Bellerophon

A Full, True, and Particular Account of the Execution of Robert Hartley, Who Was Hanged on Penenden Heath, Near Maidstone, in Kent, on Thursday Last, the 2d January, 1823, for Wilfully Stabbing Captain Owen, of the Bellerophon Convict Ship, at Sheerness, on the 29th of August Last, Where the Prisoner Was Confined as a Convict : Together With His Behaviour After Condemnation, and at the Place of Execution . . .

Some tales,—no, all!—are just too rich to tell,

Among them that of HMS Bellerophon

A third-rate warship in Britain's Royal Navy,

Whose sailors called her Billy Ruffian,

Pretending themselves too proud to pronounce Greek,

Which fought in the three great battles

Of the War at sea, and from the last of them,

Trafalgar, brought home the corpse of Admiral Nelson

Pickled in brandy in a cask, like peaches in a jar.

They fought in those days for Glory, la gloire.

If that were not enough for fame, ten years later,

Defeated Napoleon surrendered to her captain after Waterloo.

Then in the long sniveling years of peace,

renamed Captivity in 1824,

She carried convicts to Australia.

They broke her up I read in ’36.

To build a ship like that took four thousand trees,*

For hearts of oak must pay a price like these!

*Building an eighteenth-century ship of the line typically required between 2,000 and 6,000 mature trees, mostly oak. Smaller ships of the line used around 2,000 to 4,000 trees, while massive first-rate flagships like HMS Victory took up to 6,000 trees.—Gemini AI

Saturday, October 17, 2026