Napoleon’s War at Sea

Abstract

As he stepped onto the deck of the ship, Napoleon Bonaparte received none of the usual pomp and circumstance. Turning to the captain, Napoleon took off his hat and announced, “I have come to throw myself on the protection of your Prince and laws.” Shortly after being shown his cabin aboard HMS Bellerophon, Napoleon insisted on a tour of the large 74-gun ship. Although the British initially refused, Napoleon was soon inspecting every aspect of the ship. Trudging through the decks, Napoleon constantly bombarded Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland with questions, “particularly about anything that appeared to him different from what he had been accustomed to see in French ships of war.” After examining the gun sights, Napoleon “asked the weight of metal [of the guns] on the different decks, disapproving of the mixture of different calibers on the quarter-deck and forecastle.” When taken aboard Admiral Henry Hotham’s flagship the following day, Napoleon continued to inquire about the ships, even questioning “the Admiral and [Captain Maitland] very minutely about the clothing and victualing of the seaman.” As Maitland would later write, “his enquiries were generally much to the purpose, and showed that he had given naval matters a good deal of consideration.”1 Just as Napoleon’s firm grasp of naval affairs awed Captain Maitland, this image of Napoleon would probably surprise most people today. With the exceptions of the Battles of Aboukir Bay and Trafalgar, most works on Napoleon have neglected his other naval endeavors. Napoleon’s astute nautical knowledge, however, should be expected from a man whose childhood and early career constantly involved interaction with the navy and whose assumption of power in France placed him at the head of the second most powerful navy in the world. Challenged with the colossal task of revivifying a navy weakened by the neglect of the Bourbon monarchy and battered by the turbulence of the French Revolution, Napoleon plunged into the minutiae of naval affairs with the same vigor as he did for the army and every other matter of state. As the commander in chief, Napoleon personally devised much of France’s naval strategy and designed many naval operations with the advice of several trusted naval officers. Over the course of his fourteen and one-half years as ruler of