Drake, Nelson and Napoleon — Reading Notes

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In Category - Modern Nations

Authors: Runciman, Walter Runciman, Baron, 1847-1937 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2005 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Drake, Francis, approximately 1540-1596; Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount, 1758-1805 -- Military leadership; Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Knowledge -- Naval art and science Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 95,479

Reading time 416 min

Text sections 12

The source record for Drake, Nelson and Napoleon — Reading Notes measures this digital text at 95,479 words, 6 hr 56 min estimated reading time, and 12 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 26.7 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Drake, Francis, approximately 1540-1596,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #15299

A study of three naval figures by a shipping magnate, blending personal memoir with strategic analysis. The author draws on his own seafaring experience to examine leadership, seamanship, and the contrasting temperaments of Drake, Nelson, and Napoleon.

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Drake was not merely a seaman and the creator of generations of sailors, but he was also a sea warrior of superb naval genius. It was he who invented the magnificent plan of searching for his country's enemies in every creek into which he could get a craft. He also imbued Her Gracious Majesty and Her Gracious Majesty's seamen with the idea that in warfare on sea or land it is a first principle to strike first if you wish to gain the field and hold it. Having smashed his antagonist, he regarded it as a plain duty in the name of God to live on his beaten foes and seize their treasures of gold, silver, diamonds, works of art, etc., wherever these could be laid hold of. The First Lady of the Land was abashed at the gallant sailor's bold piratical efforts. She would not touch the dirty, ill-gotten stuff until the noble fellow had told her the fascinating story of his matchless adventures and slashing successes. Doubtless the astute Admiral had learned that his blameless Queen was only averse to sharing with him the plunder of a risky voyage until he had assured her again and again that her cousin, Philip of Spain, had his voracious eye on her life, her throne, and all her British possessions, wherever they might be.

The valiant seaman appears to have played daintily and to good effect with the diabolical acts of the Spaniards, such as the burning of English seamen, until they roused in Elizabeth the spirit of covetousness and retaliation. It was easy then for her incorruptible integrity (!) to surrender to temptation. A division of what had been taken from Philip's subjects was forthwith piously made. Elizabeth, being the chief of the contracting parties, took with her accustomed grace the queenly share. On one occasion she walked in the parks with Drake, held a royal banquet on board the notorious _Pelican_, and knighted him; while he, in return for these little attentions, lavished on his Queen presents of diamonds, emeralds, etc. The accounts which have been handed down to us seem, in these days, amazing in their cold-blooded defiance of honourable dealing. But we must face the hard facts of the necessity of retaliation against the revolting deeds of the Inquisition and the determined, intriguing policy of worming Popery into the hearts of a Protestant nation, and then we realize that Drake's methods were the "invention" of an inevitable alternative either to fight this hideous despotism with more desperate weapons and greater vigour than the languid, luxury-loving Spaniards had taken the trouble to create or succumb to their tremendous power of wealth and wickedness. Drake was the chosen instrument of an inscrutable destiny, and we owe it to him that the divided England of that day was saved from annihilation. He broke the power of Spain at sea, and established England as the first naval and mercantile Power in the world. He was the real founder of generations of seamen, and his undying fame will inspire generations yet unborn to maintain the supremacy of the seas.

The callous, brutal attitude of Elizabeth towards a race of men who had given their lives and souls so freely in every form of danger and patriotic adventure because they believed it to be a holy duty is one of the blackest pages of human history. The cruelties of the Spanish Inquisition and the treatment of sailors in the galleys were only different in degree, and while there are sound reasons for condemning the Queen and the ruling classes of that time for conduct that would not be tolerated in these days, it is unquestionably true that it was a difficult task to keep under control the spirit of rebellion of that period, as it is to-day. Doubtless those in authority were, in their judgment, compelled to rule with a heavy hand in order to keep in check wilful breaches of discipline.

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Walter Runciman, a British shipping magnate and yachtsman, brings a practitioner's eye to the study of three naval commanders. His dedicatory letter to Sir James Knott recalls “joyous yachting cruises on the Clyde” and “week-end strolls together by the edge of the inspiriting splendour of the blue North Sea,” grounding the book in lived maritime experience. The preface explains that the work evolved from sea-tales told “in a cosy room,” and that Runciman was “prevailed upon” to write. This personal origin shapes the book’s voice: it is less a formal history than a reflective, opinionated assessment by a man who knew ships and the sea.

A Seaman’s Perspective on Command

Runciman’s analysis of Nelson’s pursuit of Villeneuve to the West Indies reveals a mind attuned to practical seamanship. He notes the difficulty of keeping a fleet together when “some were faster than others, and many had foul bottoms,” and describes the “manipulation of yards and sails” required to maintain line. The anecdote of Commander Keats’s Superb, a ship “continuously in commission since 1801” and in “bad condition,” illustrates the tension between strategic ambition and material reality. Nelson’s permission for Keats to “constantly carry a press of canvas” shows a leader who balanced tactical necessity with personal loyalty—yet the Superb’s sluggishness meant it missed Trafalgar. Runciman’s own experience with ship management informs these observations, lending them a credibility absent from purely academic accounts.

The Inheritance of Naval Spirit

A recurring thread in Runciman’s narrative is the idea of a transmitted naval tradition. He writes that the “terrible spirit which shattered and scattered Spanish Philip’s armada was an inheritance that had grown deep into every fibre of the generations of seamen that followed Hawkins and Drake’s invincibles.” This is not merely rhetorical flourish; Runciman uses it to explain Nelson’s confidence in his men. When Nelson delivers “death-or-glory heroics,” he does so “with the consciousness that he was the spirit that enthused masses of other spirits.” The phrasing suggests a view of command as a kind of spiritual contagion, passed from one generation of sailors to the next. Runciman’s own career in steamship management—breaking down “weevilly traditions of a bygone age”—adds an ironic counterpoint: he admires the old spirit even as he helped modernize the industry.

Speed, Time, and the Logic of Pursuit

Runciman’s account of Nelson’s transatlantic chase is punctuated by precise temporal and spatial details. The British fleet made the passage from Lagos Bay to Barbadoes in “twenty-four days,” while the French took “thirty-four from Cadiz to Martinique,” giving Nelson a “gain of ten days.” Yet this advantage did not yield decisive battle; the French had been “three weeks in the West Indies” but had done “no further mischief than to take the Diamond Rock.” Runciman presents the pursuit as a feat of endurance and navigation, not a simple triumph. He notes Nelson’s “bewilderment” at conflicting intelligence and his decision to “follow his own head,” pinning his faith on instinct. The tension between speed and uncertainty, between the desire for battle and the elusiveness of the enemy, gives the narrative a dramatic, almost novelistic quality.

Runciman’s book is best approached as a personal meditation on naval leadership rather than a comprehensive history. Readers interested in the technical aspects of sailing and fleet management will find his observations valuable, while those seeking a more conventional biography may be surprised by the author’s digressions into his own experiences. The dedicatory letter and preface establish a tone of affectionate reminiscence that colors the entire work. For a full understanding, one should read the studies in sequence, noting how Runciman’s own career as a shipping magnate shapes his judgments of these iconic figures.

Reading his notes on Nelson’s patience before the storm brought back my own quiet hours watching the tide turn off the Grand Banks. There’s a similar weight in The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company Including that of the French Traders of North-Western Canada and of the North-West, XY, and Astor Fur Companies — Context and Discussion — that old fur brigade patience, the same waiting on weather and will, felt almost like home.