Shipping at Anchor in the Thames Estuary, Date Unknown

Shipping at Anchor in the Thames Estuary Near Wapping, Samuel Scott, date unknown, Sotheby's.

"When one goes into Wapping or Rotherhithe, which places are chiefly inhabited by sailors," wrote the author Sir John Fielding, "but that somewhat of the same language is spoken, a man would be apt to suspect himself in another country. Their manner of living, speaking, acting, dressing and behaving are so peculiar to themselves. Yet with all, they are perhaps the bravest and boldest fellows in all the world."[1]

British sailors living in and visiting Wapping were well aware of the paradoxical nature of a mariner's life. Both the revelry of a shore bound life and the constancy of death were on full display. If a seaman were to look past the gin shops and gibbeted bodies partially afloat at full tide, he would see the forest of masts and yards that Samuel Scott has so ably illustrated here.

Aloft on the ship at the center of the piece are some of those "bravest and boldest fellows in all the world." They wear brown and blue jackets with white and blue trousers. On the foretopsail a sailor wears a round hat with a narrow brim, At the main topsail the sailors wear caps, with the fellow standing by the mainmast wearing a cocked hat.

On deck are a variety of sailors wearing the full range of sailor's garments. Petticoat trousers/slops, trousers, blue, brown and red jackets, round hats, cocked hats, and caps. Standing by the wheel and ladder is a fancy man bowing to a lady in a fine dress, and interesting parallel to the labor being done by the sailors on the forecastle.

The ship's crew fires a salute to starboard, clouding the nearby brig in smoke. Rowing into that smoke is a longboat with a blue painted stern. Her coxswain and oarsmen wear jackets without waistcoats and round hats. One of the oarsmen has a pair of red breeches.

In the foreground, a sailor contents himself with his pipe while his mate pulls away on his oar. The smoking tar has a black round hat with a taller crown and narrow brim. His jacket has slash cuffs which are rolled back on his left arm, the same that supports his pipe. The oarsman appears to be wearing his sleeves rolled up as well, and is without a waistcoat.

The sloop to larboard has but three sailors aboard, who appear to be largely at their leisure. The man leaning against the mast appears to be smoking, as his mate might be further aft. They wear brown and blue jackets with brown slops/petticoat trousers and black caps, with the exception of the smoking man further forward who wears a round hat.

Astern of the large Dutchman is a barge of watermen moving lumber, and a boat of men hauling in an anchor. They wear yellow, red, brown, and blue jackets with caps. One fellow further forward wears a pair of brown or red breeches and a brown waistcoat with a black cocked hat.

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[1] Quoted in Marcus Rediker, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700 - 1750, Cambridge University Press: 1987, page 11.

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.

A Thames Wharf, c.1757

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© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

"A Thames Wharf," Samuel Scott, c.1757, Victoria and Albert Museum.

N.A.M. Rodger writes in his oft cited The Wooden World that Royal Navy vessels spent most of their time in port. Rodger's assertion is almost certainly true of merchant vessels as well.

Samuel Scott portrays the most common setting of marine life: a seaside community. The curators of the Victoria and Albert Museum have spent considerable time examining this piece, and have much to say about it:

The identification of the location of this scene has long been a problem which will probably remain insoluble. When bought the painting was entitled 'The Old East India Wharf at London Bridge', while the version at Fishmongers' Hall has been traditionally entitled 'Custom House Quay'. Another possible location which has been suggested is Bear Quay, which was next to London Bridge. All these seem to be unlikely, however, and it may well be that the scene is, in fact, a sort ofcapriccio or else should be located much further down river, possibly at Shadwell (where the East India Company had a warehouse), or at Deptford, or at Blackwall where the large East Indiamen customarily moored. The large bale in the right foreground is marked V.E.I.C. which does suggest the possibility of some connection with the East India Company. The ship moored at the left, however, is a two-decker man-of-war flying a commodore's flag.

The men working at this wharf are connected to the sea, but likely not actual sailors. I will not be tagging this post as I do the others, as it does not reliably contribute to our knowledge concerning the dress of common tars. If I cannot separate the dock workers from the sailors, I risk muddling the two together. Nonetheless, Scott does show some similarities between dockside worker's clothing and that of tars, and he does help us flesh out the world in which the average sailor lived.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

In our first detail, we see a gentleman leaning across canvas bound bales to write in his ledger. He wears a blue frock coat with red breeches and a white cravat. His grey hair, or possibly a wig, is bound in a long and thin queue. Atop his head rests a black cocked hat bound in gold tape.

Behind him are a pair of what may well be sailors. The fellow on the right wears a Canadian cap of blue, a short neckcloth of material that I can't quite make out, and a double breasted waistcoat with narrow vertical stripes. His jacket is a pale red or brown, and lined in white. His waistcoat is tucked into the slops/petticoat trousers that are bound with a single button at the waist. At his feet is the East India Company bale mentioned above.

The fellow with the long pipe also wears a Canadian cap, though this one is red. At his neck is a white cravat. His jacket is double breasted with yellow metal buttons, lined in red, and made with slit cuffs.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The gentleman in the previous detail looks to the work of these coopers.

Given that the chaps we saw in the previous detail were wearing buttoned clothing and fur caps, one might assume that the weather is rather chilly on the Thames. Perhaps it is a testament to the work of our diligent coopers that they are in various states of relative undress. I confess myself unfamiliar with the tools and processes of the cooper, but to my untrained eye it appears that they are hammering hoops in place on barrels of dry goods.

The man on the right is without a hat, but wears a smock or jacket with slops/petticoat trousers, and an apron. To the left is another cooper, this with a wide brimmed black hat, no waistcoat, white shirt, and brown coat or jacket with slit cuffs. Our last worker, who bends over to lift or set down a sizable barrel, wears a cocked hat, plain shirt, dark waistcoat, and slops/petticoat trousers.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Leaning out a window is a man watching a barrel as it is hoisted or swung from a dockside warehouse. Though details are sketchy, he is without a hat, wears a white or very pale blue waistcoat, red breeches, and a blue jacket. This is very nearly the same outfit as the gentleman we saw earlier.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

In the background is a man of war flying the red ensign, with a telltale cloud of smoke that indicates her firing a salute. The workers ashore are unfazed. Among them is a man standing atop a cart full of goods, dressed in a single breasted grey or brown jacket and breeches, with a white cravat and no hat. Despite the damage to the painting, we can also see that the man in the left frame of this detail wears a blue jacket with slit cuffs, gold brimmed black cocked hat, and brown or red breeches.

Men Loading a Boat with Barrels, date unknown

Men Loading a Boat with Barrels, Samuel Scott, date unknown, Yale Center for British Art via Google Art Project.

Beside a goodly number of barrels, a pair of tarpawlins haul a rectangular package aboard. Both wear short  jackets that end about the top of the thigh with long slit cuffs. Though one has his back to us, the single vent on his jacket is wide open, and suggests that he wears no waistcoat, just like the sailor helping him. Both of them wear breeches with white stockings, but their headwear is quite different. One wears a colorful knit cap, and the other a cocked hat.

At the oar is a hatless man with a jacket not unlike that of his mates. It appears to be tucked into petticoat trousers, but I couldn't swear on it.

A single unfinished sailor is in the bow of the small boat. He wears his sleeves rolled up past the elbows, and bends over the cask. It appears our jack is wearing a pair of trousers, and a small workcap or knit cap.

There is considerably more detail on the fellow stepping out of the small boat. He wears a blue waistcoat with a single vent at the back, red breeches, and white stockings. Atop his head is a cocked hat with the point forward.

The cox takes a break to smoke his pipe and lose himself in contemplation. He wears a red or brown waistcoat, light colored breeches, stockings, and a cocked hat with the point forward.

Two Boats with Crews, Study for The Royal William at Sea, c.1765

"Two Boats with Crews, Study for The Royal William at Sea," Samuel Scott, c.1765, Yale Center for British Art.

Samuel Scott, the renowned marine artist, painted the Royal William around 1765. This was later deemed by one art historian as one of "the finest marines by Scott in existence." The original was sold at auction in 2007 for £34,100 ($70,665).

The Yale Center for British art has one of the studies made by Samuel Scott for his masterpiece. Originally attributed to the French-English artist Dominic Serres, some past archivist or curator went so far as to write Serres' name on the back of the original. This was then scratched out by a subsequent scholar. Both have left their marks on a two century old artifact for future students of British art to shake their heads at.

Scott's study features two boats alongside each other, but bearing in opposite directions. We'll start at the bow of the boat in the foreground, her bow pointed to the left.

All of the tarpawlins wear single breasted jackets, but sitting as they are it is difficult to say whether they wear breeches, petticoat trousers, or trousers. Certainly bar caps are the most common among them. The furthest oarsman forward (sitting aft of the man with the boathook) may be wearing a knit cap: it sits further up his head with a taller and less symmetrical crown. The sailors on the boat to their starboard stand and work amongst the officers and passengers in their stern. These tars wear cocked hats: one with the point forward, one with the point back.

Of the two standing sailors in the boat to the background, one bends toward the stern, allowing us to see that he wears either trousers or petticoat trousers.

At the stern of the boat int he foreground we see one oarsman in a cocked hat with the point forward over his right eye. The cox, abaft the two officers, also wears a cocked hat, but of an extremely small nature, even smaller than most sailors' hats. Either that, or it is a barge cap of highly unusual cut. What do you think?

The details on the crew of the boat to the background get a bit sketchy. It is a scene of controlled chaos, with oarsmen keeping the boat in place while the man in the bow grips a line. That tar in the bow wears a short jacket that ends at the waist, baggy trousers, and another odd hat: perhaps the tiny cocked hat we see on the cox in the foreground. His mates wear a mishmash of cocked hats and barge caps of the jockey style.

The Taking of Porto Bello, 1741

The Taking of Porto Bello by Adml. Vernon, Samuel Scott, 1741, Brown University.

Samuel Scott's works have been featured here more than once. This engraving of one of his earlier pieces depicts the widely acclaimed victory of the British fleet under Vice Admiral Edward Vernon over the Spanish garrison of Portobello during the War of Jenkin's Ear.

Though he was not present at the battle, Lawrence Washington would serve under Vernon as officer of acting marines aboard his flagship. Given the legendary exploits of the Admiral, Lawrence would name his estate after him, eventually passing it on to his brother George Washington, for whom Mount Vernon is most famously known.

Scott's image is primarily concerned with the ships giving fire to the fortifications ashore, but we do get some good images of sailors working the ships or dragging the troops ashore.

The sailors in this craft are uniformly dressed in blue short jackets. Their jackets are notably short, fitting tightly around the waist. The crew wear a mix of round hats and cocked hats, some with the cocked hats reversed. All wear white trousers.

Here the sailors aboard the ship of the line (complete with its decorative carving of Neptune) are similarly clad in white trousers, blue jackets, and the occasional red waistcoat or jacket. Round hats dominate this crew, though some of the tars may be interpreted as wearing cocked hat.

A Ship's Boat, mid eighteenth century

A Ship's Boat, Samuel Scott, mid eighteenth century, Yale Center for British Art.

Though there is no exact date to this sketch, Scott was active throughout the period of my study, and this work certainly conforms to that. What I'm really fond of with this is how the viewer is given the sense of motion through the use of darker colors and more detail at the bow, fading as you look further astern. This also serves to emphasize the common sailors over the colorless, vague figures of officers in the stern. Another great thing about this piece is the variety of colors and clothing that the men are wearing. Even though we see only a few faces, each man is given some degree of individuality.

By and large this is nothing we haven't seen before. A mix of blue, brown, and red jackets, knit caps, and a variety of cocked hats. It appears that they are all wearing breeches, rather than slops or trousers.

My favorite part: the tar wearing a colorful knit cap!

The Embarkation, 1781

The Embarkation, Samuel Scott and William Hogarth, republished 1781, National Maritime Museum.

The Embarkation, Samuel Scott and William Hogarth, republished 1781, New York Public Library.

Another of Scott's illustrations for "Five Days' Peregrination," this one depicts the artists boarding a cutter. Scott himself is reluctant to board, and is being pushed forward by a Mr. Forrest. Equally nervous and clutching the pair of boards that suffice for a gangplank is none other than legendary satirist William Hogarth.

At the stern is their travelling companion John Tothall (labeled "B"). Unlike the artists, Tothall was well aquainted with the sea, and as such reclines comfortably over the tiller while his friends struggle to board. Tothall spent his youth at sea, retiring to shore at about 30, where he became a somewhat successful merchant and draper, making friends with Hogarth and Scott in Covent Garden. Tothall wears a short purple jacket and a cocked hat with the point turned forward, breeches and stockings. John Tothall would later suffer significantly from the loss of a smuggling vessel he had fitted out.
An unidentified sailor sitting amidships wears a round hat and short jacket of brown.

Queensborough, 1772

Queensborough, Samuel Scott, 1772, National Maritime Museum.

A simple illustration of a short main street, this was part of a series of illustrations by Samuel Scott for the "The Five Days' Peregrination" by Ebenezeer Forrest. Interestingly, Scott was not the only illustrator: none other than Hogarth himself created a few pieces for the work!

Scott is known for his maritime art, a great deal of which is in the collection of the National Maritime Museum. Most of these works are of ships in combat, fighting storms, or engaging in the everyday routine of seaborne merchants and fighting men. This is why "Queenborough," though not terribly detailed in the depictions of its sailors, is valuable. As an artist irrefutably familiar with ships and the sea, almost certainly avoiding the exaggerations of patriotic prints and political cartoons, how did Scott see the common men on whom captains relied?

On the far right are a pair of gentlemen, each wearing long coats, cocked hats, and breeches. To their immediate left stands a sailor, cap in hand, with a hand by his chest, perhaps imploring them for money. He wears trousers that fit close to his legs and end just above the ankles, as well as a single breasted jacket. His mates mostly wear cocked hats, and though the details are scant, it appears the points are forward. The two who give us the best view of their backs are wearing jackets with a single vent at the center back. All of them are wearing trousers sewn in the same fashion as their beggarly messmate.