Come and ask, answer or inform.
Posted by Adrian Thomas on Saturday 20th of December 2025 19:23
The Charles Hare story is fascinating, but the NMM thinks that his is a unique case of a British PoW escaping in a French uniform. I too am writing about this period, and I am very interested to hear more from Maurice Cutler, if you are willing, about Frank Cutler's use of a French uniform. He escaped a few months before Hare, but I know nothing about how he did this (French sources seem merely to confirm the date and location of his escape).
Posted by Maurice Cutler on Tuesday 22nd of July 2025 16:21
I am in the middle of writing the history of my great great grandfather Frank Cutler and was astonished to read about Charles Hare. They were the same age, enlisted in the Navy the same year at age 11 and were on HMS Minerve when it was captured by the French at Cherbourg. They were marched 500 miles across France to Verdun where they both were confined through their adolescence until they were 19 when both escaped using French uniforms and made their way back to England where both went back into the Navy as Lieutenants. Amazing stories.
Posted by Elaine Galloway on Wednesday 30th of October 2024 23:05
I think this must be the Charles Hare of La Minerve who escaped from Sarre Libre French prison in 1809. The National Maritime Museum have recently put his uniform on display. If you google him at the museum website you can read all about him. His father is the other Charles Hare who died in 1801.