Naval War College Review Volume 63 Article 21 Number 1 Winter

2010 Eyes of the Admiralty: J. T. Serres—an Artist in the Channel Fleet, 1799–1800 John B. Hattendorf

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Recommended Citation Hattendorf, John B. (2010) "Eyes of the Admiralty: J. T. Serres—an Artist in the Channel Fleet, 1799–1800," Naval War College Review: Vol. 63 : No. 1 , Article 21. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol63/iss1/21

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BOOK REVIEWS 167 Hattendorf: Eyes of the Admiralty: J. T. Serres—an Artist in the Channel Flee

lesser Axis members) is presented in nineteen books and coauthored several contextbutwithoutexcesssympathy. others. He is a fellow of the Royal The ideology and associated atrocities Historical Society. of Germany and Japan strengthened Because this work is “a general overview morale at home and intimidated some, of military events” with some emphasis but brutality prevented any prospect of on correcting popular misunderstand- willing economic or military support ings, it offers a great deal to readers at from conquered areas, particularly every level of expertise. This sweeping China and the non-Russian parts of the history provides the reader with great Soviet Union. The failure of the Ger- insights into World War II in particular man and Japanese governments to mo- but also into enduring issues, including bilize their economies effectively when relationships between military, at war contrasts with efforts by the key political, and economic power. Allied powers. BRENT BOSTON Willmott argues convincingly against nu- Commander, U.S. Navy merous popular ideas concerning the war. He attacks the “myth of German military excellence,” offering numerous examples of error and failure in military efforts and

in related economic and political activi- Barritt, M. K. EyesoftheAdmiralty:J.T.Serres— ties. He highlights the paramount impor- an Artist in the Channel Fleet, 1799–1800. Lon- tance of the Russian front, covering the don: Hydrographic Office and National Mari- enormous scale of combat and the tre- time Museum, 2008. 144pp. $39.95 mendous improvement in Soviet military For centuries, the port of Brest in strategic and operational skill. northwestern France has been the chief This work is rich with comparisons be- naval base and dockyard for French na- tween campaigns, strategies, and coun- val operations in the North Atlantic and tries, and it covers land, sea, and air the Channel. For Britain, during the operations with good balance. Numer- NapoleonicWars—aswellasinallthe ous statistics illustrate key ideas and maritime wars between Britain and strengthen the historical narrative. Doz- France in 1689 and 1815—the French ens of maps help illustrate key cam- Brest squadron was a central threat to paigns. Also, the general index is useful. the Royal Navy. British naval strategy to Corrections to page numbers in the counter this threat had a number of ele- “Campaign Index” planned for the sec- ments. The Royal Navy’s Channel ond printing will make this book in- Squadron had, as a primary duty, the valuable. The bibliography organizes blockade of Brest. These operations suggestions into fourteen categories served the strategic function of deter- that reflect regions or themes in a way ring the Brest squadron from leaving that may compensate for the absence of port and, thereby, of preventing it from citations. launching an invasion force against Britain or its overseas possessions, at- Willmott’s impressive credentials in- tacking the British fleet, or interfering clude faculty experience at several uni- with British warships and merchant versities and at the Royal Military convoys that were using the nearby Academy Sandhurst. He has written

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168 NAVAL WAR COLLEGE REVIEW Naval War College Review, Vol. 63 [2010], No. 1, Art. 21

sea-lanes en route to various other parts very end of his life, in 1791, the title of of the world. Given the central impor- Marine Painter to King George III. On tance of dealing with the French naval his death two years later, his son, John threat, British naval activities off Brest Thomas Serres, who was already Master are important in naval history and, not Draughtsman to the Admiralty, surprisingly, they feature too in the inherited his father’s position. widely read historical naval novels that Serres’s beautiful and informative aresetintheperiodofthenavalwarsof sketches and paintings from this impor- the French Revolution and Napoleon. tant mission have lain long unnoticed This volume is about a British naval in- by naval historians at the archives of telligence operation off Brest in 1799– Britain’s Hydrographic Office in Taun- 1800. The story begins at a critical mo- ton, Devon. Captain Michael K. Barritt, ment. The Second Coalition against Royal Navy (retired), has now brought France had just been formed in June them to light in a beautifully produced 1799, and in December Napoleon was volume that is accompanied by Barritt’s making his way back from Egypt to well researched, skillfully written, and overthrow the Directory and to make informative history of Serres’s mission. himself First Consul. In London, halfway Barritt first came to learn of this mate- between those events in September 1799, rial when in 2003 he retired after the First Secretary of the Admiralty, thirty-three years of naval service, hav- Evan Nepean, found that nothing avail- ing risen to become Hydrographer of able in any government office in London the Royal Navy. Fascinated by a framed provided a detailed visual image of Brest image from this series that he received that the First Sea Lord, Admiral Lord St. as a retirement gift, he set out on a re- Vincent, could use to understand the op- search quest to understand more about erational challenges or opportunities it. This book is the result of that re- that the port presented. To fill this gap in search, which is informed by his naval British naval intelligence, Nepean or- career and professional hydrographic dered John Thomas Serres to report im- expertise as well as by his undergradu- mediately to a frigate with the inshore ate education in history under Piers squadron on blockading duty to paint a Mackesy at Pembroke College, Oxford. series of views of Brest and the nearby The story that Barritt tells in this vol- coast of Brittany. ume is a valuable contribution to naval John Thomas Serres (1759–1825) was history, one that directly complements the son of Dominic Serres (1719–93), a the documents in the Navy Records So- French merchant seaman, who had ciety’s volume edited by Roger Morriss, been captured in 1748 and brought to The Channel Fleet and the Blockade of England. Making his hobby of drawing Brest, 1793–1801 (vol. 141, 2001). At the and painting into a lucrative new ca- same time, Barritt describes in this reer, the elder Serres had become one of beautifully illustrated volume a naval the founders of the Royal Society of Art. mission that is full of action and inter- His evocative and highly accurate de- est for both the general reader and the pictions of naval battles during the War naval professional. of the American Revolution had JOHN B. HATTENDORF brought him wide praise and, at the Naval War College

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