The Greenwich Pensioner, 1790 (British Tars)

Today's post is courtesy of my brother blog, British Tars: 1740-1790, and was originally covered in this post.

"The Greenwich Pensioner," Charles Dibdin, 1790, Walpole Library.

Greenwich Hospital provided a safety net for the sailors who kept Britain safe and flourishing. Deductions from the pay of merchant and naval sailors helped to provide for their care when they were disabled, as is this man. Dibdin created this piece (which was published by Carrington Bowles) to commemorate those sailors who gave everything for the nation, and to celebrate the way the nation cared for them.
 Our pensioner claims to have sailed on the Rover, a ship that I am fairly certain was invented for this song, as a quick search hasn't turned anything up on an eighteenth century ship rigged naval vessel by that name prior to 1790.
 Jack doesn't wear his slop clothes anymore, but a suit of clothes that hint at his former profession.

A nice cocked hat bound in tape is cocked very far to one side, or perhaps worn backward. The balding pensioner's wile waist is still worn rather short, and he is clearly balding. About his neck is a checked neckerchief, tucked into a single breasted waistcoat. The sleeves of his coat (for it is too long to be called a jacket) end with mariner's cuffs which are also bound in tape.

As you would expect of any good sailor (retired or not), our pensioner carries a stick under his arm and a pipe between his fingers.

The most interesting detail of the entire piece is his finely carved wooden leg. A sort of scoop is fitted atop it to cradle the back of his stump. From there, a belt wraps around his thigh to hold it in place. It is a well turned piece of dark wood. His good leg is fitted with a plain stocking and pointed toe shoe with large rectangular buckle.

That accounts for it, 1799

"That Accounts for It." Isaac Cruickshank, London, 1799.
The Lewis Walpole Library.

 Today's print from 1799 is a Cruickshank caricature featuring a variety of characters, both civilian and military. Our sailor sports an unusual hat that looks a bit more like a cap than a round hat. He carries a black stick under his arm and is missing his leg below the knee: the limb has been replaced by a black-painted peg leg.

This will probably be a print I revisit in a few years when I have more understanding of the time period to explain the context of this print.

"Why I say my hearty - we hear nothing of the French Navy now -
I suppose they got so cursedly lick'd the last time,
they did'nt [sic] like it - eh - my hearty -
aye That - accounts for it."

A Sailor’s Will, 1805

A sailor's will
[London] : Pubd. by R. Ackermann, No. 101 Strand, May 25, 1805.
Lewis Walpole Library.

In this caricature an elderly sailor named Jack Junks dictates his will. As is usual in cartoons he speaks in phrases laden with nautical jargon, and this particular sailor references his missing limb: "My wooden leg to Sam Bowsprit, as the way he goes on in every engagement he is likely soon to want it."
He wears a soft red tube cap on his head with the back turned back to show a white lining. A yellow handkerchief is tucked into his blue jacket, which has four unbuttoned buttons on the cuff. Underneath the jacket is a hint of a white waistcoat and white shirt. A black-painted peg leg peeps out below loose white petticoat breeches. A long stemmed clay pipe rests in his hand.