HMS Indestructible: 打ち明けるing the 血まみれの history of the ship made famous by Turner, the Fighting Temeraire

By Sam Willis
Updated: 17:32 BST, 22 January 2010

Struggling to breathe in mouthfuls of 空気／公表する 階級 with choking gunsmoke, hundreds of men and boys crouched low on the gun decks of His Majesty's Ship Temeraire.

In that cramped space, where shouted orders competed with the 叫び声をあげるs of the 負傷させるd, 血 ran 自由に through a 船体 hewn from English oaks.

Already the sails high above were riddled with chain 発射 from the French 軍艦s, but it was there, on the （人が）群がるd gundecks that a 残虐な 虐殺（する） was 広げるing.

In the hellish tempest of the 戦う／戦い of Trafalgar, in an 行為／法令／行動する of almost suicidal valour, the Temeraire's captain chose to draw 解雇する／砲火／射撃 away from the Victory, in which Nelson lay dying.

Nation's favourite: T urner's Fighting Temeraire can be 設立する in the 国家の Gallery in Trafalgar Square

Soon, two 広大な enemy 軍艦s were 攻撃するd to the 側面に位置するs of the Temeraire, a lethal 一斉射撃，（質問などの）連発／ダム of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 注ぐing from their gunports.

Forty-seven men lost their lives on the British ship and 67 were 厳しく 負傷させるd - a terrible butcher's 法案 for the 外科医 working feverishly in the bowels of the 大型船.

Later, the 同時代の art critic John Ruskin 述べるd how the Temeraire had fought until her 味方するs ran 'wet with the long runlets of English 血 ... those pale masts that stayed themselves up against the warruin, shaking out their ensigns through the 雷鳴, till sail and ensign dropped'.

Two centuries later, Turner's famous 絵 of the Fighting Temeraire can be 設立する in the 国家の Gallery in Trafalgar Square.

Every day 訪問者s flock to see the 広大な／多数の／重要な 軍艦 glowing in sepulchral light as she is 牽引するd to the breaker's yard by a steam 強く引っ張る.

It is the nation's favourite 絵 - its 人気 is as much 予定 to the melancholic 支配する 事柄 as the deftness of the artist's brushstrokes.

Yet few people know anything of life on board, or of the terrible sacrifices made by her 乗組員.

That's why, with new 接近 to 以前 制限するd 古記録s, I decided to 令状 a 調書をとる／予約する about the Fighting Temeraire - a choice, in part, 奮起させるd by Turner's 広大な／多数の／重要な 絵.

Although it's one of the most iconic images of the overlapping ages of sail and steam, it amazed me that no one has ever written the 十分な history of the ship itself.

When I started my 研究, I discovered the 記録，記録的な／記録する s of the Admiralty 生き残る in amazing 条件.

I used logbooks of the Temeraire and 報告（する）／憶測s from her captains; 地図／計画するs drawn by sailors 船内に; letters to fathers, wives, children and lovers; ship 計画（する）s and sailing 報告（する）／憶測s.

The Temeraire started life in the 古代の shipyard of Chatham in 1793, costing a staggering £73,241 (£4million today).

That year 革命のs in フラン had guillotined their king, Louis XVI, in the centre of Paris. On both 味方するs of the Channel, the 大打撃を与えるing of shipwrights' 道具s called their 海軍s to war.

Temeraire was 指名するd after an earlier ship 掴むd from the French.

The Temeraire's three decks gave her a 独特の silhouette; she was easily recognised by both friend and enemy.

The three decks also gave plenty of room for the officer's ４半期/4分の1s, which made her suitable as a 旗艦.

She was in fact larger than the first-率 HMS Victory, which had been built 30 years before.

A staggering 5,000 trees were used to build her 船体.

The strong, 自然に curved oak that English forests grew so 井戸／弁護士席 formed the ワイン-glass 形態／調整 of her 船体, and the beautifully straight pine s of Baltic forests 供給するd her with deck planks and masts.

The 装備する was 広大な. The sails of the three masts, if all 始める，決める, covered a staggering 6,510 sq yds of sky.

Twenty-five miles of rope held up the masts and worked the sails through 750 封鎖するs. The masts were 205ft high.

Make no mistake, this was a ship designed to 行う 血まみれの war.

She was 武装した with 98 guns on three gun decks with more bristling from her quarterdeck and forecastle, not least the murderous carronades, the short but immensely powerful gun known then as the 'smasher' for the 破壊 it 原因（となる）d at の近くに 範囲.

Gunnery 策略 変化させるd, but in (n)艦隊／(a)素早い 活動／戦闘 in the 王室の 海軍, and under Nelson's 命令（する）, の近くに 活動／戦闘 was favoured.

The men would stand silent as the ship sailed に向かって the enemy - the silence speaking 容積／容量s of the sailors' discipline.

This unnerved the jittery French, always so keen to 解雇する／砲火／射撃 as soon as their enemy was in 範囲, often with little 影響.

But the British 軽蔑（する）d such 策略, as they could not 配達する 決定的な victory. They did not want to fight off the French ships, but to 逮捕（する） or destroy them.

As for the layout of the ship, the officers lived at the 厳しい - their ４半期/4分の1s lit by the 広大な bank of windows.

接近 to daylight itself was a 特権 of 階級. Seamen were 制限するd to peeking out of gunports and 危険d a soaking while doing so, 反して the officers could enjoy the 見解（をとる） from the 慰安 of their mess （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

Some officers furnished their ４半期/4分の1s lavishly.

The 乗組員's diet was central to their health, and 重要な numbers of livestock were taken 船内に.

Hence, the noise of a 軍艦 was as much characterised by clucking, mooing and oinking as it was by 砲火 and shouting, and the smell in some parts was farmyard.

Every week, each man was 許すd 4lb of beef, 2lb of pork, 2lb of peas, 11/2lb of oatmeal, 6oz of sugar, 6oz of butter and 12oz of cheese.

Each day he was also 問題／発行するd with a 十分な 続けざまに猛撃する of ship's 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器.

This diet kept the men alive and strong, if hungry, and it was often far better fare than most people 岸に could 推定する／予想する to receive 定期的に.

But it was fresh food, however, that kept the dreaded scurvy at bay - this curious 病気 that made gums bleed, teeth 落ちる out, and men so weak they could not stand.

In the years that the Temeraire fought the French, the 海軍 started to get a 支配する on 妨げるing scurvy through the 正規の／正選手 問題／発行する of lemon juice.

The lemon juice was taken neat or with the sailor's grog.

This was the 最高潮の場面 of the sailor's day.

Twice a day, every day, the sailors were 問題／発行するd their こども of rum; half a pint in total, diluted with three parts of water, 問題／発行するd morning and evening.

If spirits were unavailable, the men received beer - a gallon each.

With so many men 閉じ込める／刑務所d up in one place, discipline was a constant challenge.

It was 持続するd through a コンビナート／複合体 and 許すing 関係 between officers and men.

The 大多数 of officers knew that to ru n a ship some misdemeanours had to be 厳しく punished. Only very rarely was 反乱（を起こす） 誘発するd by 罰 - usually it was over food, money or leave.

But discipline was one area where, once, the 乗組員 of the Temeraire failed - on a 冷淡な winter's morning in 1801.

A 一時休戦 had been agreed with Napoleon and the men were delighted at the prospect of going home after eight long years of war.

Their political masters, how ever, had other ideas.

They 不信d Napoleon, who had taken the 適切な時期 of peace to send a 抱擁する 軍隊 of 41 ships and 12,000 men to the West Indies under the 命令（する） of Jerome Bonaparte, his brother.

The Temeraire was ordered to the Caribbean, but with no hope of leave for at least a year, the men 反乱（を起こす）d.

This was no 静かな 事件／事情／状勢, a gentle 交渉 with the officers behind の近くにd doors, but a violent 抗議する.

The mutineers took 支配（する）／統制する of the ship's discipline, 脅すing any who dissented from their 計画（する） with death.

One mutineer, Norman Dixon, 脅すd to を刺す the ship's 海洋s when they were asleep in their hammocks if they did not lend their support to the 反乱.

In the end, it took an 武装した クーデター by the officers to 掴む 支援する 支配（する）／統制する of their ship.

The mutineers were taken 支援する to Portsmouth where the ringleaders were tried and hanged, or as it was 報告（する）／憶測d in the 圧力（をかける）, '開始する，打ち上げるd into eternity'.

The Admiralty sent the Temeraire すぐに 支援する on 封鎖 義務 to keep her 乗組員 out of trouble and there, beaten by the 強風s of Biscay off the coast of フラン, and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd like a cork in t he 深い 大西洋 swells, the men re-設立する their discipline in the 安定した rhythms of shipboard life and gunnery 演習.

By October 1805, they were fit for any challenge that 直面するd them, and when Nelson penned his order of 戦う／戦い to 直面する the 連合させるd French and Spanish (n)艦隊／(a)素早いs off Cape Trafalgar, the very first ship on his 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） - that 命令（する）d by the 上級の captain of the (n)艦隊／(a)素早い, Eliab Harvey - was the Temeraire. She was ready for glory.

Harvey was 削減（する） from the same canvas as Nelson. He had joined the 海軍 at 13 and was a captain by 25.

He had enjoyed a glittering career and was renowned for his daring.

He was 正確に／まさに the 肉親，親類d of captain that Nelson 手配中の，お尋ね者.

Compulsive and 勇敢に立ち向かう (in 賭事ing 同様に as war), he 代表するd his countrymen at both the 投票（する） box and on the gundeck, and he did so for the love of his country and his 憎悪 of the French.

Harvey's 乗組員 was a little under its 十分な roster, but still 720 men and boys crammed into her dark gun-decks.

The youngest officer was Alexander Brennan, a midshipman from Dublin. He was just 12. The youngest member of the 乗組員, however, was Richard Elliott, who was 11. There were 41 other boys 船内に.

The oldest 乗組員 member was Michael Leonard, another Irishman. He was 62.

In the hellish tempest of the 戦う／戦い of Trafalgar, Temeraire first took on the largest 軍艦 of the time, the 巨大（な） four-decked Spanish first-rater Santisima Trinidad, before 存在 罠にかける between two French ships, defending the Victory. It was an 活動／戦闘 of 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の courage.

'Nothing could be finer,' wrote the 海軍大将 Cuthbert Collingwood to Harvey after the 戦う／戦い. 'I have not words in which I can 十分に 表明する my 賞賛.'

Forty-seven of the 大型船's sailors had died in the 戦う／戦い, and 76 more were 負傷させるd. There was little time to 記録，記録的な／記録する 詳細（に述べる）s of individual 傷害s in the heat of 戦う／戦い, but we do know that one young midshipman, 20-yearold William Pitts from London, had a 脚 blown off as he boarded the first French ship to 降伏する to the Temeraire, La Redoutable.

The French 乗組員 were so horrified that he had been 負傷させるd by another French ship when they had 公式に 降伏するd, that Pitts was taken straight 負かす／撃墜する to the French 外科医, past the lines of Frenchmen waiting fo r 治療, to have his 脚 amputated. Pitts died that night.

The Temeraire 生き残るd the horrific 嵐／襲撃する that followed the 戦う／戦い and 結局 limped home.

The 損失 was enormous.

Every sail and yard had been destroyed; only the lower masts were standing and they had been 発射 through in many places; the rudder had been 発射 off together with the starboard 'cat-長，率いる', from which the starboard 錨，総合司会者 should have been 一時停止するd.

Eight feet of her 船体 on the starboard 味方する was stove in and the ４半期/4分の1 galleries on both 味方するs of the ship had been destroyed as she was 鎮圧するd between the French ships.

But it could have been worse. At one 行う／開催する／段階, a 手りゅう弾 thrown from a French ship 設立する its way の上に the Temeraire's quarterdeck and 原因（となる）d an 爆発.

It took the quick thinking of John Toohig, the Temeraire's master-at-武器, to 妨げる the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 from spreading to the magazine, which would have destroyed her.

Upon its return to England, the public flocked to see the battlescarred ship, and の中で their number was Joseph Mallord William Turner, who sketched the ship and its 生存者s.

The Temeraire captivated the artist for the next 30 years until, at the 高さ of his 力／強力にするs, he 完全にするd that mournful 絵 of her final voyage to the breaker's yard that we know so 井戸／弁護士席, with a steam-強く引っ張る pulling a ghostly leviathan, and the sun setting on the 木造の 塀で囲むs of old England.

• The Fighting Temeraire by Sam Willis is published by Quercus at £25. To order a copy at £22.50 (P&P 解放する／自由な), call 0845 155 0720.

?