In port—Jews—Lovely Nan—Mutinies—Their punishment—Sailor
songs—“Drops of Brandy”—“Spanish Ladies,” etc.—Flags—Salutes
When a ship came into port after a long absence at sea or on a
foreign station, with several years of pay due to her crew, she was
surrounded by boats from the shore containing “Girls and Jews.”
During the wars the sailors were given hardly any shore leave, lest
they should run away. Those who did get ashore were so watched by the
land folk eager to earn a little head or blood money—the reward for
capturing a deserter—that they had little pleasure in their jaunts on
land. They never touched their pay till the ship was about to sail
again, so that they had small chance of enjoying themselves, or of
buying necessaries if they did succeed in getting out of the ship.
The Jews knew this very well, and therefore plied a very thriving
business with the sailors at every great sea-port. When the ship
came to an anchor they came off in their wherries with all manner of
fancy articles such as the sailors cared for. “Gold” watches, which
ticked very loudly, and went for a week, made a very profitable line.
Gold seals, of the same quality; bright brass telescopes, which put
an edge of brilliant colours round everything one saw through them;
scarlet and blue silk handkerchiefs, fancy shoes, shoe-buckles,
suspenders, watch-chains, diamond rings, etc.—all of these things
were laid out, with a great deal of glitter, on the pedlars’ trays
amidships. For all this trash they asked enormous prices, about
five times more than the things were worth. Others brought sailors’
clothes, of cuts and colours more beautiful than those sold by
the purser, such as blue-and-white striped trousers, as baggy as
the mouths of wind-sails, waistcoats like tropical sunsets, and
neckerchiefs like blood and broken eggs. Others brought little natty
straw hats, with ribbons neatly painted with the name of the ship;
or glazed tarpaulin hats with linings of some violently-coloured
cloth. Some brought sailors’ necessaries, such as gaudy crockery,
clay pipes, “silver” tobacco stoppers, clasp and sheath knives,
real silver spoons, hammock stretchers, tin pots and pans, boxes of
sugar, red-herrings, eggs, Dutch cheeses, butter, apples, onions,
etc. Nearly all of them had skins and bladders full of red-eye,
gin, or similar “sailor’s joy,” such as would give a waister the
action of a port-admiral. Towards the end of the long French wars
the captains grew more strict in their admission of these creatures.
They allowed them aboard only under certain conditions, generally
restricting them to the quarter-deck and gangways, where they did
business under the eyes of the officers and the marine sentries. This
kept them from smuggling drink aboard in any quantity, though they
generally contrived to smuggle in a little, despite the searching
of the master-at-arms. It also kept them from cheating the sailors
unduly, and from being cheated or man-handled by the sailors’ ladies.
Another regulation adopted towards the end of the war kept the Jews
out of the ship till pay-day, a day or two before the ship sailed
again. In the eighteenth century they came aboard directly the ship
was anchored, for in addition to the slop and bumboat trade they
carried on the profitable business of money-lending, advancing ready
money, at a ruinous rate of interest, on the sailors’ pay-tickets.
The sailors knew very well that the Jews cheated them, but they had
no alternative but to submit. In the matter of slops and trinkets
they were cheated less badly than over the pay, for when they came to
hand over the money for the gear they had bought they were generally
drunk with “the parting cans.” In this condition they argued and
wrangled, and blacked the Jews’ eyes, and flung the pedlars’ trays
down the hatches, and often enough refused to pay a red cent of the
money claimed. However, as Marryat says, “the Jews’ charges were so
extravagant that if one-third of their bills were paid there still
remained a profit.” When the strangers were turned out of the ship
on pay-day nights there were some lively scenes between the sergeant
of marines, or the master-at-arms, and the sailors and Jews who felt
themselves cheated.
[Illustration: H.M.S. _VENERABLE_ AT ANCHOR]
In the old days, when a man-of-war came into a home port, the
boatmen on the along-shore made their bargains with the women of the
town. They charged each woman several shillings for the trip out
to the ship, the women stipulating that if they failed to please
the sailors the fare should not be paid. This stipulation made the
boatmen very careful what women they took with them. They rowed out
only the prettiest and the best dressed, for if the women were not
chosen by the sailors they lost their fare, and had all their trouble
for nothing. Besides, the lieutenants were very jealous of the
reputations of their ships. It was not unusual for a lieutenant to
overlook the boatloads as they came alongside, and to refuse to admit
any ugly women, or any woman not smartly attired or freshly painted.
When the boats came alongside, each man slipped down the gangway,
made his choice, and carried her down to the berth. We would add
that most of the sailors were young men, that they sometimes stayed
several years away from England without so much as seeing a woman,
and that a lower-deck, at that time, was neither refined nor prudish.
A woman so chosen remained aboard with her chooser, or with any
other man whom she preferred. The protector, or fancy-man, kept her
with him while the ship remained in port, sharing his allowance with
her, and buying her little delicacies from the bumboats which came
alongside. A man-of-war of the first-rate had frequently 500 women
aboard at the same time, each woman being ready to swear that she
was the lawful wife of her protector. With the women came drink,
and what with the drink and the women the ship’s discipline came to
a stop. The master-at-arms searched every woman who came aboard,
for bladders full of spirits, scent-bottles, etc. etc. Marines kept
guard on the chains overlooking the ship’s sides, so that no drink
should be conveyed through the ports from shore boats. The head ports
were barred in. The sentries guarded the forecastle, so that no man
might lower a bucket privily over the bows. Every boat which came
alongside was searched by the ship’s corporals. Every boatman who
came aboard was examined and felt. But, with all these precautions,
the red-eye came aboard. Nothing kept it out very long. It came
aboard a little at a time, inside cocoa-nuts, balls of lard, oranges,
or anything with tolerable cubic capacity. When it had come aboard
the lower-deck became a pandemonium. The men and women drank and
quarrelled between the guns. The decks were allowed to become dirty.
Drunken sailors could be found lying under each hatchway. Drunken
women were continually coming aft to insult the officers, or to lodge
some complaint outside a lieutenant’s province. Sometimes the women
ran aloft to wave their petticoats to the flagship. Now and then they
fell from aloft while performing this manœuvre, and so broke their
necks and came to an unhappy end.
In some ways they may have been of benefit to the sailors. Though
they cheated them themselves they kept others from cheating them.
They were not without tenderness, nor were they so unfaithful as
most people would suppose. In many cases the sailors married them.
In others, the women grew so fond of their protectors that they
followed the ship by land, if she were ordered, say, from Spithead
to Sheerness, or to some other home port. It was not unusual for a
monstrous regiment of women to march right across England so that
they might join their mates on the other side.
When a ship set sail after a long sojourn in a home port there was a
great deal of misery upon the lower-deck. The sailors, or at anyrate
the tender-hearted ones, were melancholy; the women were either
crying or drunk; the Jews were clamouring for their moneys; the
bumboat people wanted their bills paid; and the sailors were drinking
parting cans and hoping to pay their debts with a loose fore-topsail.
Before the marines drove the women out of the ship the tender-hearted
sailors came aft to the captain for permission to take their wives
to sea with them. A line-of-battle ship often carried as many as a
dozen women to sea. It seems that the practice did not quite die
out for many years after the time of which we write. Some admirals
strictly forbade it, as fatal to all discipline. As a rule, however,
the married warrant officers, and perhaps a few men, obtained leave
to take their wives with them, on the understanding that misconduct
would involve their instant dismissal. A captain had to weigh such
applications very carefully, admitting only the most respectable of
those who offered. He had also to suffer patiently the abuses and
menaces of the harridans he refused to ship.
The partings between the robuster sailors and their ladies were not
marked by any great flow of sentiment. The women smuggled off a last
bladder of red-eye for the brewing of a good-bye flip. The sailors
bought onions and turnips, the latter as a symbol of subsequent
unfaithfulness, the former to induce tears in “eyes unus’d to flow.”
With a good deal of merry, blackguardly banter, a good deal of
drunken squabble, and a very energetic wrangle over the sailors’
money, the last day aboard came to an end. Before sunset of the day
before sailing the strangers were driven out of the ship, and bundled
down into the shore boats. The drunken men were lashed into their
hammocks till morning, when discipline again took hold and reduced
them to order.
After a spell in port a ship was nearly always dirty and
evil-smelling. The men were diseased, and in poor condition. It
generally took a month to bring them back to their old standard of
smartness. Very few of them came to sea with any money. The little
left to them after they had cashed their tickets, or swept the heaps
of coins into their hats, had gone to their women, or to the Jews.
After the wars our roads were thronged with sturdy beggars, who had
been in the King’s ships, and had wasted their substance in the home
ports. It is said that the number of loose women in Portsmouth
decreased at that time from 20,000 to about a fifth of that number.
The custom of admitting women to the ships was not abolished for many
years—barely more than sixty years ago. In the early forties, the
captain of a frigate in the West Indies sent ashore for 300 women,
so that every man and boy aboard might have a black mistress during
their stay in the port. A white planter supplied the women from his
plantations. The lieutenants were not allowed to keep women on board,
but until the beginning of the nineteenth century the midshipmen,
and some of the junior ward-room officers, indulged as licentiously,
with as little authoritative restraint, as their inferiors. An old
naval surgeon, writing in 1826, tell us that he knew of several
fine lads who died miserably from perseverance “in their debauched
habits.” After the first decade of the nineteenth century the
captains were more careful of the manners of the young gentlemen.
Their vices, if practised at all, were then practised ashore, out of
the captain’s jurisdiction. After 1814 the service was purged of some
of its vicious officers by the examination known as “passing for a
gentleman,” to which we have alluded elsewhere.
The songs most popular among the sailors were not always those
purporting to deal with life afloat. Their most popular song was a
song very popular ashore. It is still well known, though the old name
for it, “Drops of Brandy,” is now nearly forgotten. The tune is an
old country dance tune. The words the sailors sang to it are the
familiar:
“And Johnny shall have a new bonnet
And Johnny shall go to the fair,
And Johnny shall have a blue ribbon
To tie up his bonny brown hair.
And why should I not love Johnny
And why should not Johnny love me,
And why should I not love Johnny
As well as another bodie.”
The tune is simple and beautiful. When the marines and waisters
manned the capstan, to weigh the anchor, aboard one of these old
ships of war the pipers struck up “Drops of Brandy,” to put a heart
into the jollies as they hove around. It was sung by many merry
sailors over their grog, in the dark sea snuggeries between the guns.
A tune which kept many a miserable pressed man from going over the
side should be reverently treated. We give the music below.
[Illustration: DROPS OF BRANDY
_Campbell’s Dances, Book 11th, circa, 1800_]
The tune the fifers played to call the sailors to the grog tub was
“Nancy Dawson,” a tune well known to everyone as “Sally in our
Alley.” The “double double double beat,” which drummed the men to
quarters, is also well known, as “Hearts of Oak”—a song still popular
in many parts of England. After these, the best-known song was that
known as “Spanish Ladies,” a beautiful old song, long popular at sea,
and still familiar to many people. It has been quoted so often, by so
many popular writers, that we must apologise for reprinting it. It is
still sung at sea, especially aboard American merchant-vessels. The
Americans sing it with various alterations.
[Illustration: SPANISH LADIES
_Boldly_
]
[Illustration:
_Arranged by Martin Shaw._
]
SPANISH LADIES
Farewell and adieu to you fine Spanish Ladies—
Farewell and adieu all you Ladies of Spain—
For we’ve received orders to sail for Old England
And perhaps we shall never more see you again.
_Chorus_—We’ll rant and we’ll roar like true British Sailors,
We’ll range and we’ll roam over all the salt seas,
Until we strike soundings in the Channel of Old England—
From Ushant to Scilly ’tis thirty-five leagues.
We hove our ship to when the wind was sou’west, boys,
We hove our ship to for to strike soundings clear,
Then we filled our main-tops’l and bore right away, boys,
And right up the Channel our course we did steer.
_Chorus_—We’ll rant and we’ll roar, etc.
The first land we made it is known as the Deadman,
Next Ram Head near Plymouth, Start, Portland, and Wight;
We sailed past Beachy, past Fairley and Dungeness,
And then bore away for the South Foreland Light.
_Chorus_—We’ll rant and we’ll roar, etc.
Then the signal was made for the grand fleet to anchor
All all in the Downs that night for to meet,
So stand by your stoppers, see clear your shank-painters,
Haul all your clew-garnets, stick out tacks and sheets.
_Chorus_—We’ll rant and we’ll roar, etc.
Now let every man toss off a full bumper,
Now let every man toss off a full bowl,
For we will be jolly and drown melancholy
In a health to each jovial and true-hearted soul.
_Chorus_—We’ll rant and we’ll roar, etc.
Many of Charles Dibdin’s songs were popular in our fleets and naval
hospitals. His most popular song appears to have been “Tom Bowling,”
a song which seems to have continued in the popular favour until our
own time. His songs sent so many young men to the Tower tender as
naval recruits that the Government pensioned him.
It was hardly possible for human beings to live contentedly under
the iron regulations of a man-of-war. One has but to read the books
left to us by the sailors to realise the peculiar horror of the life
between-decks. Cooped up there, like sardines in a tin, were several
hundreds of men, gathered by force and kept together by brutality.
A lower-deck was the home of every vice, every baseness, and every
misery. The life lived there was something like the life of the negro
slave who happened to be housed in a gaol. It is not strange that
the men sometimes revolted, and broke out in open mutiny in order to
obtain redress. The story of the mutiny of the _Bounty_, in which
the men were “hazed” into turning their obnoxious officers adrift
in an open boat, is well known. The stories of the mutinies at the
Nore and at Spithead are also familiar. The seamen concerned in
these latter mutinies have been held up for execration, but we would
ask the indignant reader to learn something of the sufferings which
prompted them, and of the temperate and manly way in which they made
their wants known. They asked for a slight increase of pay, amounting
to about threepence a day for each man, so that they might be able
to support their wives and families. They asked for an occasional
day ashore; for fresh vegetables when in port; for better food, and
for more humane treatment for their wounded. They also asked that
they might be paid in cash instead of by ticket, and that the pay of
the wounded might not be stopped while they lay in their hammocks
under the surgeon’s hands. They had suffered much from the treatment
of some of their officers, but their attitude towards these men was
singularly humane. They towed one brutal lieutenant ashore on a
grating, and they very nearly hanged a marine officer for firing on a
boat-load of delegates. With these exceptions they acted throughout
with a moderation as praiseworthy as it was astonishing. They were
less temperate aboard H.M.S. _Hermione_, a 32-gun frigate, commanded
by Captain Hugh Pigot, the son of an admiral. Captain Pigot was one
of the most tyrannical and cruel officers who ever held command. He
maddened his crew by repeated acts of cruelty, which culminated at
last off the South American coast. One quiet afternoon he drilled his
topmen at reefing top-sails. While the men were doing their best,
“lighting out,” and “passing earrings,” he called out to the men on
the mizzen top-sail-yard that he would flog the last man down. In
their hurry down from aloft two of the men fell on to the deck at the
captain’s feet, breaking all the bones in their bodies. His remark
on this occasion was: “Heave those lubbers overboard!” That night
the crew rose in open mutiny. They broke into the cabin, and stabbed
Captain Pigot with repeated stabs, so that he died. They killed a
number of the lesser officers, and turned several others adrift in a
boat. They then sailed the _Hermione_ into La Guayra, and handed her
over to the Spanish authorities. She was captured in Puerto Cabello a
couple of years later, by the boats of H.M.S. _Surprise_. Many of the
mutineers were afterwards apprehended, and hanged.
Hanging was the usual end of a mutineer. Mutiny, being the one
unpardonable sin in a sailor, was treated with far less mercy than
desertion, or attempted desertion. The mutiny at the Nore[27] sent a
considerable number of sailors to the yard-arm, and lesser mutinies
were no less severely punished. A man who struck an officer was
fairly certain to be hanged or flogged through the fleet. A man
who raised a disturbance or headed any open rebellion, however
trivial, was certain to be put to death. On one ship some sailors
were taken in the act of violating the Twenty-Ninth Article of
War. They were condemned to be punished publicly. Their shipmates,
eager for the honour of the ship, begged that the sentence might
not be carried out, lest the crew should be hooted at throughout
the fleet. On their request being refused, they at once broke
out into a noisy disturbance on the lower-deck. Their officers ran
down and secured the ringleaders, drove the remainder on deck, and
promptly court-martialled and hanged the offenders. At the cessation
of hostilities in 1802 many of the sailors were dissatisfied with
the orders relating to paying-off. Some ships stationed in the
west were ordered to be paid off in London. Others were ordered
off on some short cruise, which kept the sailors from joining the
many merchant-ships then fitting out after the winter in port. The
ringleaders of these little mutinies were hanged, though the occasion
surely warranted a slighter punishment.
Many of our sailors deserted to the French, Spanish, and American
services, where the routine was a little less severe, and the pay no
worse. Those who were taken in foreign ships of war were invariably
hanged at the fore yard-arm.
We have mentioned the narrow pendant, the long banner, with a red St
George’s cross on a white ground, and long red swallow-tail, which
captains hoisted at the main-topgallant masthead, on placing a ship
in commission. We now add a few words about some of the other flags
and colours in use in the navy. The Royal Standard, which need not be
described, was worn at the main-topgallant masthead of those ships
which carried a member of the Royal Family. A ship which carried the
Lord High Admiral or his Commissioners flew the Admiralty flag (a
square red flag, with a golden anchor and cable in its centre) at
the same place. An admiral of the fleet flew the Union Jack at the
main-topgallant masthead of his own ship. An admiral of the white,
or vice-admiral, flew the St George’s banner at his fore-topgallant
masthead. An admiral of the blue, or rear-admiral, flew a square
blue flag at his mizzen-topgallant masthead. A commodore, or senior
captain of the first class, flew a broad red swallow-tailed pendant
at his main-topgallant masthead. If another commodore senior to him
were in company he flew a white broad pendant marked with a red St
George’s cross. A commodore of the second class flew a blue broad
pendant, unless a senior captain were sailing in company.
All ships in commission wore a red, white or blue ensign at the
mizzen peak, according to the flag of the admiral under whom they
sailed. They also carried a small Union Jack at the end of the
bowsprit on a flagstaff above the spritsail-yard.
Flag officers had certain distinctive boat flags which they flew in
the bows of their boats when they pulled ashore. There were also
a number of coloured flags and pendants in use for signalling.
The Union Jack was also used for signalling on certain important
occasions, such as the holding of a court-martial.
The Royal Standard, Admiralty flag, admirals’ flags, and commodores’
broad pendants were entitled to salutes of guns, varying in number
from twenty-one guns (in the case of the first named) to nine (in
the case of a second-class commodore). The numbers of guns fired
in salute were always odd, following an ancient custom, not now
explicable. Ambassadors, consuls, foreign governors, and dukes were
also saluted by guns. A salute was fired quickly, with an interval of
about six seconds between each gun.
Merchant-ships, both English and foreign, were expected to lower
their top-sails, or to let fly their topgallant sheets, when passing
a British man-of-war. This old custom is now nearly obsolete, but
the present writer has seen the master of a schooner lowering his
top-sail in salute to a cruiser.
FOOTNOTES:
[27] The mutiny at Spithead—a far more serious matter than the mutiny
at the Nore—was managed with such skill, and such temperance, that
the King extended his pardon to the ringleaders. At the Nore the
sailors were thought to have been the tools of the Radical party, and
an example was made of Parker and his accomplices.
EPILOGUE
If it be the lot of the dead to pass, unviewed, along the streets
of cities, or by the country hedgerows, conscious of the life about
them, there is, surely, a prospective triumph for the beaten and the
broken folk whose blood and agony have made easy, if indirectly, the
passage of later pilgrims. Could the countless unselfish ones, the
sufferers, “the great despisers,” who bore so many miseries, that we,
their descendants, might pass gaudy and comfortable days—could they
but know how golden a thing their misery purchased, the memory of
the old torture and the old injustice would be soothing and gentle
like a charity. In the years of which I have tried to write there
were thousands upon thousands of sailors, wandering over many seas,
in countless ships, standing their watches, doing the day’s work,
breaking their hearts, and dying young, not because they liked it,
not because they hoped for glory, but because much suffering had to
be endured before man could learn to inflict less suffering on his
fellows. We sit here quietly to-day in London—in that London which,
as Nelson said, “exists by victories at sea.” Our great ships go
thrashing hither and yon, turbulent and terrible, like islands of
living iron. Here, in London, are the world’s merchants, richer than
the merchants of Tyre, whose purple clothed the kings of the world.
Aboard those ships are the English sailors, the finest men afloat,
living cheerfully the lives they have chosen, under humane and just
captains.
There is no London merchant telling over gold in his counting-house,
no man-of-war’s man standing his watch at sea, who does not owe
his gold or his rights to the men who lived wretched days long ago
aboard old wooden battleships, under martinets. In order that they
might live as they live, what misery, what blood and tears, fell to
the portions of those who went before making straight the paths! For
every quiet hour here in London, for every merry day at sea, what
hecatombs were necessary!
In order that our days might be pleasant, those thousands of
long-dead sailors had to live and suffer. They passed rough
days—living hard, working hard, and dying hard. In order that we
might live in peace at home they were dragged, with blows and curses,
from their homes. In order that we might walk erect among men they
cringed before tyrants, and lost their manhood at the gangway. In
order that we might live on the luxuries of the world, brought from
the East and the West, things of great cost, wines, and spices, they
were content, those great despisers, to eat salt junk and drink
stinking water. They passed, those mighty ones, in the blackness of
the cockpit, in the roaring hell of the gun-deck, that we might hear
no noise of battle. They were well pleased to live among thieves and
infamous folk, that our conversation might be virtuous and our ways
right ways.
That suffering of theirs has, perhaps, been rewarded by the vision
of the ease they won for us. Their spirits may be moving about us,
touching us, rejoicing that evil days should have purchased happy
days, and well content that misery should have brought such treasure.
Let us hope so, at anyrate. Let us think, too, that patriotism, in
its true form, is of the kind they gave. It is not a song in the
street, and a wreath on a column, and a flag flying from a window,
and a pro-Boer under a pump. It is a thing very holy, and very
terrible, like life itself. It is a burden to be borne; a thing to
labour for and to suffer for and to die for; a thing which gives no
happiness and no pleasantness—but a hard life, an unknown grave, and
the respect and bared heads of those who follow.
APPENDIX
This book is necessarily condensed. It indicates, very briefly, some
of the aspects of sea life in the Royal Navy during the latter years
of Nelson’s career. Any reader desiring to learn more of that way of
life will find the following authorities of service to him; they are
some of the books from which the present writer has extracted his
information:—
ADMIRALTY REGULATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS, 1734
ADMIRALTY REGULATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS, 1766
ADMIRALTY REGULATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS, 1790
ADMIRALTY REGULATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS, 1808
ADMIRALTY REGULATIONS FOR THE EXERCISE OF GREAT GUNS IN H.M.
SHIPS, 1764
BARKER, M. H. _Greenwich Hospital_
BARKER, M. H. _The “Victory”_
BARKER, M. H. _The Naval Club_
BLANE, J. _Diseases of Seamen, 1785_
BRENTON, E. P. _Life of Earl St Vincent_
BROADHEAD, A. G. _The Navy as It is_
CAPTAIN IN THE NAVY _Observations_
CHARNOCK, W. _Marine Architecture_
CLOWES, SIR W. LAIRD _History of the Royal Navy_
COCHRANE, T. _Autobiography_
COCHRANE, T. _Observations on Naval Affairs_
COKE, HON. HENRY _Tracks of a Rolling Stone_
COLLINGWOOD, G. L. N. _Life and Letters of Lord Collingwood_
CONGREVE, SIR W. _The Mounting of Naval Ordnance_
DAVIS, JOSHUA _Narrative_
DERRICK, C. _Memoirs of the Royal Navy_
DOUGLAS, SIR H. _Naval Gunnery_
DUNDAS, LORD _A Fair Statement_
EDYE, L. _Records of the Royal Marines_
FALCONER, R. _Dictionary of the Marine, 1789_
FALCONER, R. _Dictionary of the Marine, Burney’s
edition, 1815_
GLASCOCK, W. N. _Naval Service_
GLASCOCK, W. N. _Naval Sketch Book_
GLASCOCK, W. N. _Tales of a Tar_
GLASCOCK, W. N. _The Night Watch_
GLASCOCK, W. N. _Land Sharks and Sea Gulls_
GREENER, W. _The Gun_
GRIFFITHS, A. L. _Observations on Seamanship_
HALL, B., CAPT. _The Midshipman_
HALL, B., CAPT. _The Lieutenant and Commander_
HAMILTON, SIR E. _Story of the “Hermione”_
JAMES, W. _Naval History_
LEECH, SAMUEL _Thirty Years from Home_
LESLIE, R. C. _Old Sea Wings, Ways, and Words_
LIDDEL, R. _Seaman’s Vade Mecum_
LIND, J. _Essay on the Health of Seamen_
LONG, W. H. _Naval Yarns_
MARKS, E. C. R. _Evolution of Modern Small Arms_
MARRYAT, F. _Impressment in the Royal Navy_
MAYDMAN, H. _Naval Speculations_
MELVILLE, HERMAN _White Jacket_
MILES, E. _Epitome of the Royal Navy_
MITFORD, JACK _Johnny Newcome in the Navy_
MOYLE, JASPER _Chirurgus Marinus_
NASTY-FACE, JACK _Nautical Economy_
NAVAL CHRONICLE, 1799-1805
NAVAL EXHIBITION CATALOGUE, 1891
NAVAL ORDERS AND STATUTES
NAVY AT HOME, THE
NEALE, W. J. _History of the Mutiny at Spithead_
O’BRIEN, D. H. _My Adventures_
OFFICER IN ROYAL NAVY _An Address, 1787_
OLD NAVAL SURGEON _An Address to Officers_
OLD SEAMAN _Impressment_
ORDERS IN COUNCIL FOR H.M. NAVY
RICKETTS, CAPTAIN _Popularity of the Royal Navy_
ROBINSON, COMMANDER C. N. _The British Fleet_
SCHOMBERG, J. _Naval Chronology_
SCOTT, MICHAEL _Cruise of the “Midge”_
SINCLAIR, A. _Reminiscences_
SMOLLETT, T. _Works, edition 1797_
SOMERVILLE, A. _Autobiography_
STATUTES RELATING TO H.M. NAVY
STEEL, T. _Seamanship_
THOMPSON, E. _Sailor’s Letters_
URQUHART, T. _Evils of Impressment_
WARD, E. _Wooden World dissected_
To this list may be added the nautical novels of Captains Marryat
and Chamier; a number of manuscripts in the British Museum and
Public Record Office; the works of Garneray and De la Gravière; one
or two obscure books of seamanship, and articles in _Blackwood_,
_The Nautical Magazine_, _The English Historical Review_, _The
Fortnightly_, and other reviews. I have also consulted the models at
Greenwich, the Trinity House, and the United Service Institution, and
the nautical prints at the British Museum.
For the costumes worn by the officers and men I have consulted many
pictures, drawings, and old prints, particularly the set of colour
prints by Rowlandson (1797), now at Greenwich Hospital, and the
drawings and pictures of De Loutherbourg.
Some of the drawings reproduced as illustrations to my text are of
a slightly later date than the battle of Trafalgar. I have included
the three drawings by Captain Marryat (which date, I suppose, between
1809 and 1820), because they are vivid and spirited. They are true
to the life, if something out of drawing, and there are not many
drawings extant which represent the sea life so accurately, and with
so much humour.
INDEX
Able whackets, 82
Admiral, 51 (_n._), 214
Admiralty flag, 214
After-guard, 129
Animals, 173
Apron, 35
Assistant surgeon, 94, 95
Battle lanterns, 24
Beer, 66, 67, 149
Berths, 137, 138
Bluejacket, 121
Boarders, 48
Boarding-axe, 48
Boarding-pike, 49
Boatswain, 97 _et seq._
Boatswain’s mate, 101
Booms, 18
Bore, 32
Boys, ship’s, 120
Brass guns, 31
Bread-room, 30
Breech, 32
Breechings, 33
Bull’s-eyes, 23
Bullying, 83
Cabins, 19, 27
Cable, 27
Cable tiers, 27
Cannon, 31 _et seq._
Captain, duties, etc., 51 _et seq._
Captain’s fancies, 60
Captain’s powers, 57 _et seq._
Captain’s uniform, 60, 61
Carpenter, 110 _et seq._
Carriages, gun, 32, 33
Carronades, 32, 43, 44, 45
Cartridges, 29, 36
Cascabel, 33
Cat. _See_ punishment, 157
Chaplain, 95, 96
_Chesapeake_, 183
Cleaning decks, 187, 193
Clearing for action, 170
Cobbing, 81
Cockpits, 26, 27, 28, 91 _et seq._
Collingwood, 159
Commodore, 51
Cook, ship’s, 117
Cook, mess, 146
Copper-sheathing, 5
Corporals, ship’s, 116
Cross-jack, 8, 17
Cutlasses, 48
Decks, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
Decks, in action, 177 _et seq._
Disinfection, 86, 88 _et seq._
Divine service, 195
Drunkenness, 151, 160, 198, 203, 205
Entry port, 16
Epilogue, 216
Establishment, the, 6, 9
Figurehead, 14
Fish-room, 30
Flags, 213, 214, 215
Flint-locks, 38
Flogging. _See_ punishment, 59
Forecastle, 18, 21
Forecastle men, 126
Fumigations, 88, 89 _et seq._
Galley, 23
Gangways, 18
Gingerbread work, 20
Glims, 26
Grog, 151, 162, 191, 198
Gunner, 107 _et seq._
Guns, 31, 32, 33, 34, 43, 172, 173 _et seq._;
long and short, 41, 42, 43
Gun-room, 24
Grampussing, 81
Halberds, 49
Half-deck, 20
Half-ports, 50
Hammocks, 131, 138, 171, 188, 193
Hammock cloths, 188
Hammock nettings, 18
Handspike, 40
_Hermione_, H.M.S., 211
Hold, 30
Idlers, 130, 186
Jews, 199
Keel, 2
Keel, false, 2
Kit, 138
Ladle, 35
Leaks, 25
Lifebuoys, 17
Light-rooms, 28, 29
Linstock, 37
Lower-deck, 28, etc.
Lord Mayor’s men, 53, 54, 85
Lieutenant, duties, etc., 61
Lieutenant, powers, 62
Lieutenant, uniform, 63
Magazines, 28, 29, 30
Main-deck, 22
Manger, 25
Manning, 52 _et seq._
Marines, 154, 172
Marine Society, 119
Marryat, Captain, 53, 59
Master, 66, 67
Master’s duties, 67
Master’s uniform, 69
Master’s mates, 68, 69
Master-at-arms, 114, 160, 179, 189, 192, 203
Masts, 6, 7
Mast-heading, 80
Mast-pond, 6
Match, 37
Meals, 134
Messes, 134
Midshipmen, 25, 69 _et seq._, 190
Midshipmen’s berth, 75, _et seq._
Misfire, 39
Mould-lofts, 1
Muskets, 47
Musketoon, 48
Muster book, 54
Mutinies, 210, 211
Nastyface, Jack, 165
Nelson, 159
Nelson chequer, 14
Nore, mutiny at the, 211, 212
Oak, 2
Oak, American, 3
Oldsters, 72
Orlop, 27 _et seq._, 86
Parker, Sir Peter, 83
Painting, external, 12, 13
Painting, internal, 14, 15
Painting masts, etc., 15
Pendants, 214, 215
Pigtails, 141
Piping the side, 58
Pistols, 48
Pomelion, 32
Poop, 16, 17, 18, 19
Ports, 49
Port-riggles, 50
Port-tackles, 49
Press-gangs, 52, 53, 122, 124
Pressed men, 53
Priming, 36, 37
Priming-iron, 36
Priming-tube, 36
Provisions, 143
Purser, 101 _et seq._
Punishments, 128, 157 _et seq._
Quarter-deck, 16, 17, 20
Quarter-gallery, 13, 19
Quartermaster, 113
Quotamen, 125
Rammer, 40
Ranges, 42, 47
Rates, 11
Recoil, 38, 39
Rigging, 7, 8
Sailmaker, 113
Sail-room, 27
Salutes, 215
Schoolmaster, 97
Screen, 30
Sheathing, 5
Ships, 1, 9, 10, 11
Ships, French and Spanish, 9, 10
Ships, unrated, 12
Shot, 45 _et seq._
Shot, varieties, 46, 47
Shot-racks, 26
Sick-bay, 86, 90
Side-ropes, 16
Side-tackles, 33
Slops, 104, _et seq._
Small-arms, 47
Smoking, 115
Songs, 190, 207, 208, 209
Spirit-room, 29, 30
Spithead, mutiny at, 211, 212
Splinters, 47
Sponge, 40
St George’s banner, 214
State-rooms, 22
Steerage, 20
Stern-light, 17
Stern-walks, 13
Stern-works, 13
Tackles (side), 33
Tackles (train), 34
Thieving. _See_ punishment
Tiller ropes, 17
Timbers, 3
Tompion, 35
Topmen, 127
Touch-hole, 36, 37
Tree-nails, 3
Tripping, 34
Turn out, 83
Ulcers, 86
Wads, 36
Waist, 18, 178
Waisters, 130
Watch, 184, 192
Water-casks, 66
Wives, 202, etc.
Women, 202
Worm, 39
Youngsters, 70
[Illustration: Decoration]
Transcriber’s Notes
pg 78 Changed: or should have been sufficent
to: or should have been sufficient
pg 120 Changed: any other way trangressed the rules
to: any other way transgressed the rules