Defence
Wood Location
Tomintoul, MORAY, Scotland
Ship Information
Ship Commander - Capt George Hope
Guns - 74
Constructed at - Plymouth
Crew - 550
Killed in the battle - 7
Injured in the battle - 27
Wood Information
Size - 10 acres
Owner - Glenlivet Crown Estate
To be planted - October 2005
Scotland has a strong maritime past and her people made a significant contribution to the Battle of Trafalgar:
- Five of the 27 Captains of the Fleet were Scottish;
- Almost 30% of the 18,000 strong crew were from Scottish towns and fishing villages;
- The youngest crew member in the Battle of Trafalgar was a cabin boy aged 10 years old from Leith;
- Nelson’s own doctor, and the woman who embalmed his body when he died, were also Scottish;
Scotland’s industry also contributed to this historical event, by producing and supplying sails for the ships from the jute mills of Dundee, iron for the canons from the Carron Works in Falkirk, charcoal from the forests of Northern Argyll which was used to fire the canons and timber products from Scotland’s woods which were used to construct the fleet of Trafalgar ships.
This new woodland is named after the HMS Defence, which was captained by a Scotsman. The Banffshire area has a long maritime history, with active ports to the North along the Moray coast. Many of the Scottish crew members who took part in the Battle hailed from the Northeast of Scotland.
The Glenlivet Crown Estate grew locally collected seeds to produce saplings that were planted in Defence Wood. The riparian wood is of a natural shape and although it has some oaks, it is for the most part be made up of willow, gean, rowan, birch, hawthorn, a few Scots pine and alder which suit the ground. There are paths for the public through the site. The wood is situated in the middle of the Glenlivet Estate and is quite visible from the main tourist route through the area.
The Glenlivet Estate has an extremely important presence in the community and landscape of Banffshire. It has a long-standing tradition of fostering sustainable economic development by promoting tourism, public access and land diversification. It already publicises a number of nature trails and woodland walks and is keen to promote Scotland’s native woodlands. Over the past few years, the Rangers service in Glenlivet Crown Estate has held a number of events for local children and the local community. This project enables the Estate to once again demonstrate its commitment to conserving native woodland and to demonstrate its desire to give something back to the people of Banffshire.
Events in Defence Wood
On 28th October 2005 it was all hands on deck as almost 100 school children from Tomintoul and Glenlivet Primary schools helped plant this unique woodland. They were helped and coached in their task by Captain Boss of the HMS Beautiful Flower), Mrs Know it All (the pub landlady who has all the gossip for sailors) and Andrew Miller, a crewman on the Defence.
More information
George Hope
Son of Hon. Charles Hope-Vere by his third wife, Helen, daughter of George Dunbar, and was grandson of Charles, 1st Earl of Hopetoun. He was born in 1767, and entered the service in 1782. He commanded the Defence, in the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805, and was much distinguished – received the gold medal, the thanks of Parliament, and a sword of honour from the Patriotic Fund. He was for some time MP for East Grinstead in Sussex, and was appointed a Major-General in the Royal Marines in 1818. He died at the Admiralty in 1818, and was buried at Westminster Abbey Connections.
HMS Defence
HMS Defence was built at Plymouth and launched in 1763 and was over forty years old by the time of the Battle of Trafalgar. Although one of the smaller two deck 74 gun ships she had a highly distinguished record and a long list of battle honours to her credit. In the War of American Independence she took part in the Moonlight Battle off the coast of Spain, served off the North American coast and also had a spell of duty in the Indian Ocean. After war commenced with France, Defence fought in the battles of the Glorious First of June 1794, the Nile 1798 and Copenhagen 1801 as well as taking part in other actions, and at Trafalgar was stationed in Admiral Collingwood’s line astern of HMS Thunderer.
Before rejoining the fleet on the 21st October, Defence was part of the squadron supporting the frigates close to Cadiz, and formed part of the chain of ships that signalled one to another to report that the French and Spanish ships were sailing under the command of Admiral Villeneuve. Her signal officer, Midshipman Huskisson, thought ‘that Defence was the finest sailor in the fleet’, and shared the cockpit with ‘messmates (who) were most of them from Scotland and good humoured, pleasant young men’. Captain Hope also had Scottish connections, being the grandson of the Earl of Hopetown.
Being almost last in the line it was after 2 p.m. before Defence joined the battle, and engaged the French Berwick (74 guns ) previously a British ship captured by the French in 1795. Huskisson described how in less than an hour’ her mizen mast was over the side, her main and foremasts faltering and her fire had become very languid’. Berwick broke off the engagement and Defence then took on the Spanish San Ildefonso (74 guns), which had already been damaged in fighting with other ships. After a fierce action lasting less than an hour the Spanish ship struck her flag, and boats were sent to take possession and bring back her commander - a Spanish Commodore, Don Jose de Varga. Defence suffered damage to her masts and rigging but only 34 casualties, and anchored after the battle to ride out the storm. Berwick was wrecked during the gale but San Ildefonso was successfully brought into Gibraltar.
Defence returned to England for repairs at Portsmouth, and was wrecked on the coast off Jutland on the 24th January, 1811 when there were only five survivors. Captain Hope had by then gone on to command other ships including HMS Victory, and was promoted to Rear Admiral.
Many thanks to Alan Aberg at the Society for Nautical Research for providing us with information on the ships and their commanders.
