The Royal Navy of Nelson’s time was such a huge organisation, that it is sometimes hard to comprehend its full scope. Indeed, during the Napoleonic Wars it was by far the largest employer in the entire world.

Not only did the Royal Navy maintain a fleet of close on 1,000 ships, including over 100 line of battle ships, but it was also responsible for the entire organisation of maintaining them at sea. From the recruitment of crews, the maintenance and protection of bases throughout the world, the production and delivery of food supplies to feed this vast fleet and the procurement of naval supplies to keep the ships at sea, it was all the responsibility of this vast organisation.

The Royal Navy was often Britain’s last line of defence and many of its most successful officers became superstars, although none eclipsed Admiral Lord Nelson, who became the personification of the Navy. The whole country revelled in their successes and ‘Jolly Jack Tar’ became a source of national pride and a huge number of naval terms were taken into normal life and many are often still used to this very day.

_Nelson's Navy in 100 Objects_ investigates all aspects of this incredible organisation and the lives of the men who served within it, including Nelson himself, using historical artefacts and naval terms that are now part of everyday language to illustrate them.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• 1. Wind Direction Indicator or ‘Tell Tale’ in the Board Room of the Admiralty
• 2. Badge of the Royal Ordnance Department
• 3. The ‘Nelson Staircase’ which Ascended to the Navy Board Offices, Somerset House
• 4. A Contemporary Print of Haslar Hospital in Portsmouth
• 5. Flag of the Transport Board
• 6. Ships’ Biscuit
• 7. Uniform of a Ship’s Surgeon
• 8. Ship’s Plans of HMS Agamemnon
• 9. Plan of the Dockyard and Defences of Portsmouth
• 10. Admiralty Model of the Hull of a 40-gun Frigate
• 11. A Copper Plate from the Sheathing of HMS Victory
• 12. Mast of HMS Trincomalee with Four Yards
• 13. Rigging on HMS Victory
• 14. Hemp Yarn
• 15. Sail from HMS Victory Used at Trafalgar, Showing Shot Holes
• 16. A Ship’s Anchor at Greenwich
• 17. A 24-pounder Cannon dated 1807 on a Naval Gun Carriage, Fort Erie, Canada
• 18. Gunpowder Magazine and Filling Room, HMS Victory
• 19. The Figurehead of HMS Ajax built in 1809
• 20. Ship’s Toilets, HMS Victory
• 21. A Cannonball Embedded in the Oak Timbers of HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar
• 22. The Rope Walk at Chatham Dockyard
• 23. A Hand-Operated Seawater Pump, HMS Victory
• 24. 12-pounder Carronade
• 25. HMS Trincomalee, a Fifth Rate Frigate
• 26. The First Rate HMS Victory Afloat
• 27. French Prisoner of War Bone Model of HMS Temeraire
• 28. The Stern Gallery of the 74-gun HMS Implacable
• 29. Painting of HMS Abergavenny in 1801
• 30. HMS Trincomalee, a 46-gun Frigate
• 31. Model of the Hull of HMS Carysfort, 28 guns
• 32. The Reconstructed Brig HMS Pickle at Sea
• 33. Model of a British Gunboat circa 1800
• 34. Painting of the Battle of Basque Roads, 1809
• 35. A 12-pounder Naval Mortar
• 36. A ‘Leaguer’ Water Barrel used to Transport Nelson’s Body Home
• 37. Sea Service Pistol
• 38. HMS Victory Firing a Broadside in Drydock in Portsmouth
• 39. The Red Ensign from 1800
• 40. Admiralty Commission for the Captain of HMS Ramillies
• 41. Original Lieutenant’s Jacket circa 1805
• 42. Contemporary Painting of a Warrant Officer
• 43. Ship’s Speaking Trumpet 1801
• 44. A Purser’s Button
• 45. A ‘Bosun’s Start’ – Rather a Fine Example Made out of Snake Skin
• 46. Carpenter’s Workshop HMS Victory
• 47. Painting of Divine Service On Board a Frigate
• 48. Admiral’s Barge HMS Victory
• 49. Ship’s Wheel with Binnacle for a Light and Two Compasses, HMS Victory
• 50. Model of the Murray Shutter Semaphore System
• 51. Contemporary Chart of Halifax, Nova Scotia
• 52. Turner’s Painting of the Wreck of HMS Minotaur, 1793
• 53. Midshipman’s Fighting Sword circa 1805
• 54. The Royal Naval Academy, Portsmouth
• 55. Marine Compass
• 56. Recruiting Poster for the Royal Navy circa 1793
• 57. A Press Gang Cudgel
• 58. A Swatch of Cloth for the Royal Marine Uniform and the Lining Material sent by a Supplier to the Admiralty in October 1806
• 59. Ship’s Bell, HMS Victory
• 60. A Seaman’s Jacket
• 61. An Officer’s Trunk
• 62. Sailors’ Hammocks
• 63. A Chocolate Pot from HMS Triton
• 64. Thomas Rowlandson Cartoon of a Ship’s Cook
• 65. A Mess Table on HMS Victory
• 66. Skull Clearly Showing the Effects of Scurvy
• 67. Early Photograph of a Sailing Whaling Ship
• 68. A Barrel of Salt Pork
• 69. A Rum Cask
• 70. Congreve Rocket
• 71. HMS Victory Flying Nelson’s Signal ‘England Expects That Every Man Will Do His Duty’
• 72. Water Cask Captured from the Spanish San Josef at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 1797
• 73. Powder Horn
• 74. Leather Tube for Carrying Powder Charges, HMS Ganges
• 75. Spanish Admiral Gravina’s Personal Statement on the Battle of Cape Finisterre
• 76. Identifying Flags Flown by Each Ship at the Battle of Camperdown
• 77. Naval Dockyard, Bermuda
• 78. Contemporary Print of the Main Deck of a Warship with Women On Board
• 79. Ship’s Chronometer from Baudin’s Expedition to Australia
• 80. Gravestones in the Naval Cemetery at Gibraltar
• 81. Contemporary View of the Naval Base at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1804
• 82. Some of the Huge Treasure of Gold and Silver On Board the Nuestra Senora De Las Mercedes
• 83. Victorian Photograph of Three Hulks Moored at Plymouth
• 84. Stern Windows of HMS Trincomalee
• 85. Greenwich Royal Naval Hospital
• 86. Contemporary View of Port Royal, Jamaica
• 87. Admiralty House, Trincomalee, Purchased in 1810
• 88. An Original Bombay Marine Flag
• 89. Surgeon’s Amputation Saw circa 1800
• 90. Death Mask of Richard Parker
• 91. Superb Diorama of a ‘Cutting Out’ Expedition
• 92. A Pair of Slave Shackles
• 93. A Cat of Nine Tails
• 94. British Letter of Marque issued in 1813
• 95. Contemporary Depiction of the Landing at Aboukir Bay, 1801
• 96. A Patriotic Fund £100 Sword
• 97. Contemporary Image of the Revenue Cutter Greyhound in Chase
• 98. Naval Officer’s Gold Medal 1794–1815
• 99. Staffordshire Ceramic Figurines of the ‘Sailor’s Farewell’ and the ‘Sailor’s Return’
• 100. Colourised Photograph of Nelson’s Foudroyant which Ran Aground at Blackpool in 1897