to the Revenge, when, having refitted at Gibraltar, she returned to Portsmouth; and "Jack" records that enormous dissatisfaction was caused among the crew by one of the first acts of the Captain' who there superseded Captain Moorsom. The new commander painted out the chequers, and substituted for them a single stripe or strake. A little later, upon Captain Sir John Gore (2)2 hoisting his pennant in her, the Revenge was again, "Nelsonified," to the great joy of her ship's company.

H.M.S. "VICTORY," 100, QUITTING CHATHAM DOCKYARD, APRIL 18TH, 1803. (From a pencil sketch made on the spot by John Constable, R.A., and kindly lent for reproduction by Mr. C. Constable. The sketch represents the ship as she was at Trafalgar.)

1

3

1 Hon. Charles Elphinstone Fleeming, "whose name was a terror to every ship's company he commanded, and was cursed from stem to stern in the British Navy." 'Naut. Econ.'

2 Who had served repeatedly with Nelson, and was a very good officer.

This officer, whose original name was W. S. Badcock, was born in 1788, became a Commander in 1812, and was posted in 1815. He retired as a Captain in 1846, and died, a retired Vice-Admiral, in 1859.

the action in the Neptune, gives some interesting particulars. Speaking of the ships of the allies, he says:

...

"Some of them were painted like ourselves-with double yellow sides; some with a single red or yellow streak; others all black; and the noble Santisima Trinidad, with four distinct lines of red, with a white ribbon between them. . . . The Santa Ana... was painted all black. . . . It was remarked by (Nelson) that the enemy had the iron hoops round their masts painted black. Orders were issued by signal to whitewash those of his fleet, that, in the event of all the ensigns being shot away, his ships might be distinguished by their white masts and hoops."1

Several references have already been made to the morality of the Navy, and especially of the lower-deck; but it is necessary to return to the subject, in order that the conditions of service life on ship-board during the most glorious period of British history may be properly understood. Speaking of his next return to Spithead, Jack" writes:

66

"After having moored our ship, swarms of boats came round us: some were what are generally termed bomb-boats, but are really nothing but floating chandler's shops; and a great many of them were freighted with cargoes of ladies, a sight that was truly gratifying, and a great treat; for our crew, consisting of six hundred and upwards, nearly all young men, had seen but one woman on board for eighteen months; and that was the daughter of one of the Spanish chiefs, who made no stay on board, but went on shore again immediately. So soon as these boats were allowed to come alongside, the seamen flocked down pretty quick, one after the other, and brought their choice up, so that, in the course of the afternoon, we had about four hundred and fifty on board. Of all the human race, these poor young creatures are the most pitiable: the ill-usage and degradation they are driven to submit to are indescribable; but from habit they become callous, indifferent as to delicacy of speech and behaviour, and so totally lost to all sense of shame that they seem to retain no quality which properly belongs to woman but the shape and name. . . . On the arrival of any man-of-war in port, these girls flock down to the shore, where boats are always ready; and here may be witnessed a scene somewhat similar to the trafficking for slaves in the West Indies. As they approach a boat, old Charon, with painter in hand, before they step on board, surveys them from stem to stern with the eyes of a bargaining Jew; and carefully culls out the best looking, and the most dashingly dressed; and, in making up his complement for a load, it often happens that he refuses to take some of them, observing (very politely), and usually with some vulgar oath, to one that she is 'too old '; to another that she is 'too ugly'; and that he shall not be able to sell them'; and he'll be dd if he has any notion of having his trouble for nothing. The only apology that can be made for the savage conduct of these unfeeling brutes is, that they run a chance of not being permitted to carry a cargo alongside, unless it makes a good show-off; for it has been often known that, on approaching a ship, the officer in command has so far forgot himself as to order the waterman to push off-that he should not bring such a cargo of d-d ugly devils on board, and that he would not allow any of his men to have them. . . . Here the waterman is a loser, for he takes them conditionally: that is, if they are made choice of, or what he calls 'sold,' he receives three shillings each; and if

1 'Personal Narr. of Events from 1799 to 1815,' 2nd ed., 1879, p. 46.

2 More commonly "bumboats." From "bum," the buttocks, on account of their clumsiness (Donald); or, perhaps, from "boom," such boats being allowed to lie at the booms of anchored ships.

WOMEN ON SHIP-BOARD.

27

not, then no pay: he has his labour for his pains: at least, these were the terms at Portsmouth and Plymouth in war-time. . . . A boat usually carries about ten of these poor creatures at a time, and will often bring off three cargoes of these ladies in a day; so that, if he is fortunate in his 'sales,' as he calls them, he will make nearly five pounds by his three trips. . . . It may seem strange to many persons that seamen before the mast should be allowed to have these ladies on board, while the officers must not, on pain of being tried by a court-martial for disobedience of orders, the Admiralty having made a regulation to that effect. The reason of this is, that the seamen are not allowed to go ashore, but the officers are."

2

1

On occasions such as that described, drunkenness as well as immorality ruled upon the lower-deck; and, for many years afterwards the same kind of pandemonium was frequently suffered to prevail in ships lying at Spithead and in Plymouth Sound. As late as 1834, on board the Pique, 36, Captain the Hon. Henry John Rous, an unfortunate woman, one of a number who had been brought off to the ship by boatmen from Portsmouth, went aloft when drunk, and, falling from a yard to the deck, was killed.3 Nor did the vicious practice of suffering a certain number of men— generally petty officers-to carry their wives to sea with them cease until after the expiration of the period now under review. Lord St. Vincent discouraged it; Nelson and Collingwood steadfastly opposed it; but weak or indifferent Captains still permitted it. Officers also often took their wives with them to sea; and Captains did so sometimes, until well after the middle of the nineteenth century, and, indeed, after an order expressly forbidding it had been issued. "Jack's" reminiscences throw no light upon this question; but they suggest that many of the naval officers of his time, especially after the failure of the expedition to Walcheren, were deeply implicated in defrauding the revenue.

"On board the different ships," says "Jack," "there were numerous packages which had been shipped at Flushing: and no doubt but they were intended to be smuggled into England, from the secret manner and the different stratagems used in the getting of them afterwards on shore. The bread-room of our ship was crowded with them, directed for different officers holding high rank both in army and navy: and may

1

'Naut. Econ.,' 56. See also 'Statement of Certain Immoral Practices prevailing in His Majesty's Navy,' 1822.

2 Died an Admiral (ret.), June 19, 1877. He was the well-known racing man.

3 Letter from Mr. James Francis Ballard Wainwright, Midshipman, H.M.S. Pique:

in Auth.'s Coll. Mr. Wainwright died a Rear-Admiral, in April, 1872.

See The Post-Captain,' and the novels of Marryat, Mr. Scott, Chamier, etc. Vice-Adm. George Losack was married on board his ship the Jupiter, 50, on the Cape -Station. Marshall, 'Roy. Nav. Biog.,' i. 380. And Admiral John Ayscough, who died as lately as 1864, was born on board H.M.S. Swan, which his father commanded, while she was actually in action with an enemy's vessel. O'Byrne, Nav. Biog. Dict.,' 30.

have been intended as presents, or for their own use; but they did not pay the duty. These packages consisted of sets of Hamburg china and table services, down for beds, spirits, and various other articles of foreign produce. Not being able to iand all these goods at once without detection, we contrived it at different intervals, safely thus got rid of some of them by different conveyances; and then we became 'Channel gropers' again; and, whilst on this duty, we landed the balance of our secret cargo at Weymouth and Plymouth, as we were frequently running into those ports. Whilst on the Cherbourg blockading station, it often occurred that we were in chase of vessels, supposing them to be smugglers, and, at the same time, we were meditating how to get rid of the bulk of our bread-room stowage, which did not intend to pay any duty."

Upon the subject of punishment "Jack" says much that is of interest.

"The extent to which cruelty was carried on under the name of discipline, on board many ships during the late war, is not generally known; nor will a British public believe that any body of men would submit to such marks of degradation as they were compelled to undergo. It was partially known at Somerset House by the different ships' logs; but the real crime, if any, was not, it is believed, therein set down; for there it all came under the head of 'disobedience,' or under a peculiar article of war which runs as follows: All crimes not capital shall be punished according to the customs and manners used at sea.' This article shelters the Captains in the Navy in resorting to almost any mode of punishment they may think proper. . . . Whilst lying at Spithead, in the year 1809 or 1810, four impressed seamen attempted to make their escape from a frigate then lying there one of their shipmates, a Dutchman to whom they had entrusted the secret, betrayed their intention, and informed the commanding officer of their designs. They were tried by a court-martial, and sentenced to receive three hundred 2 lashes each, through the fleet. On the first day after the trial that the weather was moderate enough to permit, the signal was made for a boat from each ship, with a guard of Marines, to attend the punishment. The man is placed in a. launch, i.e., the largest ship's boat, under the care of the Master-at-Arms and a doctor. There is a capstan bar rigged fore and aft, to which this poor fellow is lashed by his wrists; and for fear of hurting him-humane creatures-there is a stocking put over each, to prevent him from tearing the flesh off in his agonies. When all is ready, the prisoner is stript and seized to the capstan bar. Punishment commences by the officer, after reading the sentence of the court-martial, ordering the Boatswain's Mates to do their duty. The cat-o'-nine tails is applied to the bare back, and at about every six lashes a fresh Boatswain's Mate is ordered to relieve the executioner of this duty, until the prisoner has received, perhaps, twenty-five lashes. He is then cast loose, and, allowed to sit down with a blanket rolled round him, is conveyed to the next ship, escorted by this vast number of armed boats, accompanied by that doleful music, The Rogue's March.' In this manner he is conveyed from ship to ship, receiving alongsideof each a similar number of stripes with the cat, until the sentence is completed. It often, nay generally, happens that nature is unable to sustain it, and the poor fellow faints and sinks under it, although every kind method is made use of to enable him to bear it, by pouring wine down his throat. The doctor will then feel his pulse, and often pronounces that the man is unable to bear more. He is then taken, most usually insensible, to what is termed the 'sick bay'; and, if he recovers, he is told he will have

Where were the offices of the Civil Departments of the Navy.

2 As many as 500 lashes were sometimes awarded. The Boatswains' Mates were drilled to flog effectively, by being made to practise on a cask, under the superintendence of the Boatswain.

to receive the remainder of his punishment. When there are many ships in the fleet at the time of the court-martial, this ceremony, if the prisoner can sustain it, will last nearly half the day.

"On the blanket being taken from his back, and he supported or lifted to be lashed to the capstan bar after he has been alongside of several ships, his back resembles so much putrified liver, and every stroke of the cat brings away the congealed blood; and the Boatswain's Mates are looked at with the eye of a hawk to see they do their duty, and clear the cat's tails after every stroke, the blood at the time streaming through their fingers and in this manner are men in the Navy punished for different offences, more particularly impressed men who attempt to make their escape."

It could at least be said on behalf of such a terrible punishment as flogging round the fleet that it was never inflicted save in pursuance of the sentence of a court-martial, and that individual tyranny or caprice was powerless to order it. But other punishments, almost equally savage, could be, and commonly were, dealt out to the men at the irresponsible will of a superior; and it is notorious that very often no record of them was ever set down, although a report of all punishments was directed to be made.

"Jack" describes several of these punishments. The most common was flogging at the gangway or on the quarter-deck.

"The Captain orders this punishment for anything that himself or any of his officers may consider a crime. The prisoner is made to strip to the waist; he is then seized by his wrists and knees to a grating or ladder; the Boatswain's Mate is then ordered to cut him with the cat-o'-nine tails; and after six or twelve lashes are given another Boatswain's Mate is called to continue the exercise: and so they go on, until the Captain gives the word to stop. From one to five dozen lashes are given, according to the Captain's whim; but the general number is three dozen; and this number the Captain has power to give every day, if he has any bad feeling for an individual; and a tyrant of a Captain will frequently tell the Boatswain's Mate to lay it on harder, or that he should be flogged next himself. This punishment is . . . inflicted without trial by court-martial, at the discretion of the Captain. It is not so in the army."

Of "running the gauntlet," a punishment inflicted for petty theft, "Jack" says:

"The criminal is placed with his naked back in a large tub, wherein a seat has been fixed; this tub is secured on a grating, and is drawn round the deck by the boys, the Master-at-Arms, with his drawn sword, pointing to the prisoner's breast. The cavalcade starts from the break of the quarter-deck, after the Boatswain has given the prisoner a dozen lashes, and the ship's crew are ranged round the deck in two rows, so that the prisoner passes between them, and each man is provided with a three yarn nettle; that is, three rope yarns tightly laid together and knotted. With this each man must cut him, or be thought implicated in the theft. Six Boatswain's Mates give him half-a-dozen each as he passes round the decks, so that he receives four dozen lashes from the Boatswain and his Mates with a cat-o'-nine tails, and six hundred cuts with the three yarn nettle from the crew of a line of battleship, that being the average number of men before the mast in war time. This punishment is inflicted by the Captain's orders, without the formal inquiry by a court-martial."