The Guillaume Tell (80) was one of the magnificent ships built in Toulon by Jacques-Noel Sané during the 1790s. She fought at Nelson’s victory at the battle of the Nile in 1798, but had the good fortune to be stationed towards the end of the French line, and was able to escape from the disastrous battle that virtually destroyed France’s Mediterranean fleet. She fled to Valletta in Malta, which was then under French control and became trapped there when a Royal Navy squadron arrived to blockade the island. Soon a small British army was landed, and they laid siege to Valletta. By February 1800 the situation was desperate. A relieving force sent from France had been intercepted at sea and the g
George Anson is best known for leading a squadron of Royal Navy ships into the largely unexplored Pacific Ocean in 1740, but his achievements were so much more. He was a talented fleet commander and a brilliant First Lord of the Admiralty during the Seven Years War. His time in office saw the rebuilding of the Royal Navy into a modern force that would project British power across the globe during the Seven Years War. He was born into an aristocratic family in Staffordshire in 1697 and joined the navy as a 15 year-old volunteer in February 1712, during the War of Spanish Succession. A combination of his obvious talent and the influence of his family (his uncle was Lord Chancellor), saw him qu
