Today we have episode 7 of our Iconic Ships mini-series in which a curator of a historic ship makes a case for their ship being iconic, or a historian takes a ship from history but which sadly no longer survives and make a case for that ship being iconic. 

HMS Bellerophon - known fondly as the Billy Ruffian - was a Third 74-gun ship of the line with one of the most extraordinary careers of any warship in the great age of sail. She was the first ship to engage the Revolutionary French at The Glorious First of June in 1794; she made up the fleet under Horatio Nelson, hunting the French and assisting in their destruction at the Battle of the Nile in 1798; and she fought under Nelson once more against the combined French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. As well as these larger events, she spent time on blockade duty off the coast of France, defended the West Indies whilst based on the Jamaica Station and kept an eye on the Spanish, in Cadiz. She transported Napoleon Bonaparte to Britain after his surrender in 1815, perhaps one of the events she is most renowned for, before ending up as a Prison Hulk on the Medway and then later in Plymouth.

The story is told today by naval historian Kate Jamieson who you can (and should) all follow on Twitter @Kejamieson_

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.