Two of the Austen brothers, Frank and Charles, were sailors and travelled the world throughout their successful careers. This page documents their time at sea and the ships they served on during the time of The Austens of Bath.

If you would like a review of their careers before 1801, you can find this information on the website for The Austens of Steventon here. 

The Wikipedia page for Francis Austen can be found here

The Wikipedia page for Charles Austen can be found here.

francis austen

On 29th August 1801, Frank was appointed to HMS Neptune as flag-captain to Vice Admiral Gambier at the age of 27.

The Neptune was a 98-gun second rate ship which you can read about on her Wikipedia page here.

In August 1802, Mr & Mrs Austen, along with James and Mary, travelled to Portsmouth to see Frank on board the Neptune as he was preparing for it to be demobbed. 

Frank left the Neptune in October 1802, having been released from duty during the Definitive Treaty of Peace between warring nations in 1802 (later known as the Treaty of Amiens).

When hostilities resumed, Frank was ordered to Ramsgate in July 1803, to command a troop of Sea Fencibles. These were a group of men, mainly made up of retired soldiers, fishermen and secret smugglers who were employed on a part time basis to keep a look out for the approach of enemy ships and to report any suspicious activity.

Frank worked conscientiously and made detailed plans about when the enemy would choose the best time to attack according to tides and weather conditions, thus ensuring there were plenty of lookouts in the right places at the right times.

More information about the Sea Fencibles can be found on the Wikipedia page here.

No invasions came to Ramsgate, and in May 1804 Frank was appointed to HMS Leopard, the flagship of Rear Admiral Thomas Louis on the Boulogne Station. He worked off Boulogne until the end of September patrolling the channel between Dungeness and Boulogne.

The Leopard was a 50-gun Portland Class fourth rate ship and you can read her Wikipedia page here

In February 1805 Frank took command of the Canopus under Rear Admiral Thomas Louis in Sardinia. This was part of Lord Nelson's fleet, preparing for battle with Napoleon's navy.

Just before the Battle of Trafalgar, the Canopus was ordered to fetch fresh supplies of water and stores from Gibraltar. Nelson was confident that this would not take long and that the vessel would be back before the battle commenced. Much to Frank's disappointment, she did not make it back in time and the whole crew missed out on being part of the action.

Frank was very bitter about this and wrote to his fiance, Mary Gibson, to complain and vent his frustration.

In June 1806, he left the Canopus on half pay and returned to Ramsgate, where he married Mary Gibson on July 24th.

He set up a family home in Southampton and remained there until he was called to command the St Albans in April 1807.

St Albans was kitted out in Sheerness, then set sail in June 1807 for the East Indies and China.

Frank was engaged in action at the start of the Peninsula War off Portugal in 1808, rescuing and delivering wounded English soldiers to hospital ships following the Battle of Vimiero, and transporting French prisoners of war to the prison ships in Portsmouth.

The St Albans was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line, with a long history behind her before Captain Austen took command. You can read more on her Wikipedia page here.

If you would like to read an article about the whole of Frank Austen's naval career, you can read The Ships of Frank Austen, written by Clive Caplan, in the Jane Austen Society Report for 2008 here.

Charles Austen

At the start of our novel in 1801, Charles was 22 years old and serving on the Endymion as a Lieutenant under Captain Thomas Williams. He had been aboard this ship since February, 1799.

Around the same time that the family left Steventon for Bath, Charles sailed off for Egypt. His service here earned him £40 in prize money, which he spent on buying two topaz crosses for his sisters.

These are now on display in Jane Austen's House in Chawton and you can read about them here.

During the cease fire between Britain and France in 1802, Charles was released on half pay for extended shore leave. He returned on a promotion to First Lieutenant on the Endymion in April 1803, when hostilities resumed between the two nations and he captured more enemy vessels.

The Endymion was a 40-gun fifth rate frigate and you can read more about her on her Wikipedia page here.

At the end of 1804, aged 25, Charles was appointed to his first command. He set sail on the Cleopatra towards Bermuda, where the brand new HMS Indian was being built for him, and he arrived in January 1805.

To raise a crew he put a lucrative front-page advertisement in The Bermuda Gazette on 13 April 1805, extolling her virtues as 'the finest and most beautiful Man of War ever built' and offering 'grog and free beef every day'.

The Indian patrolled the North American waters and took several prizes. During his time of service with the Indian, Charles married his wife, Fanny Palmer, in Bermuda in 1807 and became a father a year later.

The Indian was a Bermuda-built sloop and you can read her Wikipedia page here.

The author Sheila Johnson Kindred has written extensively about the career of Charles Austen and you can read these articles on her blog: Sheila Johnson Kindred here.