Study of a sailor, c. 1800

Portrait study of a sailor, Robert Williams, 1797-1812.
British Museum.

This fantastic portrait study of a sailor is a great way to compare the stereotypical sailor of a caricature and the idealized sailor of a romantic mezzotint or historical painting to real life. It was done by Philip James de Loutherbourg, the artist who painted "The Battle of the First of June, 1794", studied in the blog earlier in the month.  http://napoleonictars.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-battle-of-first-of-june-1794-1795.html

The provenance note from the British Museum states that "Robert Williams was a Yeoman of the Sheets from Virginia who was promoted to Boatswain of the Osprey sloop on 26 November 1797. (letter from Mrs Sara Cutler, 26 June 2005, in dossier)." The handwritten note at the top of the image (I don't know if it's contemporary to when the image was painted or not) reads "Robt. Williams, boatswains Mate. Venorable once Sailed with Capt. Winthorpe.

Robert Williams certainly looks like a sailor. As in a caricature his hair is short, wavy, and full, with bangs in the front, falling to his shoulders in the back. Short whiskers curl beside his ears, stopping at the lobe. He wears a single-breasted blue jacket (or possibly a coat, since the collar and single-breasted cut are different than many jackets) with one button done up.

Around his neck he wears a voluminous red handkerchief, wrapped in such a way that you can't see the ends so it looks almost like a scarf. The neckline of his sweater ends around his collarbone, showing a hint of blue and white checked shirt underneath. He looks slightly away from the viewer with an ambiguous expression - a wonderful window into what a late 18th or early 19th century sailor actually looked like.

Jack hove down - With a Grog Blossom Fever, (c 1805)

Jack Hove Down - With a Grog Blossom Fever. Thomas Tegg, London, c. 1805. Royal Museums Greenwich.

Today's image is a very expressive caricature of a sailor who's had too much to drink, arguing with the physician tending to him. This image is from one of Thomas Tegg's early 19th c. series of caricatures.

'hold---I must stop your Grog Jack---it excites those impulses, and concussions of the Thorax, which a company Ternutation by which means You are in a sort of a kind of a Situation---that Your head must be-Shaved- I shall take from you only 20 oz of Blood-then swallow this Draught and Box of Pills, and I shall administer to You a Clyster.

'Stop my Grog-Belay there Doctor---Shiver my timbers but your lingo bothers me-You May batter my Hull as long as you like, but I'll be d--'nd if You ever board me with your Clyster pipe.

Jack lies in his hammock under a patterned green blanket in a blue and white striped shirt, a bottle of grog in one hand. On his head he wears a simple brown tube cap, gathered at the top, from which peeks out wavy brown hair. His blue jacket lies on the deck, with a partially-unbuttoned mariner's cuff visible - two buttons buttoned, two unbuttoned. His shirt is worn with narrow cuffs closed with sleeve buttons, and his broad collar spreads over a red handkerchief tied below his breastbone.

In Jack's sea chest are a number of labeled items, including one named "pig tail"! [edited to add: as a kind reader pointed out, it's a type of tobacco!]

The Brave Tars of the Victory, and the Remains of the Lamented Nelson (1805)

"The Brave Tars of the Victory, and the Remains of the Lamented Nelson". Rudolph Ackerman. London, England. December 9, 1805. Royal Museums Greenwich.

"Broadsides: Caricature and the Navy 1756-1815" notes of this print,

"The fierce loyalty that Nelson inspired among those who served under him was a recurring feature of his posthumous appearance in caricature. In [this print], the result of a fruitful collaboration between George Woodward and Thomas Rowlandson, two tars deal with the death of their hero in a typically bluff and honest manner. The crew of the Victory had insisted on bringing Nelson home themselves, rather than move his body to a faster frigate. Jack, on the right, leans protectively over Nelson's coffin as he reassures his comrade that he will watch over his precious cargo until it arrives safely in England whereupon, he predicts, 'his monument will be erected in the heart of every Briton.' Woodward and Rowlandson's print appeared just days after Nelson's battered flagship finally reached home. 

...By focusing on the no-nonsense actions of Nelson's men, sympathetic caricatures such as [this one] foreground the other icon around which patriotic fervor could coalesce: the ordinary British sailor."

The tar on the left wears black shoes with round white buckles, white stockings, and tan petticoat breeches. His blue jacket is worn open with the top button on his single breasted jacket buttoned back, showing a white waistcoat over a protruding belly. His full-sleeved white shirt is visible under his open cuffs. Around his neck he wears a black handkerchief with the knot tied under his chin. He clutches a red and yellow striped handkerchief in one hand, and holds a black round hat with a large blue rosette in the other. His brown hair is short and curly, white sideburns reaching down to his earlobes.

The tar guarding Nelson (in a nice trunk) on the right is wearing black shoes with round white buckles, white stockings, and blue trousers. His blue jacket is also worn open, with a full sleeved white shirt peeking out of his open cuffs. His neck cloth looks to be striped in two different colors of purple. His brown hair is short and curly, and the round hat sitting on top of the trunk has a blue ribbon with "Victory" around it and a sprig of green stuck in it, making me wonder if the lettered hat band is not representative of a standard practice, but something special done in memory of Nelson, like the tars in this print from 1806.

John Bull Peeping into Brest, 1803

Today's etching is a caricature that I confess I'm selecting mostly because the oversized head and exaggerated features reminds me a lot of Hayao Miyazaki's artistic style, and it's a generally kinda weird image.

"John Bull Peeping into Brest". George Woodward. London, 1803. National Maritime Museum.

Our Brobdingnagian John Bull looks down on the French fleet blockaded into Brest, complete with a teeny tiny Napoleon, who cries "mercy on us what a monster - he'll swallow all my ships at a mouth-ful. I hope he dont see me. John Bull himself states, "Upon my word - a very Pretty light Breakfast."

One advantage of John Bull being drawn as a giant is that the image is quite clear about what he's wearing, and the large scale made it easier for a colorist to add details. His striped red trousers alternate between a broad red band and a narrow red stripe. His blue jacket has mariner's cuffs worn unbuttoned with three yellow buttons on the cuff. His blue jacket is worn shut, with five yellow buttons visible. His handkerchief is purple with a pattern of five small yellow spots arranged in an x, a common "spott'd" design created by resist dyeing that was popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries. A similar spott'd handkerchief is worn by a rower in John Singleton Copley's famous 1778 painting Watson and the Shark, and reproductions are available from the retailer Burnley and Trowbridge.

John Bull's brown hair looks almost wiglike, but is worn short and seems somewhat curly. His hat is of the "squashy" type shown in caricatures, with a relatively wide brim, a low crown with a rounded top, and a wide blue hat ribbon with a large blue rosette, facing backwards.

John Bull offering Little Boney Fair Play (1804)

John Bull offering Little Boney Fair Play. Published by H. Humphreys, London, 1804. British Museum.

Today's image is a political caricature featuring a jolly tar with the visage of Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence - I featured another caricature of a sailor with the prince's visage in December in the 1795 engraving "A True British Tar". In today's engraving the sailor stands boldly in water representing the English channel, hands on his hips, while behind a wall a spindly Napoleon cries "I'm a com'ing", The bare-chested sailor cries "You're a'coming? You be d_n'd!"

Drawn up on shore in front of Boney's fortress are the fleet of small boats, representing Napoleon's threat of invading Great Britain.

The bulky sailor in the print wears striped petticoat trousers with a fall-front closure. The large handkerchief tied under his chin is red and yellow, and his round black hat, set at a jaunty angle with an odd upturned brim, has a "squashy" crown with a huge blue rosette.

The Death of Admiral Lord Nelson (1805 caricature)

"The Death of Admiral Lord Nelson". James Gillray. London: 1805. Royal Museums Greenwich.

Today we return to caricatures with James Gillray's 1805 satire "The Death of Lord Nelson". The image shows the wounded Nelson on the deck of HMS Victory, with a winged figure in the background blowing a trumpet that spurts fire like a cannon and signaling immortality.

Nelson is supported by Lord Hardy, whom Gillray has drawn to resemble King George III, and by a grief-stricken personification of Brittania, who is recognizable in caricature as Emma Hamilton.

"Broadsides: Caricatures and the Navy 1756-1815" gives the following commentary on the print:

The hubbub around the dying figure may be exaggerated to the point of absurdity, but the sense of personal and national grief conveyed by Gillray's print is no less authentic. The real  target of the artist's satire, it seems, is not Nelson (who finds redemption in death), but in the unbridled and, at times, unseemly race to institutionalize the loss of national hero. An inscription beneath the image informs the viewer that the allegory is, in fact, a proposal for an official memorial for the City of London, intended "to commemorate the Glorious Death of the immortal Nelson." In the event, Gillray's overstated tribute proved prescient, as many such proposals came to light n the wake of Nelson's death and funeral.

 In the background of the print are a number of common British tars, who are of course the focus of interest of this blog.

Two loyal sailors gaze upon their fallen Admiral. The one kneeling wears black shoes with buckles painted yellow, horizontally blue and white striped stockings, light brown breeches tied at the knee, white petticoat trousers, a blue and white shirt vertically-striped in the body, a red and yellow patterned handkerchief worn very loose so that it rests over the jacket, and a blue jacket worn open with buttons also painted blue. The sailor is bare-headed and clean-shaven, and his brown hair is short and straight.

The standing sailor holds his black round hat in his hand, revealing its white lining. His brown hair is short and straight. He is not wearing a jacket, revealing a striped blue and white shirt and loosely-tied red and yellow patterned handkerchief tied over his light brown waistcoat, which is worn unbuttoned almost to his navel.  

In the background several more tars work a gun. One hauling on a tackle of the gun appears to have vertically-striped (or it could be the hatching of the engraver; it's hard to tell) blue and white stockings and petticoat trousers. The two on the right wear blue jackets and black round hats, while the man firing the gun wears petticoat trousers and a blue jacket. His head might be bare, or wearing a cap - it's hard to tell from so little information.

A final indistinct tar in the rigging wears what might be white breeches or petticoat trousers and stockings, with a blue jacket and black round hat.

Watermen, 1807

I've speculated about potential differences between the clothing of coastal watermen, river bargemen, or fishermen versus the clothing of blue-water sailors before, so today's image is of watermen!

"Watermen", John Augustus Atkinson. London: 1807. British Museum.

Once again drawing from "A Picturesque Representation of the Costumes of Great Britain", this 1807 print depicts two watermen with a boat. One man wrangles with the boat's bow or balances it, while the other, hat off, looks like he's trying to drum up a customer, with a pair of oars leaning against the wall behind him.

The man pushing the boat into the water is dressed much like a sailor - a round hat with curled sides, short hair, a neck-cloth with the back worn outside his shirt, breeches, and tie shoes.

The man offering his boat to passers-by has a round hat, short-cropped hair, a big neck cloth, a waistcoat, breeches, and buckled shoes. His coat is full skirted, with a badge on his left arm showing him to be a London waterman. Turn back mariner's cuffs (worn closed) complete his sleeves.

Outside of the bargeman's badge these two men specifically identified as watermen aren't enormously different in their dress from sailors. However, Atkinson portrays other sailors in his series of engravings in trousers, often with long queued hair, so their breeches and short hair differentiate them in this series at least.

The Glory of Old England, 1803

"The Glory of Old England" (subtitled "Briton's Protection"). London, England: 1803. British Museum. 

Today's image is an interesting detail from a poster that the catalog suggests might be a music cover. The publisher is listed as Laurie & Whittle of London, who produced several broadside ballads of the early 1800s that I've covered in previous posts. Published in August, 1803 after the wake of the end of the Peace of Amiens, the image is a snapshot of the patriotic fervor of the time. It reminds the public of where their protection from the ravages of Bonaparte and his threats to invade England comes from: the might of the Navy (personified not as an officer, but as a common British tar) and the Army.

In the center of the image Brittania sits in a seal inscribed with the caption "My country's supporters". To her left in the sea are ships at sea, and to the right are the tents of an army, while outside the seal, leaning on it, are the sailor and soldier. Supporters is meant in the heraldric sense of figures standing on either side of a shield in a coat of arms, and holding it up.

The Royal Navy sailor at left wears black shoes with square buckles left white. His trousers, tight in the lower leg, showing his calves, and stopping just above the ankle to show white stockings, are a light tan. His blue jacket is worn open with four buttons on his sleeve - worn buttoned shut for once - and looks to be double breasted. His black handkerchief is tied quite loosely around his neck, with his white shirt visible and unbuttoned at the collar. His red waistcoat has four rows of tiny buttons! It's worn almost completely unbuttoned, showing his white shirt beneath.

The sailor's hat is a "squashy" one - though less exaggerated than ones in caricatures - with a small brim and a blue ribbon and rosette. His brown hair is short and straight.

Post captain, 1807

Post Captain. John Augustus Atkinson. London, England: 1807. British Museum.

Today I return to A Picturesque Representation of the Costumes of Great Britain. This interesting romantic vignette of shipboard life shows an officer standing on the deck of a ship waving a speaking  trumpet, though of course what interests me is the two sailors firing a cannon in the background.

The two sailors look like every movie stereotype of the early 19th century sailor out there! One is bare-headed and sports a long, thick queue that reaches to the bottom of his back, and the other wears a kerchief tied around his head while also having another loosely tied around hie neck). Both have taken off their jackets and their shirtsleeves are rolled up; the queued man wears a waistcoat. They wear loose trousers and shoes - the standing man can be seen to have buckled shoes.

Heaving the Lead, 1807

"Heaving the Lead". London: 1807. British Museum.

My third image from John Augustus's Atkinson's print series "A picturesque representation of the costumes of Great Britain"is one many of you might be familiar with: "Heaving the Lead". This 1807 print shows a sailor standing in the chains, using a lead line to measure the depth of the water.

The simple depiction of a sailor performing a mundane, omnipresent part of shipboard life have made this image a popular one for reuse, and it has been reproduced in numerous books covering the time period from the 18th century throughout the late 19th. Its clear composition also makes it a popular candidate for being copied by different engravers for books throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries - for example, this plate in the 1913 book "Ships and Ways of other Days".

Colored versions of this image are the most popularly-used for reproduction, so for my close analysis of  this image I'm using this copy in the collection of the British Library. The colored version also makes it clearer to see the two sailors working inboard.

"Heaving the Lead". London: 1807. British Library. 

The sailor heaving the lead wears black shoes with square white buckles. His white trousers, cut tight around the knee, are long and come down to the heels of his shoes, with a broad fall. He wears a double-breasted blue jacket worn shut, with small yellow buttons. His mariner's cuffs have three buttons, and one on his left wrist is worn undone. His neck cloth is red with white spots, tied up close to his neck with the ends hanging out. From underneath his blue jacket a checked shirt with a narrow cuff can be seen at his wrists.

On his head he wears a straw hat - far less commonly portrayed by artists than black round hats. A pipe is stuck into the band. The hat has a slightly-rounded top and a tightly-curved brim. It is of medium height, neither a low like a modern "Amish" style hat nor as tall as a "top" hat. Glimpsed under the hat is a bit of short, curly brown hair

In the background one sailor wears white trousers cut full in the lower leg and tight around the knee, with a checked shirt, a neck cloth of indiscriminate color, and a black round hat,

The other sailor wears white trousers, a blue jacket, and a black hat.

Getting up a kedge anchor, 1807

"Getting Up a Kedge Anchor." London: 1807. British Museum.

Today's post is another one from John Augustus's Atkinson's series of prints on "A picturesque representation of the costumes of Great Britain", published from 1807-1808. This engraving from 1807 shows four men in a small boat pulling up an anchor.

Two of the sailors have their backs turned to us, showing long, thick queues. They're both wearing trousers, and the queued man on the left has what looks like a belt on around his waist. The two men facing the viewer wear knotted neck-cloths. Three of the sailors look to be wearing jackets, while the man with his belt visible is both bare-headed and possibly in his shirt.

Two of the sailors wear low-crowned round hats with curled brims. The man getting up the kedge anchor has on the same sort of split-top cloth cap spotted in Monday's post "Sailors" from the same series of engraving, which reader CS suggested might be a carpenter's hat. His jacket has mariner's cuffs, worn closed.

Sailors, 1807

"Sailors". John Augustus Atkinson, London, 1807. British Museum.

This weeks posts will look at some plates containing sailors as portrayed in John Augustus's Atkinson's series of prints on "A picturesque representation of the costumes of Great Britain", published from 1807-1808. The series is more serious than caricatures, but at the same time it does rely on romantic imagery, which might not be wholly accurate to life.

Today's post shows four sailors on the shore talking, two talking in the foreground and two pushing a boat into the water in the background.

The man with his back to the viewer wears a low-crowned round hat with a curled brim. His hair is worn long in a thick queue that reaches to mid-back, clearly tied with a thick tape or ribbon. His jacket, with a turned-down collar and mariner's cuffs worn unbuttoned, is cut short, showing a gap of shirt between his jacket and the waistband of his trousers. His trousers rest slightly above his hips and are tied in the back, cut tight in the leg but loose at the ankle. They're long, reaching to his heels and covering his shoes.

The seated man he's speaking to is smoking a pipe and wearing a hat style I'm unfamiliar with. He wears a very large handkerchief tied loosely around the neck, and a voluminous smock that reaches almost to his knees. On his legs he wears tight trousers or what might be sea boots - it was hard for me to tell. His shoes are tied.

In the background two more sailors push a boat into the water. One of them wears long, queued hair and a jacket with a high-cut waist.  They both wear round hats and trousers that are tight in the leg and loose at the ankle.

A true & lamentable Ballad, 1804

A True & Lamentable Ballad. Royal Museums Greenwich.

Today's image is another illustrated ballad from the London publishers Laurie and Whittle: "A true & lamentable Ballad call'd Billy Taylor". This song is an early 19th c. ballad (Roud #158) with many variations, about a woman whose lover is pressed into service, dresses in men's clothing him, has her gender revealed by an accident, is questioned by the captain and learns that her lover is about to marry another, shoots them both, and is promoted as a result. This version is as follows:

Billy Taylor was a gay young fellow, Full of mirth, and full of glee ; 
And his heart he did diskiver To a lady fair and free.
Four-and-twenty stout young fellows, Clad they were in blue array, 
Came and press'd young Billy Taylor, And forthwith sent him to sea.

Soon his true love follow'd arter, Under the name of Richard Carr ; 
And her lily white hands she daub'd all over With the nasty pitch and tar.
When they came to the first engagement, Bold she fit amongst the rest, 
Until a cannon-ball cut her jacket open, And diskivered her lily white breast.

When the Captain com'd for to hear on't, Says he, "Vat vind has blown you here?"
Says she, "I come for to seek for my true love, Whom you press'd and I love so dear."
"If you come for to seek for your true love, Tell unto me his name I pray!"
"His name kind sir is Billy Taylor, Whom you press'd, and sent to sea"

"If his name is Billy Taylor, He's both cruel and severe:
For rise up early in the morning, And you ll see him with a lady fair.
With that she ros'd up in the morning, Early as by break of day,
And she met her Billy Taylor, Walking with a lady gay.

Forthwith she call'd for Sword and Pistol, Which did come at her command,
And she shot her Billy Taylor, With his fair one in his hand .
When the captain com'd for to hear on't. He werry much applauded her for what she d done
And quickly he made her the first Lieutenant, Of the gallant THUNDER BOMB.

Carrying her pistol in one hand, our cross-dressing deadly lady tar is drawn dressed like any other sailor portrayed in caricature. Only the curve of her bosom, revealed by her open blue jacket, shows her to be a woman instead of her alias Richard Carr.

She wears small pointed-toe buckled black pumps, white high-waisted trousers that end above the ankle, a double-breasted waistcoat painted yellow in this version, a white shirt with the collar turned up and a small black handkerchief tied tightly around her neck. In her other hand she carries a round hat with a flat brim and a buckle on the black hatband. Her hair is drawn a little differently from the way sailor hair is usually drawn: longer than usual, and combed forward.

Off in the background the faithless Billy Taylor lies dead on the ground next t o his bare-bosomed lover, in a blue jacket buttoned shut, white trousers and stockings, and black shoes. Also glimpsed in the background is a tavern sign that could possibly have three sailors on it, in round hats, short dark jackets, and white trousers.

Sailors in a Calm, 1807

"Sailors in a Calm". London: Thomas Tegg, 1807. British Museum.

Today's print is another scene published by both the London publisher Thomas Tegg (after George Woodward), and the Dublin publisher M. Cleary, in 1807. The scene depicts a popular subject for making fun of sailors, namely their utter inability to ride horses or judge horseflesh.

In this scene three sailors on a horse with their luggage (which includes a small cask, a glass bottle of something almost certainly in the alcohol line, and a lot of white clay pipes - almost everything needed for a good time) meet a sailor walking along the road with his bundle slung on his stick. The sailors aboard the horse are complaining about how they can't get her to start walking, which the sailor on foot responds to by asking why they decided to ride:

"Her lights are stove in, her knee timbers all shattered, scarse a bit of running tackle to her Bowsprit. & not an inch of rope left to take her in tow. & I'll be damn'd if you don't ship yourselves aboard a tighter vessel. You won't hove in sight of Portsmouth for a Month."

"Sailors in a Calm". Dublin: M. Cleary. C. 1807. Royal Museums Greenwich.

"Sailors in a Calm." Dublin: M. Cleary. C. 1807. V&A Museum.

The three print versions offer a satisfying number of color variations on sailor's clothing, but also have some interesting commonalities: all the sailors have blue hat ribbons and rosettes. Their jackets vary from blue, green, and red, and their trousers from red striped, blue striped, solid blue, and white. Their neck cloths include yellow, red, and black, and their hair is all short and brown, with some sailors sporting straight hair instead of the usual curly.

A Sailor sitting for his Picture, c. 1800-1810

"A Sailor sitting for his Picture" Royal Museums Greenwich.

Suspiciously reminiscent of the 1807 print "A Sailor Sitting for His Miniature", today's caricature also features a sailor being painted by an artist. Today's print is undated and no date is given with the various institutions that hold a copy, but given the strong resemblance to the 1807 print, Jack's general style of dress, and other conventions for showing Jack in caricature at the time, the first decade of the 19th century seems likely, as I haven't been able to track down further information on the years this publisher was active.

This print is from the publisher M. Creary in Dublin and Jack is dressed in much the same style as the London print. Both sailors even have the same long side-whiskers and large spot on their faces, and are seated in much the same attitude. When combined with almost the exact same dialogue ("Carlisle Bridge" from today's print is replaced with "London Bridge" in the 1807 Woodward & Roberts print) the print becomes part of the larger narrative of publishers and artists using and reusing images in different cities in an era before strong copyright protection.

Jack wears pointed-toe brown pumps with large white buckles, striped red trousers, and a gold fob with pink ribbon at his waist. His double-breasted blue jacket is worn open with the cuffs unbuttoned, and the buttons are a grey color that looks like it might be meant to represent pewter. Under the jacket a massive yellow and orange plaid (?) handkerchief is tied loosely around his neck, and an oversized round hat with a blue hatband and huge blue rosette sits over a full head of curly brown hair. A brass tobacco case (absent in the London print) tucked into a welted jacket pocket goes nicely with the white clay pipe that he puffs at.

The veteran's address to a young sailor, 1803

"The Veteran's Address to a Young Sailor". London: 1803. Walpole Library.

Today's image is a London print from the team of Woodward and Ackerman. It offers an excellent compare and contrast between the clothes of a senior sailor who did his service in the 18th century, and a young sailor just starting out a life at sea. The veteran says:

"You are now, Young Man, entering on a scene of life the most glorious and enterprising - that of an English Sailor... An imperious and daring Invader threatens to approach your shores." The sailor is commanded to remember Drake, Howard, Blake, and Pocock, Russel, Boscawen, "Duncan, brave Cornwallis, Howe, Warren, Hood, the famed St. Vincent, and the undaunted Hero of the Nile!... Farewell! be vigilant, be bold - true to your God, your Country, and your King!"

The veteran on the left is dressed firmly in the style of the preceding century, with white hair (or a wig?) with a long white queue wrapped in a black ribbon and a long blue coat with white turn-backs. He wears white small clothes, which include a waistcoat that stretches over his prosperous belly, reaching to his thighs, knee breeches, and stockings. His shirt is ruffled, with a black stock, and his shoes are substantial, with large buckles.

In contrast, our young sailor wears all that is fashionable for a young sailor of the early 1800s: delicate pointed-toe pumps, red and white striped ankle-length broadfall trousers that are tight at the ankle, a triple-breasted blue jacket with small buttons and welted pockets cut high, and a large black neck-cloth worn tied loosely around his neck. He has a large round hat with a round crown and a black rosette in the band in one hand, and a thin stick tucked under his arm. His brown hair is curly, and very short.

While sailors had been wearing striped trousers for a long time by the time this print was made, the contrast between the veteran's conservative, traditional naval uniform and the fashionable cut of the youth's clothes in this print make an excellent contrast.

The sailor's will and his power, 1808

"The Sailor's Will and his Power", 1808. Lewis Walpole Library.

Today I'm looking at another illustrated broadside by Laurie & Whittle. This copy's catalog entry in the Walpole notes that the paper has an 1814 watermark, and if so would mean that editions of the engraving continued to be printed six years after the initial run - an interesting detail.

Jack stands on the deck of a ship, bidding farewell to a crying woman as a bosun with a stick under his arm blows a call behind him. Behind her back the woman has a piece of paper labeled "Will & Power", which is explained in the final verse of the song:

Now, as along the beach she stray'd,
Quite forgot was poor Johnny,
Eagerly, instantly, off she sped,
Clean into the arms of her Tommy.
Close in her arms did she him embrace,
She call'd him her joy and her honey,
How the hell cou'd you think, that I lov'd that there man,
'Twas only to finger his money.

Jack wears tie shoes, light-colored stockings, and long trousers that are tight at the ankle. His jacket has small buttons and is worn open, revealing a light colored waistcoat and a long neck-cloth hanging outside his waistcoat, with the knot around his breastbone and the ends reaching down to his navel. His shirt collar is buttoned. On his head he has a round hat with a narrow brim and slightly-sloped crown, pushed jauntily back to reveal short, curly hair.

The sailor's prayer, 1801

The Sailor's Prayer. 1801. Lewis Walpole Library.

Leaving the strange shoals of fishermen, today we return to the safe waters of caricatures with this irreverent Woodward and Rowlandson print from 1801, which features a sailor, as always speaking in impenetrable nautical jargon:

"O mighty Neptune! hear an  honest British Tar--thou knowest I trouble not thy Godship every day, I therefore pray thee to grant my Prayer, for I love not long palavering and that there, d'ye see.

Grant me a stout ship, and honest Messmates--as the last of my old ones was popped off the Belerophon's bows at the Nile--poor Mat Mizen!! Give me plenty of Grog, and a good commander, and I'll warrant you I'll shave the Don's wiskers, and as to MOUNSEER, if I comes athwart his hauser again, I'll shiver his Jib, and dowse his three-coloured rag, and revenge the death of Mat Mizen, d--n me--I beg your honour's pardon for swearing, but its a way I have--however, I still say, if I get into Mounseer's wake, I'll back his top sails, split my Timbers.

Worthy Master Neptune! send us a good prize, I beseech thee, and be not sparing in brandy and tobacco--give us also a few chests of the Don's dollars, for Mounseer hasn't got none, no more than there is in your three-pronged boat-hook. When we arrive in port, send us handsome Doxies, and keep us from the lee-shore, that thou knowest I hat as I do an empty can, or a dry quid. Grant me but these, and capsize my Trunions if I don't ever praise thee, and the Messmate that wont join me, may he be stuck upon the lee-yard arm of a storm night! Lastly, I pray thee to keep me from the disgrace of the Bilboes-save me from a Guinea-man and a Tender, and I'll serve cheerfully, and sing King George and his Navy for ever.--Huzza! to the end of the chapter."

The sailor, seated on a chest on the deck of a ship, is smoking a white clay pipe, with an oval tobacco case and a tankard easily within reach. He wears pointed-toe shoes with gold buckles, white stockings, red and white striped pants, a blue jacket with three buttons at the cuffs, at least two of which are worn unbuttoned, and a black neck-handkerchief tied tightly around his neck with the ends hanging outside his jacket. His dark hair is short and curly.

Marine Dabblers, 1808 and 1811

Today we return to the marine art of JMW Turner in the collection of the Tate with scene from the first decade of the 19th century, done first as a watercolor in 1808 and later issued as a engraving in 1811. In the foreground young boys play in the surf next to a boat run up on the shore, contrasted to the adult fishermen in the background. To quote the Tate's catalog entry, "The anxiety of the child at the loss of a toy in the shallows foreshadows the dangers of setting out in real boats, to which the men shown in the background are accustomed".

I've avoided featuring images of watermen or coastal fishermen because there are sartorial differences between them and bluewater sailors, but the lure of Turner was once again too much for me: not only does the Tate have Turner's original watercolor, but both the preliminary outline etching and the final published version of this print survive, with the final, published print engraved by a different artist.

Together these three images show subtle differences in the interpretation of the sailor's clothing in the scene, and a useful lesson on the over-reliance on an artist's brush-strokes or etching-lines when studying clothing.

JMW Turner; Marine Dabblers
© Tate Photographic Rights © Tate (2016), CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported),
The original can be viewed at the Tate by clicking here.
1808

This is Turner's original watercolor, completed in 1808. The sketch was done in Indian Red pigment as a series of washes, with some washing-out used for the figures. The four boys play in the surf at the foreground, and off to the right are the two adults that grabbed my interest.

Detail from JMW Turner's "Marine Dabblers"
© Tate Photographic Rights © Tate (2016), CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported),
The original can be viewed at the Tate by clicking here.
1808

It's a little difficult to tell what the men are wearing because of the nature of the washes; the figure on the left standing in the surf half-turned to the viewer appears to be wearing a striped knit cap, a light-colored shirt with full sleeves, petticoat breeches, and a bulk leg covering that look like trousers. The figure on the right, with his back pushed up against the boat, wears a cap, white shirt, light-colored waistcoat, and slops over some sort of leg covering.

JMW Turner; Marine Dabblers
© Tate Photographic Rights © Tate (2016), CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported),
The original can be viewed at the Tate by clicking here.
1811

Next I turn to Turner's preliminary etching, which offers more clarity in the sharp lines of an etched plate but less detail in terms of shading and some of the garments, but the leg-coverings of the men now look like gaiters worn over breeches.

Detail from JMW Turner's "Marine Dabblers"
© Tate Photographic Rights © Tate (2016), CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported),
The original can be viewed at the Tate by clicking here.
1811

Finally I turn to the published engraving, which was engraved by another artist, William Say. This bears much more similarity to the original watercolor due to its shading, but even more detail in the sailor's clothes.

JMW Turner; Marine Dabblers
© Tate Photographic Rights © Tate (2016), CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported),
The original can be viewed at the Tate by clicking here.
1811

Detail from JMW Turner's "Marine Dabblers"
© Tate Photographic Rights © Tate (2016), CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported),
The original can be viewed at the Tate by clicking here.
1811

Both knit caps look striped, and the sailor on the left's petticoat breeches look horizontally striped. The detail of the gaiters over the breeches is largely lost.

Although this post is perhaps not extremely interesting from the perspective of the costume historian, I nonetheless enjoyed seeing Turner's artistic process, especially when the process gives me insight into studying sailor's clothing in art.