OK, not the original HMS Pickle but a replica built in 1995. For only £350,000.00 (US$626,640) you too could own a replica of the historic schooner.
For those not familiar with the Pickle, she was the first ship to bring the news of Nelson’s great victory and tragic death at Trafalgar back to England.
“HMS Pickle was a 10-gun Bermuda sloop of the Royal Navy. She was originally a civilian vessel named Sting, one of several vessels seized when the Dutch island of Curaçao was surrendered to Captain William Frederick Watkins of HMS Néréide in 1800, and was purchased by Lord Hugh Seymour in January 1801 as an armed tender and renamed Pickle in 1802.
“In 1803 Pickle was attached to Admiral William Cornwallis’ Inshore Squadron, where she was used to recconoitre enemy harbours during the blockade of Brest, Rochefort, and Lorient. On 25 March 1804 Pickle went to the assistance of HMS Magnificent, which had run on to a shoal off Brest, and assisted in the rescue of her crew.
“Pickle was the first ship to bring the news of Nelson’s victory to Great Britain, arriving at Falmouth on 4 November 1805, having been chosen to carry the dispatches of Vice Admiral Collingwood who had assumed command after the death of Nelson. After arriving in Falmouth Lapenotiere took a coach to London to deliver the dispatches to the Admiralty, receiving a promotion to Commander for his service.
“To this day the Royal Navy’s petty officers have an annual Pickle Night dinner, as do many private clubs in the Commonwealth of Nations. The historic and epic 1805 voyage and journey were commemorated in 2005, the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, by the New Trafalgar Dispatch and the Trafalgar Way.”
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Is there a way for me to bring this Blog up without the blue background? I find it nearly imposible to read the way it presents on my computer.
1.
Is there a way for me to bring this Blog up without the blue background? I find it nearly imposible to read the way it presents on my computer.