50 ships) and above all his faultless courage.
Readers of Patrick O’Brian’s stories of Captain Jack Aubrey (depicted in the movie – Master and Commander), and the stories of Horatio Hornblower of CS Forester (TV drama series), see their daring naval exploits as rip-roaring tall tales of adventure.
But in fact many of the colourful events and setting depicted in those famous fiction novels were pirated/borrowed from the real life adventures of Cochrane.
For example: CS Forester used Cochrane as his inspiration in Hornblower and the Hotspur and A Ship of the Line,
Patrick O’Brian drew on Cochrane in Master and Commander, The Reverse of the Medal and Blue at the Mizzen.
It is thought by some that Cochrane was the bravest naval commander who ever lived and, in my opinion, he leaves Horatio Nelson’s life story as disappointing second in many regards.
Cochrane was an inspiration to the British seaman and to the South American countries which placed their trust in him to secure their independence from Spain.
Photo: M. Muir - Stained glass window of Lord Thomas Cochrane – Maritime Museum, Valparaiso, Chile – the old Naval AcademyIn the same museum is a pair of Cochrane’s pistols which to me appeared enormously bulky and heavy.

Chile's National Maritime Museum, Valparaiso

The National Maritime Museum at Valpariso in Chile is perched at the top of one of the many ascensors in Valparaiso. Its position offers a fantastic view over the harbour.
If you love ships and history – this is the place. I spend three hours there and could have easily spent three days. My only regret is that I couldn't speak Spanish.
Much of the museum's exhibits reach back to the days of the Spanish Conquistadors, but there are also many later artefacts e.g. a pair of pistols owned by Lord Cochrane, and models including this magnificent recreation of the 'Esmeralda'.
Lord Cochrane captured the first 'Esmeralda', a wooden frigate, in 1820 off Calleo, Peru.

Photo: Model of the ship, Esmeralda (I think this is the second 'Esmeralda' sunk in the Battle of Iquiqui in 1879, Chile, but there were eventually 6 ships which bore the same name) - Maritime Museum in Valparaiso. Please advise if I have got it wrong.)
 Note the copper bottom.