Collected Works:

Sailor's Tales

by Paul Chamberlain, UK

There seems to be a constant output of soldier's memoirs of the period, from those of the higher-ranking officers to those from the ranks. While they give fascinating insights into the warfare on land, and how these soldiers were involved, there are many sailors' memoirs from the late 18th to the early 19th Centuries that are just as interesting and informative. Chatham Publishing has produced a range of such memoirs under the heading Sailor's Tales that are well-worth looking at if your interests include life at sea during the Napoleonic Wars. A Sailor of King George: The Journals of Captain Frederick Hoffman RN 1793-1814 (1999, price £ 9.95 paperback) is the memoir of a naval officer who served right through the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1793 to 1814. He was a veteran of many actions during this period and was three times wounded and twice captured and imprisoned. This latter fact is of great interest to me in that the subject of prisoners of war is a particular interest (my wife calls it an obsession!) of mine, and I found Hoffman's account of his capture and treatment at the hands of the French to be a vivid account of what it was like to be taken captive, and the attitudes of the captors to the vanquished. Hoffman relates his early interest in the Royal Navy and entering the profession as a midshipman on board HMS Blonde. Very soon he found himself in the West Indies where he was involved in the taking of Martinique. Such memoirs as his complement the soldier's narratives of amphibious operations as this, and should be studied together to build a picture of combined operations. The British Army could not have accomplished all it did without the Royal Navy. His account includes colourful stories of life in the Royal Navy, with descriptions of the places he saw and the people he encountered. One especially colourful story concerns some of the seamen of his ship who found amusement in racing each other in hackney coaches, with their 'delicate ladies' on board. The loser paid for a meal! Hoffman had many different adventures in different parts of the world, and he relates them with a colourful and vivid style, including anecdotes told him by his shipmates. He fought at Trafalgar on HMS Tonnant, cruised of Brest on blockade duty, took part in antislavery operations off the West coast of Africa, and was captured by the French when his ship HMS Apelles ran aground in May 1812. A Sailor of King George is a varied, colourful account of an officer who participated in many an action during the Napoleonic Wars, and who has left us with a vivid and never boring account of his life. Lieutenant G.S. Parsons RN is another officer who has left us with a highly-readable account of his career in the Royal Navy published under the title of Nelsonian Reminiscences: A Dramatic Eyewitness Account of the War at Sea 1795-1810 (1998, price £ 9.95 paperback). Parsons relates his story with a powerful narrative style that makes for a lively read as well as an informative account. The historical interest centres on Parsons' association with Nelson, in particular at the court of Naples in 1799. He describes Lady Hamilton and how she captivated the officers of the whole fleet; the social life of Naples, including the Royal Family and Nelson and the Hamiltons; and active duty such as the chase and capture of Le Genereux. Parsons spent much of his time close by Nelson and relates anecdotes about this famous man, whom he clearly admired. Not only do we get a picture of naval life from the author's perspective, but also details of Nelson the man as seen by one of his officers. Parsons' account was written some forty years after the events happened, and it is therefore debatable whether all the conversations he relates were accurate after such a time span. However, Nelsonian Reminiscences remains a valuable collection of anecdotes of life in the Royal Navy during the period. He tells of the landing of the British Army in Egypt; gunboat attacks; night attacks; the blockade of the Island of Curažoa; the Battle of Cape St. Vincent. Aside from his tales of Nelson, he also includes stories of such characters as Sir Sydney Smith. In April 1999 Chatham published Reminiscences of a Naval Officer by Captain A. Crawford RN, subtitled A Quarterdeck View of the War against Napoleon (paperback, price £ 12.95). This officer served from 1801 to 1815, first with Captain Sir Edward Owen in the blockading squadron off Boulogne, participating in the attempted attack on the French fleet in port, and later with Admiral Duckworth's squadron in the Mediterranean. Here again is an officer who relates his adventures in great detail, recalling such events as witnessing '...all the batteries along the coast, as well as the flotillas in the harbours and in the roads fired a salute of one hundred and one guns each...the camps around Boulogne, and all the batteries displayed their standards, and the whole flotilla was dressed in colours. At night the town of Boulogne and camps were brilliantly illuminated, and fireworks of the most splendid description only ceased with the dawn of day. It was the day of Bonaparte's coronation'. Crawford's narrative includes the routine life on board a ship of the Royal Navy, from blockade duty; attacking enemy commerce; the social life on board ship; and a detailed account of supporting operations off the coast of Spain during the Peninsular War, against Marshal Suchet. This section alone makes it a valuable account of the support of the conflict on land. Crawford even had to ride inland in an attempt to capture some deserters from his ship, so his tale is not all based at sea. He also describes the siege of Tarragona, and the support his ship gave to Sir John Murray's force in Catalonia. Reminiscences of a Naval Officer is an example of how the publishers have chosen the better memoirs (i.e. detailed, lively and varied reads with a wealth of information on the Royal Navy's activities during the period). While this series has memoirs written by some of the officers, it is balanced with some accounts produced by educated seamen, to glean a view of life on the lower decks. The Narrative of William Spavens was first published in 1796 and describes Spavens life in the navy during the middle part of the 18th Century. This has much relevance to the Napoleonic period as many of the officers of the Royal Navy during this period had gained experience during the wars with France during the latter part of the 18th Century, and many of the techniques developed by the navy had resulted from experience gained in these same conflicts. To understand the workings of the Royal Navy of the period 1793-1815, it is essential to know of the history of the Senior Service during the many wars of the 18th Century. The Narrative of William Spavens, a Chatham Pensioner by Himself (1998, paperback, price £ 9.95) is an account of an ordinary seaman of the period. He describes his career in the Royal Navy of Anson's time providing us with an insight into the conditions of life on the lower deck. His narrative includes descriptions of the infamous Press Gang, from which he both suffered from and served in. He was part of such a gang in Plymouth and clearly describes how unpopular this body was, as he and his party were attacked by the populace while going about their recruiting. Spavens served on board HMS Buckingham during the Seven Years War, both in the West Indies and on the North American station. He describes ruses to capture enemy privateers (e.g. hoisting false colours); storms he experienced; creatures seen at sea; the exotic fruits available to eat. While he was pressed into the navy, it obviously had a positive effect on him, providing him with a career and a wealth of colourful and interesting experiences, which he was intelligent enough to appreciate. His is a vivid account of life in the Royal Navy, describing actions against enemy navies, privateers and smugglers. All aspects of the naval activities of the 18th Century are included in his narrative, from pay, discipline, food and the conditions of service, to the types of ordnance used by naval vessels. Included in the book are chapters entitled Introduction to Geography, which includes details of navigation and mathematics; A Brief Description of Several Countries, such as Sweden, the West Indies, North and South America, Ireland, Holland and India. He describes the people, flora and fauna and obviously saw much of the world in his naval career. William Spavens liked his life in the Royal Navy and has left us a very detailed and lucid account of all aspects of this life. This book I especially liked because of the amount of information he relates in a comprehensible style. Recently I have been researching the Anglo-American War of 1812, and reading about the problems of British sailors deserting to the American navy, and how the Royal Navy pressed American seaman, one of the causes of the conflict. Chatham has published a memoir that looks at this conflict from a seaman's viewpoint. A Voice from the Main Deck: being a Record of the Thirty Years Adventures of Samuel Leech (1999, paperback, price £ 9.95) is a good contrast to the account by William Spavens. While Spavens enjoyed his life in the navy, Leech did not. At twelve years of age he had a romantic view of life at sea, which was rapidly dissipated after he volunteered to serve in the frigate Macedonian. He hated his life on board and took a very dim view of the manner in which discipline was maintained by flogging. In 1812 the frigate United States, in a sharp action, captured the Macedonian. Leech now found himself a prisoner of the Americans, and seized this opportunity to escape from service in the Royal Navy. He found his American captors to be agreeable company, feeling perfectly at home with them, as did many of his shipmates from the Macedonian. The prize was taken into Newport, Massachusetts, where a number of the British seamen contrived to escape from service in the Royal Navy, including Leech. After a short spell on shore in the United States he joined the American gun brig Syren, where he found life in the American navy to be much better than that provided by his old employers. HMS Medway captured the Syren in the South Atlantic, and Leech feared for his life if he were recognised as a British deserter. He spent time as a prisoner of war at Cape Town, before being sent to a prison ship first at Portsmouth, and then at Plymouth. He was released in August 1815, making his way back to the United States. Here he signed on in the brig Boxer for another spell at sea. He was 17 years of age at this time. Thus we have a unique account of a sailor who fought for both Britain and the United States during the war of 1812. This account by Samuel Leech is unusual because of such a fact. Chatham Publishing has produced a unique series of firsthand accounts of life in the Royal Navy. While much of the narrative in these tales was written some years after the events, this does not detract from their value for information on life at sea during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. For further information and a full list of their titles contact Chatham Publishing, 61 Frith Street, London W1V 5TA. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #49 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com