British Resentment or the French fairly Coopt at Louisbourg, 1755

British Resentment or the French fairly Coopt at Louisbourg, Louis Pierre Boitard, 1755, Colonial Williamsburg.

British Resentment or the French fairly Coopt at Louisbourg, Louis Pierre Boitard, 1755, John Carter Brown Library of Early American Images.

Copies of this cartoon can be found at Williamsburg, the Walpole Library, the John Carter Brown Early American Images collection, the Library of Congress, the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, and other major institutions.

Louisbourg had long been a target of the British in their wars against French Canada. This political cartoon by Boitard was counting chickens before they hatched. It would be another three years of war between the American and French colonies of North America.

There are a good number of sailors in this print, so we'll get right into it!

Starting from the left, there is a sailor at the base of the pyramid brandishing his curved cutlass and, in the words of Boitard, "pointing to the eclipse, & leering at a French Politician trapt by his own Schemes." This sailor wears a reversed cocked hat with narrow brim, held up by a skinny loop. His blue single breasted jacket has mariners cuffs with matching buttons. The waistcoat beneath is white with narrow vertical red stripes over a white shirt. A pair of white petticoat trousers and white stockings leading to pointed toe shoes with rectangular buckles complete his appearance. Peeking from beneath the petticoat trousers on his right leg is the tie that binds the breeches beneath.

In the foreground on the far right, conversing with a soldier, another tar sits by a cannon where he "Squeezes the Gallic Cock by the throat, & makes him disgorge the French usurpations in America." He also wears a blue jacket, with its mariners' cuff open so we can see the white shirt beneath. Trousers or petticoat trousers run down to the top of his calf when he site. He wears a yellow neckcloth which is spotted, and may have red spots in the Williamsburg version, but the resolution is too low to be certain. It appears that this sailor, too, wears his cocked hat reversed.

Behind the cannon "A Gang of brave Saylors [are] exulting at the Starving French coopt up." All of them wear petticoat trousers and carry or wear cocked hats, many of them bare bob wigs as they raise their hats in rejoicing. Most of them brandish long sticks. The mariner up front wears a striped waistcoat just like that of the sailor by the pyramid. Among them, the least uniform is only differentiated from his mates by the brown jacket he wears. Interestingly, most have flap pockets on their waistcoats and jackets, and at least one on his jacket.

Britain's Rights Maintained, 1755

Britain's Rights Maintained, or French Ambition Dismantled, Louis Philippe Boitard. 1755, Boston Rare Maps.

If you haven't visited Boston Rare Maps, you really should. There is an amazing collection of original printed images and maps that you can purchase. Definitely worth checking out.

Britain's Rights Maintained, a political cartoon by Boitard, was printed in the early days of the French and Indian War/Seven Years War. Another copy is held at the Library of Congress. His is an overly optimistic piece boasting about British victory well before it was assured. Indeed, 1755 left little for the British to celebrate.

Neptune himself points to a map of British North America, his finger resting on the border between New York and Quebec. Posturing with his trident as if to spear the French cock at his feet, Neptune declares "This for the Honour of the British Flag, Conducted by the Nobly-Spirited Anson." At this time, George Anson, hero of the previous war, was First Lord of the Admiralty.

Behind the British lion on the far left, a group of sailors circle around a pillar to the triumphs of George II. They are uniformly dressed in petticoat trousers, and beneath two of them are visible long ribbons. These ribbons are either to fasten the breeches at their knees, or serve as garters for their stockings. The men wave round hats over their heads, and a couple appear to be wearing bob wigs. Their jackets end about the middle of the thigh, and a few carry sticks.

On the far right, a single sailor, named Jack Tar, rests his hand on the shoulder of Monsieur Le Politiciene. The monsieur is despondent over the loss of America (again, a far cry from certain). Jack does not comfort the poor fellow, but mocks him:

Hark ye Mounseer! was that your Map of North America? what a vast tract of Land you had! pity the Right Owner shou'd take it from you.

Jack wears a reversed cocked hat over a bob wig, and a plain cloth at his neck. His jacket is loose fitting and ends below the top of the thigh, draping over his petticoat trousers. As with the other sailors, he wears long ribbons at his knee. A checked shirt is visible beneath a waistcoat with narrow vertical stripes. His shoes are pointed toe, and the tongue hangs out from his buckle, perhaps in "sailor's fashion."

The Imports of Great Britain from France, 1757

The Imports of Great Britain from France, Louis-Philippe Boitard, 1757, Government Art Collection.

Despite being born in France, Boitard was more than happy to tap into British worries about French influence on their culture. This political cartoon depicts the arrival of dandies and the emasculation of Londoners by the goods brought across the channel. published some eight years after Hogarth's Gate of Calais, perhaps Boitard is attempting to bookend Hogarth's piece by providing the geographical opposite to his work.

The Gate of Calais is also known as O The Roast Beef of Old England, borrowing its name from the song composed originally in 1731. Among the lyrics is this key verse:

But since we have learnt from all-vapouring France
To eat their ragouts as well as to dance,
We're fed up with nothing but vain complaisance
Oh! the Roast Beef of Old England,
And old English Roast Beef!

 Both Hogarth and Boitard are warning about the corrupting influence of French culture. Joining the artists in their scorn are a pair of sailors leaning on the larboard rail of a packet that is disgorging its vile passengers:

Swarms of Milliners, Taylors, Mantua-makers, Frisers, Tutoresses for Boarding schools, disguis'd Jesuits, Quacks, Valet de Chambres, &c. &c. &c.

One wears a round hat, the other a knit cap. Each wears a plain neckcloth draped over their simple jackets (which appear to be without cuffs, and a pair of petticoat trousers. The man on the left holds a pipe in one hand, and wears a bob wig beneath his round hat.

The Antigallican Spirit, 1750's-60's

The Antigallican Spirit, Thomas Ewart, c.1750's-60's, British Museum.

"Would Statesmen but this Picture View-" begins Ewart's inscription on this engraving, "Wear Hearts as honest and as True, the Haughty Gauls with Purse proud Spain, Would be our Vassals on the Main." Ewart offered this one penny broadside, complete with strained prose, lauding the successes of the Antigallican privateer.

Antigallican, under Captain William Forster, was a privateer out of London in the Seven Years War where she met with enough success to inspire a song.

Public Advertiser, January 3, 1757, Page 4.

I have searched through newspapers of the time, and find references to privateers named Antigallican out of Liverpool and Newcastle, but I have yet to find one captained by Forster in 1781, which the British Museum claims is the possible year of publication for this piece. It is possible that I have overlooked a source. It is also possible that this broadside is a fond remembrance of recent memories. Britain's successes in the Seven Years/French and Indian War were fresh in the minds of the British people, even as the fortunes of the American War were at a low ebb.

Given that Thomas Ewart published primarily in the 1750's and 1760's, it is more likely that this piece was also published in that period, when the topic of Forster and the Antigallican would have been more relevant.

Standing ashore, a pair of sailors shake hands. The first offers a toast: "Here's to Our noble apt Forster and a safe Arrival of the Three Prizes in the River Thames." The toast is continued by his mate: "May the french Fleet be put up to Auction & the French King not have a penny of money to bid for it."

Holding a punch bowl, this sailor is dressed in a single breasted jacket with open slit cuffs over a checked shirt. Crossing his body is a baldrick for his sword, a fine piece with an animal head pommel. His hair is short and loose. Our sailor's neckcloth is plain and tied close to his neck. Petticoat trousers hand to just below the knee, and the ties of his breeches are peaking out beneath. At his feet is a round hat with a short, conical crown and a ribbon hanging off.

His mate wear a plain neckcloth tied close to the neck and a plain white shirt beneath a jacket that ends above the top of the thigh and open slit cuffs. Above his head he waves a round hat, and a sword hangs from his left hip. His plain trousers end just below the middle of the calf.

Captain James Lowry, 1752

Captain James Lowry, R. Bennett, 1752, British Museum.

My favorite Scottish sea captain/murderous tyrant returns!

In case you missed the previous posts, Captain Lowry was master of the Molly merchantman and during a return voyage from Jamaica to London, he tied up an ill sailor named Kenneth Hossack and beat him to death. Claiming that Hossack was faking his illness ('shamming Abraham'), Lowry's brutality led to a lawful mutiny. Once he and the Molly's crew returned to England, Lowry was arrested, tried, convicted, and hanged.

R. Bennett depicts Lowry as a well dressed Scotch gentleman, standing over the ship's log, a compass, whip, chart of Jamaica, and cross-staff. These surmount a verse from Proverbs 2:22:

But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressours shall be rooted out of it.

The cross-staff is of particular interest because of its obsolescence. Cross-staffs were a useful tool in navigation, particularly for latitudinal navigation, but had long been eclipsed by the backstaff (Davis quadrant) and octant by 1752. They continued to be produced and used, as with this 1779 Dutch example in the National Maritime Museum, but were not a preferred means of navigation by the time Bennett etched this print.

To the left of Lowry is a boat full of sailors, some of whom cower behind the officer in the bow at the sight of the murderous captain.

Between the viewer and the boat is Lowry's cane, marked 'Royal oak Fore Mast.' This is the same stick Lowry carried about the ship. As John Hunt testified in Lowry's trial:

Wm. Waum's scull had a piece of wood stuck in it; and after the prisoner [Lowry] had given him a plaister, he beat him round the deck with the Royal Oak Foremast, (as he called it) which was a large cane as thick as my hand; he broke it all to pieces.

William Dwite, another of the Molly's crew, corroborated Hunt's testimony, saying that for nearly the entire crew, Lowry 'saw nothing farther than beating and abusing them with the Royal Oak Foremast.'

Lowry's nickname for his favorite instrument of torture might have been derived from the remarkably old ship of the line Royal Oak. Launched as a 74 gun ship in 1674, she was rebuilt as a 70 gun several successive times through the late seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth centuries, before being converted to a prison ship in 1756.

Side note: direct links to OldBaileyOnline can be a bit dodgy. Use the reference number t17520218-1 to find Lowry's trial transcript.

The Scotch Triumvirate, artist unknown, 1752, British Museum.

The Royal Oak Foremast makes an appearance in another print from 1752, in which Scotsmen are roundly condemned as murderers, with 'The Scotch Triumvirate' as the artist's evidence. Lowry is front and center, with the noose tugged tightly around his neck.

From the earth rises Kenneth Hossack in his burial shroud, who cries 'You suffer'd justly for Wipping me to Death.' Behind the outstretched clasping hand of Hossack's corpse is the Royal Oak Fore Mast.

The sailors in the boat are either hatless or wear cocked hats. One of the oarsmen appears to be wearing his reversed. Looking terribly afraid, the sailor behind his officer wears a single breasted waistcoat (as do two of his mates), and striped petticoat trousers. The sailor on the far right wears a bob wig and carries a stick. All of the cuffs we can see are scalloped mariner's cuffs and closed.

Another boat pulls alongside the Molly, this one with kitted out bargemen. Her stern is crowded with sailors bearing sticks, wearing single breasted waistcoats, jackets, and wearing cocked hats. The bargemen are in shirt sleeves with jockey style barge caps. Two sailors near the bow wear bob wigs and trousers.

The Molly is depicted as a two decker Man of War with her guns run out, rather than a merchant ship returning from Jamaica at a time of peace. Lowry lashes Hassock with a cat o' nine tails while cursing, 'Dam him he shams Abram.'

Buckingham on the stocks at Deptford, 1752

Buckingham on the stocks at Deptford, John Cleveley the Elder, 1752, National Maritime Museum.

Cleveley was a shipwright by trade, and many of his paintings depict ships on the stocks. He also populates his paintings with sailors and people. Unlike many other marine artists of the time, Cleveley never separated the image of the ship from the people who built and sailed them. A tangible reminder of the importance of the sailors and the tradesmen in creating these beautiful machines.

Astern of the landlocked Deptford is a small barge with two bargemen. They lay on their oars, but have built up enough moments for a very slight wake to follow their rudder.

They are clad in shirtsleeves, white stockings, blue breeches, and black jockey style barge caps.

The Life and Surprizing Adventures of James Wyatt (Part 2), 1753

Copperplate engraving from The Life and Surprizing Adventures of James Wyatt, published 1753, Google Books.

Continuing the story of the privateer trumpeter James Wyatt, we follow the crews of the Revenge and (I believe that's the vessel in the background here) Hamburgh. By chance, the Revenge chased and caught up with what prove to be a fellow English privateer. Her captain told the Revenge he had successfully raided a wine cellar at Point Niger, and the only thing preventing him from taking more was that his boat was too heavily laden with plunder. At that, Point Niger was virtually defenseless and prime for another raid.

Hamburgh and Revenge sailed to the point and Wyatt was chosen as one of eleven sailors to accompany the master and second lieutenant ashore. Hamburgh's captain warned them against the raid, saying that the coast appeared to be more populated and well defended than their fellow privateer thought. On landing, they were opposed by the Spanish residents of the point, who threw stones at them, but made no organized effort to resist.

Wyatt and his mates were disappointed to find the wine cellar empty, except for some women's shifts which, for some reason, they put on over their slop clothes. Taking their time to seize other, less valuable plunder, the privateers were surprised to see "near an Hundred" residents gathered on the hills armed with rocks and some firearms. The two sides exchanged gunfire, and the sailors ran back to the boat. Unfortunately for them, the boat struck hard on a rock, and the sailors had to wade through four feet of water to clamber in. This soaked their powder, and the Spaniards closed it, pelting them with stones.

The master ordered Wyatt to the rudder, which he unshipped and used as a shield. Despite the dangerous situation, the shore party managed a narrow escape, and gave the Spanish three cheers before rowing back to their vessel.

The crew do not appear to be wearing the shifts they stole, except perhaps a larboard oarsman amidships. Instead, they wear jackets with cocked hats and at least one round hat. Wyatt can be see in the stern trying to shield himself and his mates in the water from the stones.

The Life and Surprizing Adventures of James Wyatt (Part 1), 1753

Copperplate engraving from The Life and Surprizing Adventures of James Wyatt, published 1753, Google Books.

Recommended long ago by follower Justin Jolly, I have finally gotten around to the copperplate engravings contained in the 1753 memoirs of James Wyatt.

A common sailor with an uncommon career, James Wyatt served as a privateer aboard the Revenge in the opening months of the War of Austrian Succession and (if this colorful account is to be believed) was captured by the Spanish, narrowly saved from execution, escaped, captured by the Barbary Pirates, and eventually rescued.

Wyatt had been enlisted as the privateer's trumpeter and, through some unnamed dispute, came to be challenged to a duel by the Master at Arms. James Parry, a fellow musician and author of a memoir entitled The True Anti-Pamela, demanded they fight with small swords, but none were to be had, and so the duel was called off. Hours later, despite receiving permission from the captain to go ashore, Parry declared Wyatt a deserter and ordered the sentry to shoot him. When the sentry hesitated, Parry took the weapon and fired at Wyatt himself.

Wyatt is oddly okay with the attempted murder, stating that Parry was drunk and unaware of what he was doing. Even so, the story finds its place as a copperplate engraving in Wyatt's memoirs.

In this engraving, three men are shown in the boat. Two hold oars and presumably were the bargemen ordered by the captain to bring Wyatt ashore. They wear long jackets with cocked hats and at least one has a long waistcoat. Their hair is in the bob wig style. It is difficult to say what the figure in the stern is wearing, aside from a rather nondescript jacket. Mr. Parry wears a frock coat and cocked hat, and just astern of him is a sailor in the rigging with a cocked hat, single breasted short jacket, and trousers.

A Naval Brigantine in a Calm Sea, 1752

"A Naval Brigantine in a Calm Sea," John Clevely, 1752, National Maritime Museum.

 In the eighteenth century, the terms "brig" and "brigantine" were almost interchangeable. Port of entry records in the American colonies sometimes show the same vessel as one when arriving and the other when departing. This was likely the result of lazy accounting (many of these same records are hastily written and leave out vital information that should have been reported) rather than a rerigging of the vessel.

To the uninitiated, a brigantine differs from a brig in that she has a gaff rigged mainsail, while the brig is fully square rigged. The brigantine in this painting sports a lateen rigged sail that is furled across the mainmast.

Three gentlemen are being rowed out to the brigantine by a trim barge crew. The crew mostly wear round hats with narrow brims and round crowns, though the man in the bow may be wearing a jockey style barge cap. They wear white shirts with brown or blue jackets. The coxswain wears a brown jacket and jockey style cap.

Our brigantine's crew are similarly attired in a mix of blue and brown jackets with round hats and caps. Scatted throughout are a few in cocked hats as well. Resting on the larboard rail of the quarterdeck are two men who appear to be officers, conversing by the swivels. 

Fort William in the Kingdom of Bengal, 1754

"Fort William in the Kingdom of Bengal," Robert Sayer, 1754, British Museum.

Robert Sayer treats his audience to an idealized view of Fort William in Calcutta. The fort we see here was completed in 1706, though portions of the fort had stood since 1696. Despite the best efforts of the British East India Company, Fort William was conquered only two years after this print was made by Siraj ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal. Siraj had many qualms with the East India Company, and Fort William was among them. When the Company reinforced and strengthened the fort without informed Siraj, it was taken as an act of aggression. In fact, the Company was warned to stop reinforcing, but refused, further angering the Nawab.

Siraj took Fort William, but disorganization and miscommunication within the chain of command (and supposedly the cruelty of the few guards set to watch over them) locked the prisoners overnight in a remarkably overcrowded cell with virtually no water, lack of ventilation, and stifling heat. The conditions were so deplorable that a majority of prisoners died in the "Black Hole of Calcutta." Precise numbers are the subject of debate.

Those atrocities were yet to come when Sayer printed this piece.

The East India Company built, manned, and maintained Fort William in part to continue their dominance of the Indian trade. That makes it rather likely that the ships on the Hooghly River are East India Company vessels. All of them fly red ensigns, which could be flown either by Royal Navy vessels, or by merchantmen. The East India Company did have its own ensign, one of which can be seen in this piece from 1765.

As I have seen on a couple of Indiamen, the red ensign could be flown by EIC ships. We should always be careful in identifying ships strictly on the colors they fly, as the use of ensigns that many vexillologists attribute strictly to naval vessels has been undermined in art. It may be that the artists are simply ignorant of the use of colors in the maritime world, or that these ships are actually flying ensigns we think of as belonging to one kind of vessel or another.

The men in this boat wear a variety of colored jackets: blue, green, and red. All of them wear round hats with varying lengths of brim.

Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam, c.1752-1758

"Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam," John Greenwood, c. 1752-1758, Saint Louis Art Museum.

Located on the Northern coast of South America between Guyana and French Guyana, Suriname is now an independent nation. At the time this painting was done, Suriname (spelled Surinam during the colonial period) was a slave economy that exported a number of goods, the most important of which was coffee.

Prominent Rhode Island sea captains who had arrived in the Dutch colony in the 1750's met the Bostonian portraitist John Greenwood there, and commissioned him to paint the above scene. Gathered around the table are two future governors of Rhode Island, and the future commodore of the Continental Navy Esek Hopkins. In the doorway, holding up a light for a man who couldn't quite hold his liquor, is John Greenwood himself. These identifications are attributed by the National Humanities Center, and you can read a very brief treatment of the painting here.

I have a copy of this painting hanging on my wall. The jovial nature of the white men, juxtaposed against the suffering and naked slaves on the far left, is striking. It is fascinating the see the relatively rich and powerful so vulnerable: puking catching on fire, being spilled on; broken bottles, pipes, and chairs scattered about. Add in to that the tiny details of material culture and the maritime aspect of the piece, and Greenwood has won me over with a painting I could stare at all day.

It is somewhat surprising then, that I hadn't really paid a mind to the dancing sailor on the far right.

It may be that this is no common sailor. Despite my efforts, I could not find an identification for anybody in this detail, save for John Greenwood in the back. After all, sea captains of the 1750's could and did dress in clothing that was at least inspired by the common tar.

Whoever this mariner is, he has been painted into a tradition of mid-eighteenth century dancing sailors.

The dancing figure, unlike his counterparts, is not wearing a full frock coat, but a triple vented brown jacket with what appear to be narrow horizontal stripes of a darker hue. He wears an untrimmed cocked hat with the point forward over a white bob wig. His neckcloth is red and dotted with white. Blue breeches run down to white stockings beneath round toed shoes with rectangular white metal buckles. As with the better dressed man dancing across from him, our sailor carries a long thin walking stick.

Another sign of the maritime nature of this piece is in the man falling asleep in the detail above. His cocked hat, fitted with a single button, is worn reversed.

View of Mount Edgecumbe, 1755

"View of Mount Edgcumbe," engraved by Pierre Charles Canot after Samuel Scott, 1755, British Museum.

"View of Mount Edgcumbe," engraved by Pierre Charles Canot after Samuel Scott, 1755, Government Art Collection.

This is another in the print series Five views of and from Mount Edgcumbe, Plymouth, in which engraver Pierre Charles Canot gives his impressions of the works of Samuel Scott. You can see the previous print that I examined here.

Our only view of common tars comes from the two boats that pull for the right of the frame.

In the foreground is a boat with a gesticulating coxswain and a fluttering red ensign, showing that these oarsmen are pulling against a strong headwind. In the background, a man stands in the bow of his vessel with a boathook extended. Presumably, both vessels are stretching out toward a larger vessel or a shore on which to land.

In both boats, the men wear jackets with open slash cuffs that drop to about mid-thigh. At least one off the oarsmen wears his jacket without a waistcoat, though the cox in the foreground boat certainly wears a single breasted waistcoat. Several of the men are without hats, but most wear cocked hats. The cox wears his cocked hat reversed, but the rest of them wear their hats with the point forward.

View of Mount Edgcumbe, Taken from St. Nicholas's Island, 1755

"View of Mount Edgcumbe, Taken from St. Nicholas's Island," engraved by Pierre Charles Canot after Samuel Scott, 1755, British Museum.

"View of Mount Edgcumbe, Taken from St. Nicholas's Island," engraved by Pierre Charles Canot after Samuel Scott, 1755, Government Art Collection.

Taken from the series Five views of and from Mount Edgcumbe, Plymouth. Mount Edgcumbe is the former palatial estate of a noble family. Their stately manor is now open to the public as a museum.

Canot's engraving depicts ships in the river, with one man-of-war giving a salute. A pair of watermen or mariners are shoving off from the shore, taking a jovial gentleman out in their small boat.

Both of the men wear cocked hats with the point forward and bob style hair or wigs. One wears a red jacket, the other yellow. The man with his back to us (sitting amidships) give a peak or the trousers or slops/petticoat trousers through the vent in his double or triple vented jacket.

Chairing the Member, 1754-55

"Chairing the Member," William Hogarth, 1754-55, Wikimedia Commons.

© Sir John Soane’s Museum, London

"Chairing the Member," William Hogarth, 1754-55, Sir John Soane's Museum.

This chaotic scene is typical of the famous satirist Hogarth, and part of series "Humours of an Election." Scholars have spent much ink in analyzing the many, many layers of Hogarth's work, but we'll focus on the Jack in the center of the image, swinging a cudgel at some fellow who swings his own weapon in reply

Wikimedia Commons

© Sir John Soane’s Museum, London

The wooden legged sailor wears a light red cocked hat trimmed in a white tape, cocked over his right right with an orange cockade. It's a very unique hat, and I've yet to see its equal in any other period images of sailors. The nearest I've seen is the red hat worn by a salty tar at the center of John Collet's "A Rescue, or the Tars Triumphant."

With the shine that Hogarth gives to the cocked hat of the tarpawlin at the center of his painting, it may be that these hats are painted, or perhaps treated leather. The red is bright and shows no sign of weathering on either figure, so it might be too much to presume that these are for weatherproofing. At that, two images out of the over 300 I've examined so far hardly indicates a widespread trend.

Our fighting sailor wears a white bob wig. His dotted neckcloth hangs down over the back of his blue jacket, which cuts off below the waist, and is triple vented. The cuff might not have a slash cut to them, but at this angle it is difficult to tell. His trouser legs end right at the bottom of the calf, rising high with his stride. Our sailor's one good leg is clad in a gray stocking and black shoe with a rectangular brass buckle.