2 THE CHAIRMAN’S DISPATCH Such glory and such graves to share Thither shall youthful heroes climb, The Nelsons of an aftertime, And round that sacred altar swear Such glory and such graves to share John Wilson Croker, Songs of Trafalgar As we move into what the Club has dubbed The Collingwood Years 1806-1810 and then on into the rest of the Napoleonic decade, it is appropriate that we continue to reflect on the role and activities of The 1805 Club beyond the Trafalgar bicentenary. At the very heart of what we do is the conservation of the monuments and memorials of those heroes, sung and unsung, who throughout the period of the Georgian sailing navy shaped Britain’s maritime culture and significance. No other organisation is dedicated to this and their cenotaphs are themselves the very stuff of history - passports to the past and the means of exploring it. Ultimately, nothing lasts. Everything that is whole, from books to buildings to the Seven Wonders of the World, disintegrates eventually. Of the last, none has survived save the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, and even they, plundered and eroding, are on their way out. The guardian sphinxes ‘discovered’ during Napoléon’s Egyptian campaign, foreshortened by Nelson’s stunning victory at Aboukir Bay, are letting their treasures slip through their paws. The Pharaohs may have built their tombs to last for all eternity but even in an arid and desert climate, 5000 years is probably all their eternity lasts. However, in our fast changing and uncertain world, the relative timescale is made much shorter. Moreover, The 1805 Club is concerned with the relics of modern history. So while many may forget and in the end all shall be forgot, it is left to us to highlight with advantage the deeds that our Georgian sailing ancestors achieved across a multitude of oceans and latitudes in terms of seamanship, exploration and war. Their memorials are the touching reminder of their bravery, adventures and achievements which helped to both shape the world and form our understanding of it. Yet, the force of nature is a constant challenge as stones crack and mosses creep, as roots pry into fissures and acid rain dissolves. The conservation work of the Club seeks to slow down this poignant and ironically beautiful process of decay so that younger people and the generation to come are not deprived of their rich maritime heritage. Our mission is to identify and conserve these graves and monuments so that we can all enjoy and more importantly learn from the wonderful tales associated with those memorialised as we seek to bring them ‘alive’ through research and with imaginative and exciting club events. Delivering the Cecil Isaacson Memorial Lecture at the AGM in April, Commander Pongo Blanchford RN described how immediately after Nelson’s funeral the newspapers ‘dropped’ Nelson and rarely mentioned his name again. Lord Byron felt the pulse: There’s no more to be said of Trafalgar. ‘Tis with our hero quietly inturr’d. It was the import of the Napoleonic war that dominated the news. In post-Trafalgar Britain it was generally felt that whatever Bonaparte may boast he could never now invade England, but that his continual continental aggrandisement could affect the nation’s trade and developing empire in India. For the next ten years this created a vitally important but less well-publicised role for the Royal Navy, notably in the Mediterranean. The Duke of Wellington’s remarks reveal that he fully appreciated the strategic importance of the Royal Navy in this period, ‘If anyone wishes to know the history of this war, I will tell them that it is our maritime supremacy [that] gives me the power of maintaining my army while the enemy are unable to do so’. Psychologically and professionally for the Royal Navy Nelson’s success at Trafalgar had achieved superiority over its French opponent. Nelson is forever our icon, yet he himself was the first to recognise the considerable talent gathered around him, whether precursor, contemporary or protégé. As I have written before, alongside our focus on Nelson the Club now has the wonderful opportunity to reflect on some of these remarkable characters like Thomas Fremantle, William Hoste, Sydney Smith and not least Cuthbert Collingwood, whose particular skills Nelson acknowledged when he entrusted to him command of the weather division on 21 October 1805, knowing full well that its action against the enemy’s rear was where the brunt of the battle would be fought and won: ‘No man has more confidence in another man than I have in you: and no man will render your services more justice than your very old friend ‘ (Victory, 9 October 1805). Collingwood was honoured in Newcastle and Gateshead on 14 June at the presentation of The New Trafalgar Dispatch to the Lords’ Lieutenant of Northumberland and Tyne & Wear. The 1805 Club was a main partner in this flagship bicentenary project and club vice chairman Bill White, who led it, and myself were present at the ceremony at HMS Calliope. This RNR unit lies alongside the Tyne beneath the dazzling new Sage Centre and it is conceivable that on-going regeneration may threaten HMS Calliope’s future. The 1805 Club is proud of its links with the Royal Navy of today and I
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