Collingwood Letters

The Collingwood letters

Over 200 years ago Britain’s world affairs were conducted and managed from vast distances, the only transport being sail and horse powered. Communication was by letters written with a bird’s feather quill dipped in oak gall ink. Security was a matter of seals and stamps.

Duke University in North Carolina hold two letters from Admiral Collingwood to Captain Mansfield, (there appear to be none from Mansfield to Collingwood) and it is clear from them that they were friendly and personally acquainted.  

The first letter held was sent from Collingwood to Mansfield from “Ocean off Cadiz, 20^th March 1807”, and was in reply to a letter from Mansfield of 24^th January 1807.  Mansfield was at home in “his own comfortable house in Malling” with Mrs Mansfield and his children.  Collingwood stated he was sorry to hear that His Majesty’s Service had called Mansfield away from Bath so soon, where presumably he had gone for reasons of health.  Mansfield suffered very badly from rheumatism.  The Minotaur was being repaired.  He wishes Mansfield could join him before the French arrive and suggests that Mansfield could have another “Neptuno very prettily painted”.  Neptuno was the name of the ship captured by Mansfield in Minotaur at the famous battle of Trafalgar.  It seems that Mansfield had some input (via Mr Sykes as an intermediary) into the correct representation of the battle in a Panorama that was being painted and constructed in London by Mr Robert Baker.  The panorama was (approximately) a ten foot diameter circle of paintings where the viewer stood in the middle.  

Commenting on the book titled [Memoirs of] The Rise and Progress of the [Royal] Navy that Mansfield had loaned to him, Collingwood apologised for not returning it sooner via Mansfield’s brother at Plymouth.  He further commented that it was not entertaining and if the gentleman (presumably the author) lived a few more years he may add to it a volume on the declension (decline) of the Navy.  Collingwood strongly believes that poops (a poop deck is a deck above a cabin, at the back of a ship, that enables observation to take place) are essential to the command of a vessel, a view he states he shares with Mansfield (“we are of one mind in this matter”).  Clearly the two battle hardened, heroic characters are frustrated with recent ship design changes.  Collingwood notes that John Serres, the painter, is doing pictures of the battle (Trafalgar) and asks Mansfield, if he goes to London, to talk to the artist (painter) about the subject of poops because every ship in the action had a poop although some had since been removed.  He states he would not like to have any pictures of ships in his house without poops.  He states he hopes to see Mansfield’s honest face, but if not he asks if he can do anything for him, he will do it gladly.  He ends the letter with the words “I beg my best respects to Mrs Mansfield  for though I have not had the pleasure of her acquaintance—as she is your better half I cannot but highly esteem her I ever am my dear sir your faithful Able Servant – Collingwood”.

The second letter Collingwood wrote to Mansfield was written on July 6^th 1807 from a ship located in the “Ocean off Sardinia”, and it thanked him for his letter of 1^st May.  Collingwood was probably engaged in the Adriatic war as part of the Napoleonic Wars.  Hostilities were just about to intensify.  He apologised for the delay in replying saying that he received Mansfield’s letter a few days before he left Cadiz and had not had a moment since to reply.  He says that as it told him Mansfield was well and that Mrs Mansfield was with him he knew that Mansfield, being tired of the cold North Sea, was happy.  He hoped that Minotaur would be sent out to join him and would truly like Mansfield to be there with him.  He had it strongly in his mind that action was about to happen and that there was nobody whom he would more respect than Mansfield or whose support on the day of trial he would want.

Collingwood said that he was sorry to hear that Minotaur had been “unpooped” and he complained that people knew so little about ships that they would remove the only good observation command station.  Collingwood says he does not think he will much longer sail in ships but hopes he never has the misfortune to serve in one where he is hidden away behind barricades and cannot see anything.  He says he would have no pictures in his house of ships without poops.

He talks a bit about some “news” of Naval movements and personnel, and lastly Collingwood writes he had intended to send back the book he borrowed from Mansfield to Mansfield’s brother but always forgot.  It was not very interesting, so he hopes Mansfield will forgive him and he gives his best regards to Mrs Mansfield.