• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Naval Historical Society of Australia

Preserving Australia's Naval History

  • Events
  • Members Area
  • Volunteer
  • Donate
  • Contact us
  • Show Search
  • 0 items
Hide Search
Menu
  • Home
  • Research
    • Where to start
      • Research – We can help!
      • Self help
      • Naval Service Records
      • Library
      • Related Maritime websites
    • Resources
      • Articles
      • On This Day
      • Podcasts
      • Videos
      • Australian Military Ship Losses
      • RAN events on a  Google Earth Map
      • Related Maritime websites
    • Other
      • Newsletters: Call The Hands
      • Occasional Papers
      • Books
      • HMAS Shropshire
      • Book reviews
    • Close
  • Naval Heritage Sites
    • World Heritage Listings
      • Cockatoo Island
    • National Heritage Listings
      • HMAS Sydney II and the HSK Kormoran Shipwreck Sites
      • HMVS Cerberus
    • Commonwealth Heritage Listings
      • Garden Island NSW
      • HMAS Watson
      • HMAS Penguin
      • Spectacle Island Explosives Complex NSW
      • Chowder Bay Naval Facilities
      • Beecroft Peninsula NSW
      • Admiralty House, Garden and Fortifications
      • HMAS Cerberus
      • Naval Offices QLD
      • Garden Island WA
      • Royal Australian Naval College ACT
      • Royal Australian Naval Transmitting Station ACT
    • Close
  • Tours & Cruises
    • Navy in Sydney Harbour Cruise, East
    • Navy in Sydney Harbour Cruise, West
    • 81st. Anniversary Cruise: Sydney under Japanese Attack
    • Sydney Harbour in War and Peace: Bradleys Head Tour
    • Tour of Sub Base Platypus
    • Garden Island Dockyard Heritage Tour
    • Garden Island Northern Hill and Garden Tour
    • Tour Bookings
    • Close
  • About us
    • About Us
      • What we do
      • Our People
      • Office Bearers
      • Become a volunteer
      • Our Goals and Strategy
    • Organisation
      • Victoria Chapter
      • WA Chapter
      • ACT Chapter
    • Close
  • Membership
  • Shop
  • Become a volunteer
  • Donate
You are here: Home / Article topics / Publications / Naval Historical Review / Captain John Cooke, HMS Bellerophon

Captain John Cooke, HMS Bellerophon

A.N. Other · Jun 10, 2005 · Print This Page

Author
A.N. Other and NHSA Webmaster
Subjects
19th century wars, Biographies and personal histories
Tags
L'Pluton, Battle of Trafalgar, L'Aigle, Captain John Cooke, HMS Bellerohon, HMS Victory, HMS Mars, Fougueux
RAN Ships
None noted.
Publication
June 2005 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

Captain John Cooke, HMS Bellerophon || Killed at Trafalgar 1805

In a small column of the Sydney Morning Herald on 14-15 May 2005 ((Community RSVP)) a plaintive request was noted trying to trace the descendants of Captain John Cooke, commanding HMS Bellerophon at the Battle of Trafalgar. He was a conscientious and unorthodox officer, who made an unusual arrangement on the eve of Trafalgar: With his next-in-command he took turns at the watch – a duty that senior officers seldom bothered with.

ONE OF NELSON’S ‘Band of Brothers’, Captain John Cooke of the Bellerophon (( Name taken from Greek mythology; he was the hero who slew the monster Chimaera.)) (74) was amongst one of those favoured by the Commander-in-Chief, together with Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood (who commanded the rearguard of the British Fleet), with an invitation to dinner with Nelson onboard the flagship, HMS Victory (104).

While Bellerophon was leaving her place in the line to close the flagship, her First Lieutenant, William Cumby, spotted a signal flying at the masthead of HMS Mars, the nearest other ship of the line. He called it to Cooke’s attention and they both studied it through their telescopes. Cumby was certain it was signal 370 (‘Enemy is coming out of port’) but Cooke could not be sure, as only the topsails of the Mars were visible over the horizon and the colours were difficult to make out against the sun. Then Mars made her ‘Distant’ signal (which was expressly designed to be seen at extreme long range – a flag, a pendant and a ball, hoisted at different mastheads). It was 370.

Just as the Bellerophon was about to relay the message, Victory signalled her acknowledgement, having made out the signal herself. Another flag from Victory cancelled the dinner, and the next one ordered ‘General Chase, South East’. The roadstead at Cadiz was fifty miles away; the intelligence that the enemy Combined Fleet was leaving port had been passed all that distance in less than two and a half hours from the time the first British frigate had observed it.

Captain Cooke ultimately shared the same fate as Nelson. At nearly the same moment that Nelson was shot, Captain John Cooke himself was hit by a cannon ball. He had just killed a French officer on the Aigle’s quarterdeck and was reloading his pistol when he was struck. His First Lieutenant went to take him below to the surgeon. ‘Let me lie a minute’, said Cooke, and died.

Captain George Duff of the Mars suffered a similar death. When his ship came between the French ships Fougueux and Pluton, their combined broadsides destroyed most of the British ship’s rigging and decapitated her captain. His officers covered the body with the Union Flag until the battle was over.

‘My dear Mamma’ Duff’s son, Norwich, who was a midshipman in the Mars, wrote home the next day, ‘you cannot possibly imagine how unwilling I am to begin this melancholy letter . . .’

Bibliography:

Fighting Sail – Time-Life Books 1979
The Wooden Fighting Ship in the Royal Navy AD 1897 – 1860 by E.H.H. Archibold (Blandford Press, London, revised edition 1972)

Naval Historical Review, 19th century wars, Biographies and personal histories L'Pluton, Battle of Trafalgar, L'Aigle, Captain John Cooke, HMS Bellerohon, HMS Victory, HMS Mars, Fougueux

Primary Sidebar

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Categories

Latest Podcasts

  • The Case of the Unknown Sailor
  • Night of the midget subs — Sydney under attack
  • D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN – Part 1
  • D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN – Part 2
  • D-Day commando on Sword Beach by Commander Jim Speed DSC, RAN – Part 3

Links to other podcasts

Australian Naval History Podcasts
This podcast series examines Australia’s Naval history, featuring a variety of naval history experts from the Naval Studies Group and elsewhere.
Produced by the Naval Studies Group in conjunction with the Submarine Institute of Australia, the Australian Naval Institute, Naval Historical Society and the RAN Seapower Centre

Life on the Line Podcasts
Life on the Line tracks down Australian war veterans and records their stories.
These recordings can be accessed through Apple iTunes or for Android users, Stitcher.

Video Links

  • Australian War Memorial YouTube channel
  • Royal Australian Navy YouTube Channel
  • Research – We can help!
  • Naval Heritage Sites
  • Garden Island Dockyard Heritage Tour
  • About us
  • Shop
  • Events
  • Members Area
  • Volunteer
  • Donate
  • Contact us

Facebook

  • Facebook
  • Members Area
  • Privacy Policy
  • Log Out

Naval Historical Society of Australia Inc. Copyright © 2023