Two young gentlemen and a sailor boxing, date unknown

'Two young gentlemen and a sailor boxing,' Robert Pollard, date unknown, British Museum.

'Three men standing by a cannon, another figure boxing to left,' Robert Pollard, date unknown, British Museum.

Robert Pollard was a painter and engraver who was especially active in the 1780's, though also well beyond. Maritime subjects were a favorite of Pollard's, and especially catastrophic wrecks like the Halsewell, Centaur, and Grosvenor. These sketches, perhaps studies for an unfinished engraving, are in a different vein. Two officers stand casually, half watching a boxing match between a sailor and a young man in a cocked hat with cockade who wears a queue.

Given the length of the young fellow's hair and the cockade on his hat, it is possible that he is a midshipman. This is interesting, in that he appears to be fighting a common sailor, with short cut hair, in his shirtsleeves, and striped trousers. Perhaps he is also a midshipman, and wearing working clothes, but it is an odd juxtaposition. In any case, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, save for the midshipman himself, who looks rather worried.

 Boxing has a complicated history afloat. Ostensibly forbidden aboard warships, it was practiced anyway. When Christopher Hawkins was taken up as a young man by a Royal Navy warship from his American privateer in 1777, he experienced this first hand: 'Boxing was not allowed on board the frigate yet the boys would sometimes play the pugilist, and no notice would be taken of it by the officers.' Olaudah Equiano's experience with officers and pugilism was not just a benign neglect, but active encouragement:

On the passage, one day, for the diversion of those gentlemen, all the boys were called on the quarter-deck, and were paired proportionally, and then made to fight; after which the gentleman gave the combatants five to nine shillings each. This was the first time I ever fought with a white boy; and I never knew what it was to have a bloody nose before. This made me fight most desperately; I suppose considerably more than an hour; and at last, both of us being weary, we were parted. I had a great deal of this kind of sport afterwards, in which the captain and the ship's company used very much to encourage me.

Given that this is a rather aged sketch, I have taken the liberty of enhancing it a touch so that we might better see the sailors at their game.

Our hatless boxer wears close cut and wavy hair. A few lined at the back of his head give the hint of what might be a handkerchief, but I can't be sure. His plain shirt does not appear to have its sleeves rolled up, but is tucked into trousers with vertical stripes that run down to the top of his ankles.

While the nervous boxer stands in the far left of the frame, three smiling sailors watch his progress.

This mariner wears his curly hair loose and cut well above the shoulder. His jacket has a calling collar, and it appears that he is wearing a closely knotted neckcloth. His waistcoat is open to at least the center of the chest. Around his waist is a pair of petticoat trousers, with breeches perfectly visible on his right knee.

These two wear caps of differing styles. The one in the foreground appears to be wearing a knit cap, which may also be the case with his mate. Both wear the same style of jacket as the sailor to the left, and notable the sailor in foreground here wears a ruffled garment at his neck. While I cannot be sure if he wears trousers or petticoat trousers, the pocket is perfectly clear.

A Fresh Breeze/Margate Hoy, 1785

A Fresh Breeze, C. Catton, published by W. Hinton, 1785, Royal Collection Trust.

Margate Hoy, C. Catton, published by W. Hinton, 1785, Margate in Maps and Pictures.

Margate Hoy, Charles Catton the Elder, published by W. Hinton, 1785, Yale Center for British Art.

This humorous print depicts a number of landsmen and women struggling to keep their lunch in check while sailors work around them. One woman doses herself with a bottle, a Reverend struggles to cope by reading from his book, and others visually express their distress. It would be fair to assume that this print tickled Georgian funny bones, as it was reprinted into the 1790's. Later, it was erroneously attributed to Thomas Rowlandson, as the style and subject are certainly in keeping with his works.

At the tiller, and apparently the only person enjoying himself, is the coxswain. He wears a short brimmed round hat with tape around the edge, which is eliminated in the second coloration. His plain neckcloth is tucked into a single breasted waistcoat with welt pockets, beneath a double blue breasted jacket with slash cuffs unbuttoned. Interestingly, the first colorized version portrays his jacket with brass buttons and a white lapel, while the second version using the same color for the jacket and the buttons, and does not colorize the lapel. Similarly, they differ in the color of his waistcoat: white in the first and red in the second. Sticking out of the waist pocket of his jacket is a brass tobacco box. He also wears a plain pair of trousers with a broad fall fly

To starboard is a tar plugging his nose, presumably against the sickness of the passengers that he carries in the bucket. Like his mate at the tiller, he wears a double with buttoned down lapels, but no waistcoat. In the first colorized version he wears a blue jacket with white lapels and white or brass buttons. In the second it is a simple red jacket, with matching lapels and buttons. His trousers match that of the coxswain, though we get a good look at this side seam pocket, out of which peeks a pipe. Atop his head is a cocked hat with the point forward.

Beneath him is another sailor, this one climbing a ladder, but also carrying a bucket. He wears no hat, a jacket that has a single vent at the back, a white kerchief, and a pair of petticoat trousers. The first colorist gives him a red jacket and white neckcloth, in the second he has a blue jacket and red neckcloth.

The Sailmaker ticketting the Hammocks on board the Pallas, 1774

The Sailmaker ticketting the Hammocks on board the Pallas, Gabriel Bray, 1774, National Maritime Museum.

Deftly working his hands over a hammock, a sailmaker sits back against the ship's capstan. Beside him is a fellow sailor, probably his mate, who folds the finished hammocks into proper rolls. The sailmaker's mate will soon drop his completed work through the hatch below for storage or use.

The sailmaker wears a round hat and fairly long hair. Though unruly, his hair is tied into a short sort of queue. Beneath a high collar, you can see just the hint of his black neckcloth. His simple blue jacket ends at the waist and is closed with cloth covered buttons at the mariner's cuffs. We get a good view of the side pocket of his trousers. Interestingly, the pocket does not appear to be part of a seam. His trousers end above the ankles, revealing plain stockings and the sailmaker's shoes which have a somewhat pointed toe, and are fitted with rectangular buckles.

His mate wears a knit or work cap of some kind, possibly striped. He too wears a short jacket, one which appears to be white and possibly decorated along the seams with tape. It appears that his jacket has slash cuffs on a bottom seam. For those interested in the cut of sailor's jackets or their construction, this images gives a very good view of the seams in the jacket. The mate also wears trousers with side pockets, but this pair seems to be too long, extending well down past his shoes to the grating on which he stands. It could be that this sailor has just purchased these trousers from a slop chest, and has not yet had the chance to fit them more properly. What do you think?

Monsieur Sneaking Gallanty into Brest's Skulking Hole, 1778.

Monsieur Sneaking Gallantly into Brest's Skulking Hole after receiving a preliminary Salutation of British Jack Tar the 27 of July 1778, W. Richardson, 1778, John Carter Brown Library. 

A Frenchman with a ship for a hat and a jacket covered in fleur de lis flees from a British sailor wielding a cat-o-nine into the gaping maw of a monster. The Frenchman is so caught up in his flight that his trousers have dropped, and smoke erupts from his posterior like the guns of the ships in the background.

Jack Tar wears a round hat with a narrow brim, and short, loose hair. His neckcloth is a solid, light color, and his jacket is single breasted. Trousers with side seam pockets cut off above the ankle, and he wears no stockings. Jack's shoes are round toed with oval shaped buckles.