5 President’s Foreword In last year’s edition of the Trafalgar Chronicle, I recognised that it was a truly unique volume. The individual authors, together with the editorial team, overcame the hurdles placed in front of them by the COVId-19 pandemic. despite being denied access to archives, libraries and museums, they produced submissions of high quality, and the editorial team maintained the high standards one expects in The 1805 Club’s flagship periodical. The 2022 issue of the Trafalgar Chronicle is no exception. As with the 2021 issue, this year’s Trafalgar Chronicle has a central theme: scientific and technological advances in the navies of the Georgian era. The editors conveyed to me their delight that they received so many proposals and the subsequent superb quality of submissions in this year’s edition. I was personally elated to see that the lead article on the life of Samuel Bentham and his inventions was co-authored by my old shipmate, Captain John Wills RN, Rtd. Back in the day, John was my engineering officer when I took command of the Royal Navy’s first Type 23 frigate, HMS Norfolk. He and his co-author, Mr Ken Flemming, a noted naval engineer in his own right, and one of the founders of The 1805 Club, have shown us how consequential Bentham’s inventions and manufacturing efficiencies were to the successes that the Royal Navy enjoyed during the great Anglo-French wars of the Georgian era. The Bentham article is joined by articles with subjects covering the development of gunnery, hydrography, medical advances and signalling. One would be remiss not to include fellow club member Tom Fremantle’s work on the great naturalist Sir Joseph Banks, and the influence he had within the Admiralty: influence that gave the Royal Navy’s leadership a greater understanding of the natural world. I believe you will come away with an appreciation that the scientific and technological advances presented within these pages helped to lay the
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