Pickle
Wood Location
Auchterader, PERTH AND KINROSS, Scotland
Ship Information
Ship Commander - Lieut John Richards Laponetiere
Guns - 10
Wood Information
Size - 15 acres
Owner - Richard Haldane
To be planted - November 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 woodland will be named after the schooner Pickle. The Haldane Family are direct descendents of Admiral Adam Duncan, who was a famous Naval hero from Dundee and, most importantly, Lord Nelson’s naval compatriot. Admiral Duncan was born and raised in Dundee’s Seagate and later settled in the city at Camperdown Estate, which is now a large park and nature reserve well-loved by citizens of Dundee. Admiral Duncan married a Haldane and today, a portrait of his beloved wife hangs in Cloan House. The Pickle Wood will serve as a timeless reminder of the Haldane Family’s historical naval connections.
Pickle Wood will follow the line of the hill with a footpath around it's perimeter. It will be made up of about 85% Scots pine and native broadleaved species, including lots of oak, with a boundary of mixed broadleaves and shrubs.
Events in Pickle Wood
On 15th and 16th November 2005, over 200 primary school children from Auchterarder Primary got their hands and feet muddy, helping to plant this site. In all they managed to plant almost 2,000 native trees and managed to set sail on their very own HMS Beautiful Flower.
John Richard Lapenotiere
Lapenotiere was the son of a naval officer born at Ilfracombe, Somerset in 1770 and had served on expeditions to the South Seas 1785-88, and later in the Channel, the West Indies and Mediterranean. He was immediately promoted commander for his services at Trafalgar, became a captain in 1815 and after retiring died in 1834 at Fanny Vale, near Liskeard, Cornwall.
HMS Pickle
HMS Pickle was a lightly built and armed schooner built privately in Bermuda and purchased for the Royal Navy in 1800. She served in the fleet as a despatch vessel and was never expected to take part in a fleet battle, so that at Trafalgar she was attached to the frigates that kept watch on the French and Spanish fleets in Cadiz. Pickle was therefore stationed to windward of the British line until required to assist in rescuing survivors, principally those from the French Achille (74 guns) after she caught fire. The Pickle rescued 50 of the crew from the sea, including one woman, who gave her name as Jeannette, the wife of one of the crew. She had concealed herself aboard the Achille but her identity became known when she was forced to strip off her clothes and jump into the sea, where the Pickle found her clinging to a broken spar. She and the other prisoners were transferred to HMS Revenge, where she was looked after until she could be landed at Gibraltar, rejoining her husband who had been picked up by another British ship.
Lieutenant Lapenotiere was chosen to take Lord Collingwood’s despatches with the news of Trafalgar to England. Pickle sailed for England on the 26th October. She reached Falmouth eight days later and Lapenotiere rode post-haste to London covering the 263 miles in 36 hours to deliver his dispatches to the Admiralty in Whitehall, which he reached at 1 a.m. on the 5th November, 1805.
HMS Pickle was later wrecked off Cadiz when carrying despatches in 1808, filling very quickly after striking a shoal as she was about to enter harbour. The despatches were later recovered by a Maltese diver.
Many thanks to Alan Aberg at the Society for Nautical Research for providing us with information on the ships and their commanders.
