Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-qxsvm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-08T08:20:51.839Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Prest to volunteer: reluctant sailors and the naval community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2017

Get access

Summary

in the first place we have had bad weather and hard usage in the next place we have taken nothing … You may depend on this I shall take the first chance that offers to make my escape from this floating Hell … Ah W what an unhappy wretch I am and no prospect of relief or release, I hope my Dear W you are in good health and thank God clear from all the hardships and dangers of the sea.

James Whitworth to his wife, Elizabeth, HMS Portia, North Yarmouth, 7 May 1812

Whilst relatively few accounts from ordinary seamen survive, they do reward our close attention. Ordinary seamen did not have or need, on the whole, the same degree of patronage required by officers. The navy's demand for men throughout the century, and particularly during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, meant that men who sought active employment (and indeed even those who did not) were able to find it. Whilst many men embraced naval life and fulfilled their duties, life at sea was rarely an easy or a comfortable one. A tyrannical captain and an inactive situation could easily lead to discontent, bad conduct and eventually desertion. Although ordinary sailors had few means at their disposal to extract themselves from a bad ship or situation, an unhappy seaman was willing to try. Writing in 1812, Benjamin Stevenson hoped to ‘get clear’ of HM Sloop Halcyon, writing to his sister:

… our vessel will be in Dock A few days and then it will be determined whether she will be repaired or put out of Commission, which I trust in god she will be passed off intirely for I am heart sick of hir if she is kept in Commission I will try all that lays in my power to get clere of hir if the same Captain Commands hir he is the worst that ever I served under.

The men of the lower deck had varied experiences of life at sea. Whilst some thrived in the discipline of shipboard life and the heat of battle, others struggled to forge themselves a place within this wooden world.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×