Nelson would be shocked.
Being something of a gadabout, he’d also probably be secretly pleased.
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Targets of Opportunityblog advertising is good for you Credo"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones "Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra" "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche "A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke “You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier "Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas "Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex Amazon AssociateFor the Effort!Winnar! Subscribe CategoriesPagesTagsacademy
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Not THAT shocked. There were a couple cases of women serving under the guise of men. And I don’t have a reference handy, but it wouldn’t surprise me a bit to learn that a woman or two was aboard the fleet at Nile, Copenhagen, and/or Trafalgar.
I’ve read several places that it was unusual for a commander to land all the ship’s women. There were crewman’s wives aboard- allegedly of many degrees of lawfulness below decks and of more regular lawfulness on the quarterdeck, as well as officer’s wives in transit to foreign stations, and the disguised crew.
Trafalgar Women
(oops)
Trafalgar Women
Girls and guns — what a concept!
Indeed he would be shocked… at the idea of assigning obvious landsmen (i.e. those without a pigtail) to a gun crew.
Mike B … was there some sort of arcane symbolism about sailors wearing pigtails — other than just a practical way of keeping your hair out of your face? Was it like a gang tat?
Marianne
I’ve read that it was the fashion in the 1700′s, and that is was a convenient place for sailors to place tar that was readily available for use.
Shack. The tails held tar/pitch, so that sailors could seal small holes or leaking cracks in the perpetually leaky wooden ships. This is also why enlisted crackerjacks have that cute little cape on the back: to keep the pitch from getting all over the shirt.
Yup, Up until the late 1890′s, that sailor collar was made of blue denim or canvas for the working white uniforms, and those same also had cuffs of the same material. In many cases, it was detachable so as to be replaced when too soiled with tar/grease/paint/etc.
A couple other notes. Sailors, in the US Navy, were not issued with clothing, per se. When they arrived onboard the receiving ship, they were issued with bolts of cloth, buttons, thread, and told to make their own. Older sailors, handy with a needle and an eye for profit, offered to make up the uniforms for a small fee.
As sailors got on in their service they did a great deal of embroidery on their clothing, and it was actively encouraged as a means of keeping the swabs busy. The white lace on the collar and cuffs of the dress blues, and the two white stars are the direct result of that. Men were adept at creating designs, and often one ship’s crew could be told from another by the type and details of the embroidery. In 1866, the Navy codified the dress regulations and incorporated the white lace we have now, and forbid other decorations.
As a result, tattoos became more prominent, and also “hidden” embroidery on places not normally seen. This later was used by Asian tailors (and others) to mark their work and morphed into the “dragon” cuffs that many sailors wore (and some still do), turned back when on liberty to display the artwork.
There’s a great deal of history and tradition that’s being tossed out with the arrival of the new uniforms. I can’t say as I approve.
IIRC it’s also why another name also associated with enlisteds of that time was “Tars” or “Jack-Tars,” No?
Yup… that’s where it came from..
“Shocked” or “Gadabout” who is “secretly pleased,” whateverrr–it all looks like a NAVY problem to this little ‘ole ex bus-driver. LOL.
UNSAT!
It appears that Hispanics and Asians are under represented….
After all Diversity is our number one priority. That gun drill stuff is jut entertaining fluff to fill time before the next equal opportunity or sexual harassment lecture.
Obviously they will never actually fire the gun, as the “powder monkey” had been eliminated as a racist concept.
Next you’ll be telling me that the engine room crew is no longer referred to as the “black gang”!
You will also note the absence of sidearms. Crews were issued sidearms (and gunners a belt with a fuze pouch and gimlet frogg) up until the post-civil war period. Being there was always a threat of close action or boarders (either side) it was prudent to issue small arms, pikes and cutlasses when sounding the long roll and the battle rattles.
Another bit of trivia for the readership: The US Navy was among the first to adopt the percussion cap ignition system for ship’s guns. Guns like this illustrated used a quill filled with powder, inserted into the vent, and ignited by slow match. this was very dangerous, because a glowing ember on a stick isn’t a good thing to have around when bags of powder are being parceled out, and perhaps spilled.
The quills were soon replaced by friction primers, which were thin brass or copper tubed filled with powder with a bit of fulminate ontop. A twisted metal pin with a ring on the end was inserted perpendicular to the top. The lanyard hooked into the ring and, when pulled, the twisted wirs ignited the fulminate and set of the powder, which ignited the charge in the gun. Much safer. See here for an eexample
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1091/793964236_702e78a090.jpg
The problem, though, was that below decks, when the gun discharged, the remains of the brass/copper tube came flying out of the vent and went bouncing around. Therefore, the navy used a cap lock ignition system on guns on the lower decks, with a cone scr3wed into the vent, upon which a percussion cap was placed. When the lanyard was pulled, the hammer fell down on the cap, igniting it and thus the charge in the gun. Pretty neat system, and worked very well until breechloading guns with fixed ammunition and primers were introduced.
here is a repro of such a percission lock for a Navy boat howitzer
http://www.gatling-gun.com/CannonIgnitionLockEnochHidden.htm
respects,
FWIW,
Here’s a Civil War US Navy gun crew at drill. Note how they are all wearing some combination of revolvers and cutlasses. The small leather boxes help packets of revolver ammunition, percussion caps, and, in the case of the gunner, friction primers.
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h61000/h61933.jpg
I just learned about this group a few days ago from a Facebook friend:
U.S. Naval Landing Party: http://www.usnlp.org/
“The U.S. Naval Landing Party was formed in the Fall of 1997 by Union Naval reenactors in the New England area and has since spread to include members across the country. Our group portrays the activities of a landing party of Union sailors and Marines during the Civil War — a little known role for the Navy in the 1861-65 conflict.”
AW1-
Any time you want to keep going mate, bloody interesting stuff.
I recall reading that tarred pigtails were preferred as some protection against blades to the back of the neck. As stated above, the middie flap was to protect the jumper from the tarred hair.
It’s all about tar in the days of wooden ships and iron men. Check out the etymology of “The devil to pay.”
Tim, thanks for that bit of trivia. I’ve always wondered about the history of my uniform. Furthermore, why the dress whites are plain and more modern (and bland), while the dress blues (my favorite) remain traditional. Sadly, no one was able to tell me.
Anyone else notice the sailor with the tinted glasses straddling the line, block, and tackle? One should hope it doesn’t catastrophically fail. At least it’s not under tension.
AW1
If you get the chance to visit the UK you need to tour HMS Victory. Quite impressive. Being 6 ft 1 in tall tho the overheads were a little close especially on lower deck. The tour guide said the avg sailor was only 5 ft 7 or so and the powder monkeys were around 4 ft. Not a lot of luxury to be found. Wooden ships and iron men and all that.
G-Man/
Same thing applies to armor. In the 70s the Kings’ (i.e., the entire national collection) collection of armor used to be kept in the Tower of London which was, after all, the original armory. One could readily see from the size of the breast-plates how small the avg. man of those times was. Sadly, the collection was moved to Birmingham (IIRC) during an internal political power struggle during “devolution” in the late 90s, so no longer is available to most tourists.
I second that — so much of our Naval tradition comes from our British forefathers, and it becomes real onboard Victory. My takeaway was a realization of how violent and brutal naval warfare was in the 1800s.
And the plaque that says “Here Nelson fell” is a simple tribute, to an amazingly complex man. What great thoughts are wrapped up in “England expects that every man will do his duty”. Kinda like the one from Lee I saw every day during my institutionalization — “Duty is the sublimest word in the English language”. I know that at the tactical and below level, we understand those concepts. I’m not sure we understand it at the national level. We are the worse for it.
AW1Tim, and all the rest of you historians… What a series of fascinating posts! New information about much admired parts of our civilization is catnip to me. The explanation of the term, jolly tar, the fact that sailors weren’t issued made-up uniforms but instead given cloth and buttons, and thread to make their own, then finding older sailors who make up the uniforms for them, lace on the collars, embroidery on the cuffs. So fascinating. I never knew most of this, but I’ll remember it to entertain me when I wake up wall-eyed in the middle of the night. Thank you, dear hearts ….
Marianne
Sundays were “make and mend day” in the sail Navy.
Mrs. M., if I may be so bold as to suggest a book: “Two Years Before the Mast” http://bit.ly/GN8Mu
Mr. Dana wrote about his experiences during a two year voyage in the early 1800′s, and is a darned good read.
V/R
Ron/
One of my favorite childhood reads! One of the very first things that ran thru my mind when I saw this post.
Hey, I thought it was customary to doff shirts when serving the guns!
IIRC, it was, but I’m just an ex-zoomie, so ’tain’t no expert. Where have you been, fella? Long time no see.