The Victorian Navy

Queen Victoria was born Kensington Palace, London, on 24 May 1819 Reigned 1837-1901

For the time being to include, a little incorrectly,
post-Trafalgar to the turn of the 19th. Century..

Mostly Antiquarian - usually auto/biographical of subjects who started their careers in Victorian times

Victorian Navy list Modern section

Click here to go to a well, and humourously observed memoir " The Royal Navy as I saw it " by Paymaster Captain Willis - published 1924.
 Click here to go to Admiral Sir Henry Keppel's autobiography entitled " A Sailor's Life Under Four Sovereigns " page at camberpete.co.uk !
Sydney Eardley-Wilmot served in the Royal Navy from 1860 to 1915 and in a raconteurial style provides an insight to Royal Naval service of the period, an interesting history and description of Portsmouth in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the developement of submarines, torpedoes and torpedo craft and his thoughts on defence against these 'new' weapons. Click on this image to go to Rear-Admiral Sir Sydney Eardley-Wilmot's " An Admiral's Memories " page at camberpete.co.uk !
Click here to go to Captain Wonham's "Spun Yarns of a Naval Officer" published in 1917.
Click here to go to Surgeon Rear-Admiral T. T. Jeans' autobiography " Reminiscences of a Naval Surgeon " page at camberpete.co.uk !
The Naval Annuals for 1897, 1901 and 1910. Edited by T. A. Brassey and John Leyland with many illustrations of warships by W. Fred Mitchell.
Click this composite image to see details of Admiral Montagu's earlier book " A Middy's Recollections & page at camberpete.co.uk !
Click on this icon to see more details of Admiral Montagu's memoirs at camberpete.co.uk !
AN ADMIRAL'S YARNS by Vice-Admiral Henry Louis Fleet; Royal Navy Published 1910 by Swan Sonnenschein, London. Yarns and poems of the late Victorian and Edwardian Royal Navy - some based on fact.
THE BRITISH NAVY by A. Stenzel, a retired German Imperial Navy Captain, made a thorough study of the Royal Navy at the height of its Victorian prowess. He details with the use of numerous illustrations - many in full page colour, uniforms, ships, recruitment, training, the Admiralty, etc. Although Stenzel was a German, there is a suggestion admiration and envy in this comprehensive study.
Click here to go to H. Noel Williams's biography of Admiral Sir Charles Napier at camberpete.co.uk
An informative and interesting Royal Navy memoir covering the period 1854 - 1874. The author served under Napier in the Baltic in 1855, South America, The Falklands, Pacific and China Stations, etc. He was in Mexico during Maximilian's execution and present at the sinking of H.M.S. Victoria, the Jamaica Rebellion 1885, etc . . . Click here to go to Admiral C. C. Penrose Fitzgerald's autobiography " Memories of the Sea " page at camberpete.co.uk !

 

Spunyarn Strands of a sailor's life