Virtual Representation, 1775

Virtual Representation, artist unknown, 1775, British Museum.

Virtual Representation, artist unknown, 1775, Digital Commmonwealth.

Threatened by a Scot, a Jesuit, and others, an American wielding a cudgel is backed by a sailor who declares, 'I will be wounded with you.' Beside them, a blindfolded Britannia wanders dangerously close to 'The Pit Prepared for Others.'

Our tar wears a reversed cocked hat under which is a bob wig. His neckcloth is checkered or plaid, but the color has faded to where I can't be sure what color it was meant to be. There is little detail on his jacket and much of it is hidden from our view. His trousers are blue (though perhaps originally intended to be white, ending at about the middle of the calf, showing off white stockings, pointed toe shoes, and oval buckles.

Commanders Engaged at Sea / Sea Amusement, 1785

"Commanders Engaged at Sea," Thomas Rowlandson, 1785, Royal Collection Trust.

"Sea Amusement or Commanders in Chief of Cup and Ball on a Cruise," Thomas Rowlandson, 1785, National Maritime Museum.

The addition of the colorized piece to this year and a half old post, allowing a nice revision, comes to my attention from the ever attentive Adam Hodges-LeClaire.

In a pretty typical piece by Rowlandson, a pair of officers waste time in what appears to be the gunroom or the captain's cabin. The print in the Royal Collection Trust is the same as that of the National Maritime Museum, save for the fact that the NMM's print is colorized and they have different titles.

Generally speaking, the study of officer's uniforms is not the purpose of this project. I will not focus on the gentlemen in the center of the frame, but the surly looking steward just behind them.

The disinterested tar pours their tea with downcast eyes. His short jacket has a mariner's cuffs which are fastened with two brass buttons. In his role as a steward, he likely was required to show some semblance of an orderly uniform. This may explain why the cuffs are buttoned when so many images show them wide open. His neckcloth is white striped with red. From beneath the table we can see that he wears round toed shoes and a pair of blue trousers with loose legs that end just above his ankle. His stockings are white.

The Indiaman Royal George in Three Positions in the Downs, 1779

"The Indiaman Royal George in Three Positions in the Downs," Francis Holman, 1779, Wikimedia Commons.

Once again I offer my thanks to Adam Hodges-LeClaire for pointing out a piece I have not yet covered. Thank you!

A quick note on the source. I pulled this image from Wikimedia Commons, which itself attributes it to the National Maritime Museum. While the National Maritime Museum does have a digital scan available on their website, it is considerably lower in resolution than the Wikimedia source, and so I am using the Wikimedia version for analysis.

The Royal George was constructed in 1777, and embarked on her first voyage in 1778. Sailing for the East India Company under Captain Thomas Foxall, she successfully completed her journey to China and back without incident. She was not so fortunate on August 9, 1780, when a Franco-Spanish fleet captured her along with 51 other merchantmen, including four other East Indiamen. It was a major blow to the British during the American War of Independence. The Royal George became the Royal Jorge, and served out the rest of her life as a Spanish warship.

As with most paintings depicting ships of the eighteenth century, there is little detail on the sailors in this piece. They are nondescript blurs of brown, blue, and red.

The tars of the Royal George at center are a bit more clear. They wear blue and white trousers, red and blue jackets, and at least a couple of cocked hats. I'm especially fond of the fellow at the rail of the poop who peers through his spyglass.

The fellows in the boat are a bit easier to make out. Red breeches and blue jacket with cocked hat, blue jacket and white trousers with round hat, and one oarsman with a brown jacket and black round hat with white trousers.

An English Sloop and a Frigate in a Light Breeze, date unknown

An English Sloop and a Frigate in a Light Breeze, Francis Swaine, exhibited between 1762 and 1782, Yale Center for British Art.

Both vessels painted here by Swaine in the third quarter of the eighteenth century are ship rigged. Sloop, as a naval designation at the time, did not refer to the number of masts or arrangement of sails, but rather to how many guns she carried.

The first vessel here mounts nine guns to each side, rating her at 18 guns. This makes the vessel at the right of the frame our sloop.

Her crew are not highly detailed. We can say their wear jackets of brown and blue hues, knit caps, and at least one cocked hat. Interestingly, the men on the bow wear trousers, and at least one of them is wearing blue trousers. This may be intentional, or it may simply have been to avoid having the small figure interfere with the pallet of the sail and ship.

The titular frigate mounts eleven guns to each side of her gun deck, and three smaller guns per side on her poop, bringing her up to 28 altogether. This places her well within the sixth rate frigate category.

Her crewmen are muddled with even less detail than those of the sloop. Swaine was not illustrating the common men, but the seascape. So the best we can say is that some of them wear blue jackets. It doesn't leave us with much, but the painting as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

To the Suvivors, 1786

"To the Survivors and Relations of the Unfortunate Persons who Perished in the Halsewell...," P. Mercier, S.W. Forbes, and Rawlinson, 1786, National Maritime Museum.

The crew of the Halsewell try to clamber onto the cliffs and rocks of Dorset. Some have lost their jackets and shirts, adding to the suffering of the the survivors in a stormy early January.

There is a good deal of color among their slop clothes: blue, red, and yellow jackets; white, and blue trousers. The storm appears to have carried away all of their headwear, though.

The two men pictured here are often seen in depictions of the Halsewell disaster. They are John Rogers, third mate, and James Brimer, supernumerary fifth mate. While standing on the poop deck, they were overtaken by a strong wave, and took hold of a hen coop. This they rode ashore, but were horribly bruised when the flotsam struck the rocks.

They remained in the caves with the other survivors until nearby quarry workers arrived to rescue them. Mr. Brimer fell during the attempt and, in the words of Rogers, "was unfortunately dashed to pieces, in the presence of those who could only lament the deplorable fate of an amiable and worthy man, and skilful officer."

The Loss of the Halsewell, 1786

"The Loss of the Halsewell East Indaman, Capt. Richard Pierce," 1786, National Maritime Museum.

This is the first of several exterior views of the Halsewell during her brief time above the waves and against the cliffs.

A number of the crew have taken to the boats. The survivors are colorfully dressed, with a mix of brown, blue, and red. In the detail above, a sailor is dressed in a brown sleeved waistcoat with matching breeches and gray stockings. Behind him is a tar in blue breeches and jacket or waistcoat, and they are joined by a man in blue trousers and jacket.

The sailors clinging to the rocks give us a bit more detail. White trousers are clear on the figure at the top of the rock in the center, though most wear breeches and sleeved waistcoats or one sort or another.