The Use of a Gentleman or Patronage for the Admiralty (1810)

The Use of a Gentleman or Patronage for the Admiralty. Published by Thomas Tegg, London. Undated; c. 1810. The British Museum.

The undiscerning nature of the press gang appeared frequently in 18th century caricatures like The Liberty of the Subject (1779), but in this 19th century update the artist mocks the results of the press laying their hands on members of the social elite.

 The Use of a Gentleman or Patronage for the Admiralty. Royal Museums Greenwich copy.

The scene shows two gentlemen in fashionable civilian clothes pleading their case to an officer. Their exaggerated clothes and posture are contrasted with the round and solid plainness of the sailors, and their useless refinements in contrast to the blunt, practical effectiveness of the clubs and shackles of the press gang.

One fresh recruits pleads his case, that he is indeed a gentleman who is well known in Bond Street. The officer hopes that the man will be able to teach his crew some manners: "Yes, yes! I see you are every inch a Gentleman, and just the person we want, my men have pressed a d---'d numer [sic] of Blackguards, and we want a Gentleman on board to teach them good manners!"  

This image shows a few items new to this blog, including men wearing cutlasses with balrdics! The sailor with his back to the viewer wears black pumps, blue (or white) trousers with hems that drag on the ground. Although he carries a solid stick in his right hand he also wears a cutlass on a baldric, with a black scabbard with a yellow chape and locket. His jacket is blue, with buttons painted yellow in the British Museum copy. Shoulder-length brown hair peeps out from under a black round hat.

His mate on the far right left wears white (or light blue, or white being shown in shadow) trousers, a blue jacket, and a yellow handkerchief with red spots. Brown curly hair peeping out from under a black round hat completes the look.

The central two sailors offer much to look at. The man on the left wears black buckled shoes, dark blue (or light blue, or white being shown in shadow) trousers, again with wide legs and cuffs that drag on the ground. a blue jacket (with small yellow buttons in the British Museum copy), and a black hat with a tightly-curled brim, with straight brown hair peeping out from under it. In the British Museum's copy his waistcoat is indistinguishable from his jacket and his handkerchief is black, while in the Royal Museums Greenwich print his waistcoat and handkerchief are white.

The sailor at the center of the print is colored almost the same in both versions. He stands with his legs wide, wearing small buckled shoes, white stockings, and broadfall trousers with very wide legs and cuffs that drag extremely on the ground. He wears a red waistcoat, white shirt, and black handkerchief. His blue jacket has gold buttons in the British Museum copy - the only difference. He also wears a cutlass on a baldric, though he carries a stout cudgel under one arm. Brown curly shoulder length hair peeps out from a round hat with tightly-curled sides and a piece of string tied around the hatband.

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.

The sailors defence, 1807

"The Sailors Defence". London: 1807. Lewis Walpole Library.

In addition to being bad at riding horses, bad judges of horseflesh, speaking in impenetrable nautical jargon, being mouthy to parsons, and disliking French refinements, another caricature trope about sailors is that they're belligerent and prone to fighting! This stereotype was touched upon in The Indignant Tar (1804), and today we have yet another sailor who has gotten hauled before a magistrate for hitting someone. This caricature is also by Woodward, and from 1807.


A large, solid sailor stands before a magistrate, while a thin man with a handkerchief tied like a bandage over one eye stands in the background. A seated magistrate inquires of Jack:

I really wonder you are not ashamed of yourself. A man of your athletic make to beat a poor fellow - so much interior to you in point of size what have you to say for yourself

And Jack replies:

Please your Magistrates worship and Glory - he run foul of my Larboard side, as I was steering through Wapping-so I hove him a gentle topper & knock'd him down. but I meant no harm for as I hope to see salt water again I had nothing at all in my hand but my fist.

The Walpole Library has two color versions of this print. Jack is stylishly dressed in his shore-going clothing, and the first color version has added lots of great details to his clothing: peeping out between striped trousers of a narrow red stripe over white and pointy-toed shoes with large rectangular white buckles he wears blue and white striped stockings, and two keys and a fob painted yellow hang from a narrow yellow ribbon or chain at his waist.


His blue jacket has finely-painted small yellow buttons, double breasted up the front and unbuttoned halfway, and with four visible on one sleeve, two unbuttoned. His orange waistcoat is also unbuttoned halfway up the front, with his yellow neck handkerchief tied in a bow around his collarbone and the short ends hanging out of the jacket. Under it all a white shirt with an upright collar is visible coming up to his cheeks. His hair is short, brown, and curly.


In his one hand the sailor holds a black round hat with a blue rosette; the inside is visible, showing a drawstring lining. It's colored in a dull brown wash, leaving the impression of a natural linen lining and paper-lined crown. The sailor's other hand, clenched in a fist, is indeed empty of a stick.

In this second color version from the Walpole Library the sailor's clothing is largely the same, but much more crudely painted, showing what a difference a lazier colorist can make in one's impression of sailor's clothing: the red stripes on Jack's trousers are much wider, his jacket is colored in a single blue wash and lacks the details of gold buttons, his waistcoat is white like his shirt, and his neck stock is a watery black like his hat. Still, his stockings are striped in blue and white, his rosette is blue, and the fobs at his waist is colored with a spot of yellow paint while the ribbon is painted in the same purple as the coat of his victim.

Sailors on horseback, 1811

Continuing our trend of caricatures of sailors having misadventures on horses, today's image from 1811 (one an undated reissue) shows three sailors mounted on horseback racing along. A fourth sailor on the ground has lost his mount - clearly an end the sailor who has been lashed to his mount with "stout cables" is trying to prevent. The whole scene suggests that no possible good can come of this.


I'm showing both of the Walpole's colorations of this print, which both have striped trousers, red and blue jackets, and round hats with cockades. Some of the sailors wear clothes that look more civilian than others, though which sailors are painted as such changes between the prints, and the sailorly nature of all of them is revealed by their jargon-ridden dialogue: the man on the ground cries "Mind what you are at Messmates for I am upset. [A]nd the Frigate I came on board of has been underweigh [sic] without me this half hour". As always, click on the link to the Walpole to view the print at the Walpole, where you can zoom in on the high-resolution image.

"Sailors on Horseback".  GM Woodward, London, c. 1811.
Link to original at full size: The Lewis Walpole Library.





This first colorization shows two sailors in striped trousers (one blue, one red), with the remaining two in blue and a color that could be buff or brown. Two are wearing the usual blue jackets and two are wearing red, a less common color for colorists to use for sailor jackets, but the shapes of their jackets and the details of the cuff remain the same. All four have black round hats, and one has a rosette in his that looks more like a cockade. The sailor on the ground has a loosely-tied handkerchief around his neck colored yellow, and two of the other sailors look to have white neckwear. The two sailors with visible shoes wear white socks and round-toed buckled shoes with large buckles painted as white. All sailors have short, curly brown hair, and the ones shown in profile have distinct sideburns that reach down to their earlobes.

"Sailors on Horseback". Thomas Rowlandson, London, 1811.
Link to original at full size: The Lewis Walpole Library.

The second colorization shows some nice variation: the sailor to the far right looks nothing like a sailor in his light blue trousers, brown coat, and pinkish-red waistcoat that matches the unhorsed sailor's handkerchief. Two sailors have white trousers and blue jackets, and the remaining one has striped blue trousers and a red jacket.



Jack Junk embarking on a cruize, 1807

"Jack Junk embarking on a cruize." Pub. by Sidebotham, Sackville St., London. 1807.
Lewis Walpole Library.

Today's image is a caricature from 1807. Jack Junk attempts to mount a house to go to Leather Head, except his left foot is in the right stirrup, which would put him on the horse backwards. The ostler points this out to Jack, saying "- "Jack, you don't mount the horse the right way, but it is Sailor-like to look one way and Row another!!"


Horsemanship aside, there is no mistaking Jack for anything but a sailor. He wears a black round hat with a higher, less-squashy crown than hats from earlier in the decade with a brim that curves gently upward, with a broad blue hatband and a rosette at the back of the hat. His neck-cloth is yellow with red spots, draped broadly over his back. His blue jacket has small gold buttons, three on each cuff and ten visible on the front. His trousers have broad red and white stripes, and on his feet he wears white stockings and black shoes closed with black ties. In his hand he carries the sailor's stick.


Of note is his hair: broad brown sideburns and flowing brown hair that is gathered into a thin black queue reaching all the way down to the seat of his trousers. The queue is made of narrow black ribbon or tape and tied in a bow at the top of the queue.

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.

My Poll and my Partner Joe, 1790 (British Tars)

Welcome to Napoleonic Tars, an examination of the dress of common sailors in the English-speaking world through primary source images for the period 1790-1820.

To begin I share with permission a post from British Tars: 1740-1790: My Poll and my Partner Joe, 1790.

"My Poll and My Partner Joe," Isaac Cruikshank, 1790, Walpole Library.

British Tars writes:

Cruikshank's print accompanies a ballad drawn from the 1774 opera "The Waterman." It relates the tale of an unnamed waterman who is pressed into service. He spends years at sea, fighting and sailing through trying times. When peace is at last upon him, he returns home to find his wife Poll embracing his friend Joe. He relates that on the shocking site, he "boldly kick'd My POLL and my Partner JOE."

Our unfortunate waterman has curly brown hair that drapes onto his shoulders, under a tall cylindrical crowned round hat. A yellow neckerchief spotted with red hangs down over his double breasted red waistcoat which appears to be tucked into his white slops/petticoat trousers. The telltale blue sailor's jacket has brass buttons along the lapels and closed mariner's cuffs. At his waist is a yellow watch fob, and in his hand is a cudgel.

"My Poll and My Partner Joe," Isaac Cruikshank, 1790, Walpole Library.

In this colorization, the former waterman's hair is white, his neckerchief pink with dark spots, his jacket red with cloth covered buttons, and his waistcoat striped with narrow horizontal blue.