Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB PC RN

Many of my friends have often asked of me what, or rather who, is the Earl of St. Vincent that frequents my online persona and email addresses. Put simply he is Sir John Jervis, Knight Grand  Cross of the Order of Bath, Admiral of the Fleet, and the First Earl of St. Vincent, and member of Historic Members Privy Council. Your right, that isn't quite as simply put as you may have expected. But in my opinion it is a list of titles which reflects the character of the man, once described as saint, once as tyrant. 

Upon inspection he holds the bearing of a man of great arrogance and contempt, and of this I would be inclined to agree but only with the knowledge of his accomplishment can a true interpretation be made. It also shows a thou

ghtfulness not often shared by many naval portraits of the great leaders.

For me Lord St. Vincent will remain my greatest hero of the historical past. A titan amongst his counterparts such as Sir George Rodney, Lord Hood and Lord Melville. As the First Lord of the Admiralty he oversaw unparalleled reforms in the Royal Navy, the likes of which would not be seen again until Lord Fisher took the helm of the Admiralty in the early 20th Century nearly one hundred years later. The success of these reforms cannot be underestimated. It is commonly thought that one infamous Lord Nelson was the reason the British Empire came out the victor in the twenty year struggle with first revolutionary then Napoleonic France, by defeating and therefore removing the naval threat of invasion at Trafalgar, it was not. Another commonly unknown fact is that Lord Nelson was the protégé of Lord St. Vincent. One could argue that Lord Nelson owed this selfless man everything, including his legacy. 

It was during Lord St. Vincent's reign as the First Lord of the Admiralty that the blundering bureaucracy and festering corruption that was the naval dockyards of the empire came under intense scrutiny. Lord St. Vincent exposed massive corruption within the naval dockyard systems that had been delaying the efficiency and risking the safety 

of the ships of the Royal Navy's fleets at sea. Shoddy workmanship, immoral pursers and corruption at every level is what faced Lord St. Vincent and he methodically and relentlessly went about his reform of the naval dockyards, and without going into too much detail created a massive public scandal in his exposure of high ranking officials involved in the 

corruption. It was a breath of fresh air sweeping through the worlds largest and wealthiest organisations in the world. Nelson is credited with his victory at Trafalgar. Had it not been for Lord St. Vincents patronage of this headstrong often arrogant officer Nelson may not have been at Trafalgar. But more importantly had it not been for Lord St. Vincents reforms the Royal Navy would not have been ready for the combined Franco-Spanish Fleets that met them at Trafalgar. 

Lord St. Vincents reforms left his public reputation in tatters in many ways, he had his friends and supporters of course. But his enemies were vocal in their condemnation the

n his friends were and until his death he was a character often viewed with contempt, but only the men at sea truly appreciated the changes he made. The ultimate testament to his reforms was that his personal flagship the HMS Victory, over 27 years old at the time,  was infighting condition when Lord Nelson sailed her in the line of battle at Trafalgar. He allowed Nelson to exercise his tactical brilliance, he also prevented Napoleon from invading the British isles, his is a life of his duty, as he saw it it, before everything else, in defence of his country and for the improvement of the Royal Navy. 

Why an officer and a gentleman?

When setting out to write this particular blog I faced two major problems, either portraying myself in such a light as to somehow come across as being utterly insane, self centered or that I would seem a tad pedantic. However, these are not the aims of this post. Or rather I'll endeavour to not to allow them to become the aims.

Essentially what I'm trying to get across is that modern society lacks many things, namely honour and chivalrous behavior. Both old an antiquated ways of thinking one would assume and in many respects they are. But the principles and morals they represent can have a modern, and indeed relevant, application to modern society.

For example the word honour, represents a sense of high respect, esteem, adherence to what is right or to a good standard of conduct these are not only applicaple to ones self which is important but in their application to others it creates a sense of dignity and mutual respect from both parties. Sadly this human dignity and mutual respect is often lost in the fast paced modern society we live in. 

I have always toyed with the idea of honourable conduct. The many conclusions I've come up with have had many implications for me, namely that by no stretch of the imagination am I an honourable man. I hold myself by such concepts yes, or certainly I try to. Ultimately the good intentions rarely translate into deeds. Until the removal of the Royal Navy as a potential career option I would have considered that a relatively selfless act, honourable in many ways. I have also done a tremendous amount at a local level to such a point my health suffered a great deal. But I ultimately felt that what I was doing was right, and that was enough for me and I was happy.

But once a friend attributed a quote from the eminent Roman senator Cicero to me, which ultimately defines me as person - "In men of the highest character and noblest genius there is to be found an insatiable desire for honour, command, power, and glory." Initial reading of such a quotation leaves one a little critical, sceptical certainly but upon closer inspection I have always deemed it to be a criticism, unintentional on the part of my friend I imagine, but a criticism none the less. It shows that despite an illusion of intelligence and a noble character there remains a thirst for honour, command, power and of glory. These are things I unashamedly want out of life for myself, at whatever cost. So despite my facade of honour I'm not better then much of this modern society. Did not Kipling say  - "Nature left a tincture in every mans blood, that he would be a tyrant if he could.". Not a truer word may have been spoken, ultimately I am courteous, polite and mannerly in my social dealings with people. I know how to behave and what to say in the lofty circles I find myself frequenting. I know who to use and when to use them to advance personal interest, I am that person you love to hate. But know this there is a distinct possibility I also hate you... but you might also be my greatest friend, that is the fickle nature of the society we live in, and why I believe there are very few left in the world with a true sense of honour.

For clarity, I do not count myself among them.

To blog or not to blog.... joining the Royal Navy....

I've been debating whether to start blogging or not, I've toyed with the idea of launching my own website to blog from, but then it hit me. Do I actually have anything to talk about up here, many of my friends already blog regularly the most notable of whom would be Stephen Spillane. And then I said to myself, you know I actually probably do have something to talk about. The most pressing issue for me at the moment is my choice to enter the Royal Navy. So this will be the subject of today's blog my very first.

For those of my friends who know me well or indeed hardly at all, already know of what can only be described as my obsession with sailing and the sea generally. This 'obsession' as it is so frequently called has taken many forms.
The first of which is with books. I have consumed almost every naval fiction writer of repute as fast as I can afford and be in a posisition to read them having read some 100 books on the subject in these past three years.
Another, which is the more obvious aspect to my passion for the sea is my recently and increasingly mushrooming fascination and participation with sailing and boating generally, so far the culmination of this has been my present job with www.sailcork.com, taking part on two cruises in the Canary Islands and in the Western Mediterranean around Spain, Gibraltar and Morocco.

I also have immense respect for the achievement of the Royal Navy in it's 700 years of existence, the shining examples of it's success, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the Nile, Trafalgar, Jutland and many, many more. It also has a rich heritage and tradition which as a student of history and a particular interest in the Royal Navy this was also a factor in my choice of the Royal Navy an underlying desire to be a part of that rich past.

All of these have been extremely fascinating and have allowed me to learn a lot about sailing but also myself. For many of my friends the change that has taken place in me as a person has been extraordinary. To put it plainly I am a new person. To consider the person I was and now am, does not bear thinking. I put this down to my new fascination with the sea and the many new friends and experiences I've made and shared. It has allowed me to be a more independent, outgoing, social and many would say friendlier person. But the problem for me now is my future and what to do with myself now that I've graduated. And after much internal and private debates on the issue I've finally resolved to join the Royal Navy, much to the bemusement and confusion of my friends. So I've decided to address the FAQ's if you will, which are the usual response from friends and family.

The first and certainly most irratating of these is: "Have you not considered the Irish Navy?"
And my reply must be OF COURSE! I would hardly consider joining a militarily active navy if I had not first considered the option of a neutral force first. I pondered over the idea and decided that if I join a Navy I want to have every possible opportunity and have no conceiveable obstacle to my appointment ultimately to that of captain or indeed flag rank, my ultimate dream and goal. The obvious restriction to this is that the Irish Naval SERVICE as it is correctly termed does not have a sufficent number of vessels in commission to make this ultimate goal a reality for many who enter the service. Whereas with the Royal Navy this number is far greater as well as the existence of many honourable shorebased appointments with appropriate ranks and privileges which are not afforded to their contemporaries in the Irish Naval Service. There is also to be frank equal if not better terms of pay and conditions in the Royal Navy.

The above also addresses the question which usually inevitably follows the first question: "Why not?" So instead I will address another popular question: "What if your posted to a warzone or frontline, what if your shot at or killed, or have to kill someone?"

As this question has a number of aspects to it I will deal with it point by point. If I am posted to a warzone then I will go as directed, by the time I'll be "requested and required with immediate dispatch" to present my services to any warzone or frontline I will have received sufficient training as well as being in the company of one of the worlds most advanced armed forces. I will also trust in my own ability to be able to handle such a situation with the maturity I've come to expect of myself as well as the level headedness that will allow me to do my duty and come home alive. If that however is not to be my fate then so be it. This leads us on to the question. If I am shot at, it is more then likely to be expected if I am on active service, I will be equipped with every neccessity that can be afforded to my person. I will also be in company of other men and women of the service so I will not be personally shot at unless my rank is made obvious for some reason or another. In the event I am killed on service, there is little I can do, I'll be dead, every effort will be made while I was on duty and prior to me taking up my posisition to ensure I had sufficient training and protection. It sounds morbid and I guess it is, but it was something I had to consider. Many people have said it's a fine thing to die in other people's war but by the time I will proably see active service it won't be for any country I'll be fighting for, it will be for my friends I've made in the service, for the ship which is my home, the service I represent and myself, only then does the country I serve come into it, strictly speaking it's not the way the RN would represent it but it is the reality. It is the reality of any military force or country at war. In the event that I have to kill it will, hopefully, be of a defensive nature. If I am forced to kill on an offensive it will be in the age old saying kill or be killed. It is neither a defence or a criticism of what I may be required to do, but it is an explanation.

There aren't many questions I haven't addressed the others I've been asked have been childish or immature at best, I've had fun made of me because I'm 'taking the queens shilling' and I guess I am to some degree but that is neither here nor there. It was nor will be a factor in my choice to join the Royal Navy, I want to make a career out of the service and will I hope be somewhat successful in my career. Whether you wish me luck or resent my choice, I hope you now at least understand a little more of why and how I came to such a choice.