Shipping at Spithead, c.1770's

Shipping at Spithead, Francis Holman, date unknown (1770's?), John Bennett Fine Paintings via Online Art Gallery.

Francis Holman paints a pleasant scene of various vessels in a steady breeze off Spithead. A sixty gun ship of the line with her starboard guns broadside to us is lateen rigged on her mizzenmast and blue ensign run up. Just peeking behind the sail of the Thetis sloop is the top armor of a frigate. Otherwise the vessels in the scene are merchantmen.

The Thetis is a swift little sloop with two fellows crowded in the back by the coxswain (I say coxswain and not helmsman because I see no wheel and assume there to be a tiller). One of these men is apparently not a sailor. His frock coat appears rose in color, but matches the hue of the red ensign at Thetis' stern, and so is probably intended to be red. He wears a tightly bound queue and his wig is clubbed. Sitting across from him is a man in a red frock coat and gold or yellowish brown single breasted waistcoat. Both gentlemen have round hats. It is these men who give me my tentative date for this piece, as their fashions are in line with those of the 1770's. I am no expert in the clothing of gentlemen from the period, so I welcome all feedback in settling the general period in which this painting was likely completed.

The coxswain wears a round hat as well with a crown somewhere between cylindrical and rounded. He wears a blue jacket and has a short queue. Sailors wearing queues are remarkably uncommon for my period of study, and so this is notable.

Near the bow of the Thetis is another sailor with a round hat, whose brim is being turned up by the wind. He wears a single breasted blue jacket, red waistcoat, and white neckcloth. His white trousers are striped vertically in thin blue lines.

Further left in the frame is a boat with four sailors aboard. Two of these men sit at their leisure, one smoking a pipe. The smoking man wears a brown jacket, a round hat with rounded crown, and blue breeches. It appears that he might be wearing a white neckcloth, but I wouldn't swear to it.

His mate wears a jockey style barge cap, red jacket with slit waist pockets, and a plain pair of trousers.

Further forward in the small boat are two men working. Each wears a blue jacket and a pair of plain trousers. The fellow working at the small mast and sail wears a round hat, while his mate wears what might be a cap or a round hat with very narrow and upturned brim.

The Banks of the Shannon, 1787

The Banks of the Shannon, published by Bowles & Carver, 1787, reprinted 1799, British Museum.

A colorful print, this Bowles and Carver piece touches on the Sailor's Farewell trope, but with a twist. The young gentleman clasps the hand of his crying sweetheart, but the insistent hand on his shoulder of a naval officer bids him away with the press gang. His lover gives us a tearful poem:

But woe is me the Press gang came and forc'd my Ned away,
Just when we nam'd next Monday fair to be our Wedding day.
 My love he cry'd they force me hence but still my heart is thine
All peace be yours my gentle Pat while War and toil is mine
With riches I'll return to thee, I sob'd out words of thanks
And then we vow'd eternal truth on Shannon's flow'ry Banks.

Among the many things that make this piece interesting is the fact that this is the River Shannon, and so the main figures are Irish. Upon reflection, I cannot think of any other prints, drawings, or paintings that I have examined that explicitly illustrated Irish tars. Scotch, American, and English certainly, but thus far the Irish have escaped notice. It is perhaps the leveling nature of the Wooden World (as NAM Rodger calls it) that makes them invisible to art. The overwhelming majority of images do not give any nationality to sailors. They are all of a kind.

Pat and Ned look clearly distraught, but the press gang seem to be enjoying this tearful parting.

With cudgel in hand, a grinning officer tugs at Ned's shoulder. Behind him are array the men of the press gang, and at least one of them also carries a cudgel.

They are uniformly equipped with black round hats that sport narrow upturned brims and big blue bows. Blue bows on round hats are typical of Bowles' prints. Most of the mariners are hidden behind the officer, but we do get a peek at a pair of white trousers with narrow vertical red stripes over white stockings.

There is one sailor in particular that we get a good look at.

His hair hangs down in brown curls and appear to just barely drape over the black silk neckcloth over his blue jacket with its slit cuffs. A red double breasted waistcoat with white metal buttons hangs above his plain white slops/petticoat trousers. The shading indicates that this waistcoat is not tucked in, and is cut off at the natural waist. He wears white stockings and pointed toe shoes.

A view of the Endeavour's watering place in the Bay of Good Success, 1769

"A view of the Endeavour's watering place in the Bay of Good Success, Tierra del Furgo, with natives. January 1769," Alexander Buchan, 1769, British Library via Wikimedia Commons.

Thanks to Gregory Scott, Steve Rayner, and Adam Hodges-LeClaire for digging up this wonderful piece.

Again I return to Captain Cook's voyages. and we find him at the very bottom of the New World. Good Success Bay, here styled as "the Bay of Good Success," was a place of respite for the crew. They had weathered a storm the night before, and lost a kedge anchor in the process. The Endeavour's log for that day, January 20, 1769, reads "at 2 a.m. sent the People on shore to Wood and Water and cut Brooms, all of which we Completed this day." In this watercolor, we see "the People' at work, but also enjoying themselves. A few sailors converse with the local native people, while marines meander about.

This wonderful detail shows some of the men about a campfire cooking a meal, while others use buckets to fill water casks from the nearby stream. A marine (strangely dressed in red small clothes and a red coat with no apparent facings) stands nearby with his musket.

The sailors are all dressed in a fairly similar fashion: black round hats with upturned short brims, short jackets ending below the waist, and plain trousers ending above the ankle. The jackets are variously white, blue, and green.

This detail show much the same slop clothes as the last, with the same style of hats, jackets, and trousers. There are two new details worth mentioning.

This dapper looking sailor has a hand that appears to be in the pocket. I hesitate to say this is positive, as the details on this resolution are not strong enough and I have yet to see a sailor's trousers with pockets placed so similar to modern jeans. Generally, the pockets of a sailor's trousers are in a straight line down the side of the leg.  He is also the only sailor who gives us a clear view of the white lining of his jacket as well as the loose upper corner lapels. He also wears a red waistcoat tucked into his trousers.

These sailors are largely unremarkable, except that the tar behind the two seated native people is holding a walking stick. Even on such a distant foreign station, sailors are joined by that symbol of their profession.