Making History: Radio 4
Tuesday 22 December 2007: John Wells' letter
The 'Making History' team got in touch again recently with an interesting enquiry. One of their listeners had submitted a letter, dated 30 October 1805 and written on the ship Britannia, which they had found inside an old book about shipping - purchased at a charity sale. The big question was whether this letter was genuine...
I had my doubts as, despite old-fashioned handwriting, the paper did not feel like it originated in the early nineteenth century. To help authenticate the letter, I did some background research using the following sources:
Published
Sources
Roger Knight, The Pursuit of Victory: The Life and Achievement of Horatio Nelson (London, 2005)
Robert Holden Mackenzie, Trafalgar
Roll: the Officers, the Men, the Ships (1913)
N.A.M. Rodger, The
Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of
Peter
Warwick, Voices from the
Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817 (London, 2005)
The
National Archives
The Trafalgar Database - www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/trafalgarancestors/
Letter by an officer of the Britannia
describing the Battle of Trafalgar 1805
Copy of a letter of James West,
Britannia, off
The
Royal Naval Museum
Two files of papers covering the career of Lieutenant John Wells (1784-1840) from Ordinary Seaman to Lieutenant. The collection includes; certificates, letters of appointment, and commissions for his career 1803-1816. Also a letter and sketch written as Quarter Master in HMS Britannia describing the Battle of Trafalgar, and a signal book and codes from HMS Excellent c.1808.
