Frendsbury

The Bellerophon

In this article, Derek Barnard tells us about the latest book on the Bellerophon

When my interest in the history of Frindsbury was limited to living there and listening to what the older generation had to tell me about the place, I took a liking to the Alexander Kent novels of Richard Bolitho. He was a naval officer of the Napoleonic wars and when he graduated to become captain of a frigate, in the book ‘Command a King’s Ship’, the frontispiece was a drawing of a fictional frigate built at Frindsbury. This was my first indication of ship building in the parish. Later an article in Kent Life gave a brief history of the Bellerophon, one of the most famous of British wooden warships built in the Greaves and Nicholson yard on the Frindsbury shore of Limehouse Reach. I did further research and to keep the Editor from nagging produced an article for The Newsletter in May 1995 on this ship. With minor adaptations this was part of ‘Merrily to Frendsbury’, when published the following year, prompting the book reviewer for Bygone Kent to complain that I had diverted from Frindsbury’s history to tell the ‘complete’ story of the Bellerophon.

In 1999, when browsing through the collection of naval books in the Studies Centre, I found a book by Colin Pengelly published in 1966 called ‘The First Bellerophon’. I soon acquired a copy through Baggins and realised after reading the 288 pages, how wrong the Bygone Kent reviewer had been. In the Author’s Foreword he says that with the exception of the Victory no other single ship of the Royal Navy has ever had a book written solely about herself. I don’t know if that is still true but now she has two.

When I was contacted by David Cordingly, a naval author, regarding a book he was writing on the same ship I naturally thought, “Its already been done”. But, of course, he knew that but had decided a modern well-researched update had a future. We spent a pleasant time confirming the location on the shore where the ship had been built, discussing the history of the area and studying the layout of the river from the tower of Frindsbury church. In September his book` was in the bookshops and it is a must for those of us interested in historic events locally that have also become part of national history.

There are good clear maps at the front of the book showing the areas of the ships activity, for those of us whose geography would not rate a ‘D’, and the story is told in a style that holds your interest throughout, with just enough information on the general scheme of things to understand why Bellerophon is where she is at any given time. The first three chapters cover her early life on the Medway before moving out into the wider world. The battle descriptions are excellent, she was the first to engage the enemy on The Glorious First of June and was in the thick of the action at the Battle of the Nile and Trafalgar. I felt, for the first time, that I began to understand the sequence of events and the degree of skill needed to put these ships where you wanted them at such times. The period spent by Napoleon on the ship a few months after his defeat at Waterloo is brought to life by the narrative while the description of the Bellerophon becoming a prison hulk, after its long and heroic service, is very moving. There are nearly 80 illustrations, many in colour, my favourite being the painting by John James Chalon of the Bellerophon in August 1815 at anchor in Plymouth Sound, surrounded by hundreds of small boats rowed out for the occupants to get a glimpse of the man who had been a threat to the security of Britain for so many years.  I certainly enjoyed this book and hope you will too.

‘Billy Ruffian’ by David Cordingly published by Bloomsbury at £16-99.

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