Naiad

Wood Location - Lundie, Near Dundee, ANGUS Scotland

Ship Information
Ship Commander - Capt Thomes Dundas
Guns - 38

Wood Information
Size - 5 hectares
Owner - James Cayzer
To be planted - March and April 2006

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.

Naiad Wood will be planted in quite an exposed area and will be made up of mostly native broadleaves, with a fringe of some Scots pine for shelter. This wood is about 6 miles outside of Dundee and is adjacent to a trout pond/public fishery owned by the estate. A public walk will be created around the perimeter of the pond and on up to the site.

Events in Naiad Wood
A schools planting day will take place in the Spring 2006 for local schools to take part in.

A community planting day will take place in Spring 2006. More details to follow.

Thomas Dundas
Captain Thomas Dundas entered the Royal Navy in 1778 and served in America before the French Revolutionary Wars commenced in 1793. He took command of the Naiad in 1804 and later reached the rank of Vice Admiral. He died in 1841.

HMS Naiad
HMS Naiad was built by Hall and Co. at Limehouse on the River Thames and launched in 1797. She was one of a group of large frigates and at Trafalgar served with the other frigates on the station outside Cadiz, where a watch was kept on the French and Spanish fleets holed up in port. During the battle Naiad maintained her distance and lay to windward of the action where she could assist when commanded, and towed the dismasted Belleisle to Gibraltar which was reached on the 24th October.

Under Captain Pierrepont, Naiad was first commissioned in 1798 and shared in the capture of the French Decade (36 guns), which only surrendered after an hour’s engagement when other British ships appeared. On October 15th 1799 the Naiad sighted at 8 p. m. two Spanish frigates, the Santa Brigada (36 guns) and Thetis (36 guns) and gave chase. Two other British frigates joined the chase, and Spanish ships separated, HMS Ethalian catching and capturing the Thetis. After a long pursuit the Naiad and HMS Almene captured the Santa Brigada on the 17th. Both Spanish frigates were returning to Spain from Mexico and carried gold specie valued at £600.000, £120 million in modem currency, which made this one of the riches prizes to fall to the Royal Navy. When the prize money was divided every seaman in the three frigates received £182-4-91/2d (36.600) and other ranks higher sums, each captain being awarded £40.730-18-Od (8.146.000).

Naiad took part in many other actions in the period before the war ended in 1815, and served on commissions in the Mediterranean until 1826. She was paid off at Portsmouth and hulked, but in 1846 was sent to out to Valparaiso in Chile to serve as a depot ship and from 1851 - 1898 performed similar duties at Callao. When she was broken up in 1898 Naiad had survived longer than any other British ship at Trafalgar except for HMS Victory.

Many thanks to Alan Aberg at the Society for Nautical Research for providing us with information on the ships and their commanders.