A True British Tar, 1795

"A True British Tar" Royal Museums Greenwich.

Today's image, drawn by James Gillray, and published by Hannah Humphrey, both of London, has an interesting story behind it. While at first glance it might appear to show a common British tar, the exaggerated features of the sailor's face and a reference in the lines below the portrait makes this a clear satire of Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, a professional naval officer with Nelson as well as his friend, and the future William IV.

The print shows him as a ‘tar’ in stereotypical sailor clothing: a misshapen black hat, blue jacket, and striped trousers, with a printed neckerchief. The text reads

Damn all Bond-Street-Sailors I say, a parcel of smell-smocks!
They'd sooner creep into a Jordan than face the French!- dam me!' 

"Jordan" was slang for a chamber-pot, but here refers to Dorothea Jordan, the Prince’s actress-mistress and mother of his illegitimate children, the FitzClarences. The pun gave rise to far cruder satires than this print. (1)

Gillray's reference to the lewd behavior of the "Bond-Street Sailors" is thus a veiled "criticism of the Duke's own decadent life style. Any real scorn is so deeply embedded in visual and verbal innuendo that Gillray would have nothing to fear by turning his attention to the high-ranking royal." (2)

"A True British Tar" Royal Museums Greenwich.

In both images the prince wears a blue (or purple) coat with small yellow buttons and mariner's cuffs with one button worn open, a double-breasted white waistcoat with small yellow buttons, and striped trousers with yellow buttons - red in one image, blue in another. A truly massive yellow and red handkerchief that looks more like a woman's fichu with a fringed edge visible is tied tightly around his neck, completely covering his collar and shoulders. His straight blond hair hangs limply around his face, and a strange smushed black hat sits on top of his head.

References:
1. Description note from A True British Tar (caricature) - National Maritime Museum. Accessed 23 Dec. 2016. http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/127946.html
2. Davey, James, and Richard Johns. Broadsides: Caricature and the Navy 1756-1815. Seaforth Publishing, in Association with the National Maritime museum, 2012. P. 19.

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 Welch Sailor's Mistake or Tars in Conversation, c. 1807

"The Welch Sailor's Mistake or Tars in Conversation." London: 1807. Lewis Walpole Library.

Today's image is another engraving from Woodward's caricature magazine, the Hudibrastic Mirror. This image makes fun of stereotypes of Welshmen, and features five sailors enjoying themselves on the deck of a ship. The dialogue is as follows:

"-And so then do you see David we sprung a leak"

"Cot pless us - and save us - did you! and a ferry coot fetchitable it is. I should have liked to have had a pit with you."

The jug at the English sailor's feet is labeled "Real oronooko" - a type of rum.

Although identified as Welsh, David dresses no differently than the other sailors - in fact he wears his clothes in the same fashion as the sailor on the far right, and is colored the same way: buckled shoes, red and white striped trousers, a double-breasted white waistcoat, blue jacket worn open, black neck-cloth worn with the knot around the collarbone and the ends hanging loose, and a big squashy black round hat with a blue ribbon and rosette.


The other two sailors on the left wear black round hats without ribbons or rosettes, black neck-cloths, and blue jackets. One sailor can be seen as having a white waistcoat, and the other is wearing blue trousers and black shoes with white buckles.

The English sailor telling his story is dressed the same as the sailor on the far right except he has a blue hatband and is smoking a pipe. All the visible cuffs have four or five small buttons, and the sailors all have short, brown curls hair, except for David, who is painted with blond hair (a rare choice for a colorist for a sailor in a caricature), and the sailor on the far right might be wearing a bobwig.

The sailor and the ghost, 1805

Today's sailor comes from a broadside ballad published in 1805. It details the story of a sailor who gets two women with child, marries only one, and is at last revenged by his jilted lover's ghost, who followed him to the sea after hanging herself. The moral at the end of the ballad is this:
You that do to love belong
Now you have heard this moumful song
Be true to one lest ill betide
And don't delude poor woman kind

"The Sailor and the Ghost". London, 1805. Lewis Walpole Library.

This is the first time I've covered a broadside ballad, and it's an interesting change from my usual study of caricatures. While this etching is still not treated with the same amount of verisimilitude as a serious subject like a historic painting, the sailor is less exaggerated: in particular his hat is not drawn oversized and "squashy" like sailors in caricatures of the late 1790s-early 1800s are often drawn wearing, but more realistically with a straight-sided, medium crown with a flat top.

Jack has short, curly hair, clearly visible since his round hat has fallen off his head. The black round hat has a white lining and a straight-sided medium crown and a brim of medium size. He wears a dark-colored triple-breasted jacket that ends at his upper thigh, with a white single-breasted waistcoat and shirt underneath. His black neck handkerchief is loosely-knotted around his neck, with the knot falling around his lower breastbone. His white trousers are tight at the ankle and looser in the thigh. On his feet he wears pointed-toe black buckled shoes and white stockings.

The sailor, 1792

"The Sailor". S.W. Fores, London, 1792. The Lewis Walpole Library.

Today's image is a romantic English mezzotint from 1792. The scene it portrays is from a popular story from the 1780s entitled "The Adventures of a Hackney Coach", reprinted in numerous editions in England and America throughout the end of the 18th century. A sailor (speaking in the caption in nautical jargon) hands a letter to a woman in torn clothes, while the titular hackney coach waits in the background:

Hollo!—pilot! tell that there lass with the short petticoats and tight heels to step aboard, I've got a letter from her brother for her."

"What cheer! what cheer, Nan!— what storm hast thou been in, my lass, thy rigging seems a little tattered and yet thy bottom is tight and clean?"

"The storm of adversity, says the poor girl—"O,—an' that be all, here is what will set thee to rights speedily, my girl;" pulling a dirty letter from his pocket.—She read it, and found it contained an order on her brother's owner for ten pounds.

Our sailor wears pointed-toe shoes with square white-metal buckles and red and white striped trousers that end at the ankle showing white socks. On his upper body a white waistcoat with a few buttons undone at the top combined with a tightly-tied voluminous black handkerchief shows a blue and white checked shirt beneath. His long blue jacket has short tails that reach to his thighs, with seven large yellow metal buttons up the front. A large gold fob hangs from a wide green ribbon at his waist, and he carries a stick in one hand. 


His hat reminds me of one from The Flowing Can (1791), as it is bound around the brim and the base of the crown with what looks like yellow tape. His long brown hair flows down to his shoulders.

Sweet Poll of Plymouth, 1790 (British Tars)

Today's post is shared with permission from British Tars: 1740-1790.

"Sweet Poll of Plymouth," Thomas Macklin,
George Shepheard, Henry William Bunbury.
1790, National Maritime Museum.

In his post the author of British Tars writes:

Sweet Poll is a wicked looking prostitute drawing the attention of two tarpawlins and a creepy looking marine. The colorist of this print has done a fairly good job with the shading and careful application of color, except on the marine whose cartridge box blends into his small clothes, and cuffs fail to match the lapels.


This print is at the very tail end of [my] period of examination, and so the sailors look markedly different from those of earlier decades. Notably, both wear straw hats. I know of only one other depiction of sailors from our period of study that clearly and definitely shows a straw hat, and even that source I had to question. This is the first positive and definitive depiction of straw hats being worn by sailors in my period of study, and it comes at the very last year of that period.

Our first jack wears a wide brimmed straw hat, and has his hair bound in a queue (another change from previous decades in which short, bob-style hair was the most common). A blue jacket ending just below the waist and with folded back cuffs rests over a double breasted white jacket with cloth covered buttons. His trousers are white and end at the ankle, showing off pointed toe shoes with rectangular buckles.

His mate wears a straw hat with a shorter brim, and short hair. It appears his hair is without a queue, but not definitely so. A short lack neckerchief hangs over his waistcoat with its horizontal red stripes and cloth covered buttons. The blue jacket is single breasted with cloth covered buttons and an odd folded back cuff that also appears to be a double buttoned mariner's cuff. His trousers are slightly longer than his mates, but still show the same shoes and buckles.

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.

A sailor at a quaker's funeral, 1800-1810

“A Sailor at a Quakers Funeral”. C. 1800-1810. Various institutions.

In this cartoon a bare-headed sailor with short, curly hair stands slouched on the left of an open grave with a gravedigger, while pious Quakers pray and mourn on the right side. One Quaker says, "Alas, there is no happiness on this side of the grave", to which the sailor flashes out a bit of practical wit: "Why then, you Lubber, don't you come on this side?"
Our irreverent Jack has a stick in one hand and his other hand shoved into a trouser pocket with his hat tucked under his arm. His rounded toe shoes have large oval buckles, and he wears baggy trousers. His mariner’s cuffs are worn closed and his double-breasted jacket open, showing a double-breasted waistcoat underneath. Around his neck is a loosely-tied handkerchief, showing a bit of shirt underneath. 


In all versions the colorization shows the sailor as having black shoes, white-metal shoe buckles, white stockings, blue jacket, white shirt, black hat, and brown hair, but there are several variations in the details.


Lewis Walpole Library, version 1

In this version the sailor’s round hat has a black hat ribbon and a blue rosette. His trousers are a dark blue that matches his jacket and all his buttons. His handkerchief is black.

Lewis Walpole Library, version 2

In this version the sailor’s round hat has a light blue hat ribbon and matching light blue rosette. His trousers are striped red and white. His blue jacket is a bright, deep blue with brass buttons. His white waistcoat has white buttons, and his handkerchief is yellow with red spots


Royal Museum Greenwich: This version is the same as The Walpole’s version 1: the sailor’s round hat has a black hat ribbon and a blue bow. His trousers are a dark blue that matches his jacket and all his buttons. His handkerchief is black.


British Museum: In this version the sailor’s round hat has a black hat ribbon and rosette. His trousers are striped red and white. His waistcoat matches his blue jacket, and both have cloth-covered buttons. His handkerchief is black.


As always, it is interesting to see a print with many color variations that reflect how colorists thought a stereotypical sailor should look.

A battle out of the House, 1798

“A battle out of the House, or, The best way of settling the dispute”.
[Weimar : Im Verlage des Industrie-Comptoirs, 1798]. Lewis Walpole Library.

This caricature drawing shows a boxing match. The onlookers are labeled, and include a soldier, barber, blacksmith, butcher, baker, shoemaker, tailor, and glazier, as well as our sailor, who is visible from the waist-up standing behind the barrier to the ring.


The sailor wears a low-crown black hat with a blue ribbon and blue rosette in it. His white single-breasted waistcoat has white cloth buttons. No buttons are visible on his blue jacket, which has turned-back cuffs. Around his neck is visible a white shirt and a loosely-tied black handkerchief. His short, wavy brown hair is brushed forward around his face, and the head of a wooden stick is tucked under his arm.