This essay will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of memoirs of seafarers and discuss how useful these are to us now. I shall focus on six different articles written in different years between the period of 1800 to 1914 and look for differences and similarities to determine if the purpose of these memoirs altered if at all over this time. The general strengths of a memoir are that it is written at the time of events and so can be considered a primary source, it gives you a good insight to how people were thinking at the time, for example, are they being swayed by particular opinions that are being circulated or do they contrast with what is occurring at that period in time. Another notable strength of memoirs is that most are personal accounts of, in this case, life at sea and as a seaman in general. The limitations or weaknesses of memoirs could also be the detail and impartiality of each account. As previously stated many are of personal accounts and will most definitely contain personal opinions. Some limitations include a lack of authorship in the case of articles written in journals and newspapers. It is clear that some seafarers also wrote more than one maritime piece. The purposes of these memoirs all show individual uses, some being simple accounts, others containing undertones of politics and religion and so it is best to look at each one as an individual piece rather than attempt to group them all under one label. I have chosen to discuss them in chronological order to determine if there are any similar themes, events or stories which may crop up.
The earliest memoir I am going to assess was published in 1852 and entitled Twenty-Four Hours of a Sailors Life at Sea. The first section of the article mentions how so many young men are enticed by the fun and adventure of being a sailor, but the writer quickly gives recognition to the seafarers’ life being quite the opposite, comparing his life to that of a slave at the hands of a cruel tyrannical rule onboard. He swiftly goes on to tell the reader how important discipline is and that you must obey commands or otherwise be guilty of mutiny.[1]
The writer then goes onto describe a standard working day in the dangers of what he refers to as dirty or stormy weather, whilst also explaining the bell and watch system. He mentions all men would be called up to help steady the ship in these conditions, including the idlers composing of the cook, steward, carpenter and boys showing that no one was exempt from doing their part. He mentions grog, as many other memoirs do, however he describes to the reader what it actually is. He even argues that given the choice, sailors would prefer coffee to rum as they were aware coffee acted as a better stimulant and gives the reader the impression they only drink the rum so as they do not go thirsty. He also describes the food onboard and shows there are differences in the quality of food for the different ranks of men.[2]
The last few paragraphs of this article recognises that although there will be standard procedures on any ship, it depends on the circumstances as to how good or bad a sailor’s life can be, claiming ‘We have given a fair enough specimen of the twenty four hours of a sailors life at sea; but of course he sometimes has an easier, and sometimes much harder life of it- depending on the kind of ship, the nature of the voyage, the state of the weather, and the character of the captain’.[3]
The overall tone and purpose of this memoir seems to be to shock the reader, aimed at both men and women, and bring to light the hard life of the men who they seem not to take much notice of. It has patriotic and religious Christian undertones weaved into it, particularly in the last paragraph of the article, as the writer states ‘Be kind, we implore you, to Poor Jack, wherever you meet him, for he would shed the last drop of blood in his veins to defend you!’.[4]
The first chapter of the Life In The Merchant Service article was published in 1860, five years after the voyage being discussed, which initially poses as a limitation as this is a fair amount of time for memories to be distorted or exaggerated in the authors mind. The opening paragraphs show young boys would have often grown up with a romanticised idea of a life at sea, a reason so many opted for it. They also clearly had a good idea of the job roles on a ship too as the author tells us ‘I should not have to rough it as much as if I had gone as a boy before the mast’, and goes into further detail of a midshipman and the uniform.[5]
At this early stage into his first voyage, the midshipman seems to be horrified when asked to haul at a greasy rope and also very naive when told stories of what life at sea was really like by the other men in regards to work and food. He says ‘We had a first rate dinner, although in dreadful confusion; and I quite began to laugh at the tales I had heard of the way in which sailors have to live; but it didn’t cross my mind at the time that we had hardly been at sea long enough to experience the stern realities of salt junk and mouldy biscuit, or that, being so near shore, fresh provisions were more easily obtained than salt’.[6]
The number of soldiers who joined ship gives the reader a good indication of the size of the ship and also the living conditions as it must have been fairly cramped. These conditions would not have been made easier by tyrannical mates who were taking advantage of their positions. He continues to describe what is clearly a hierarchy amongst the men on board, of which first voyagers and midshipmen came as very low priority. Some men, notably the third mate in the case of this midshipman, would go out of their way to make others lives very difficult, showing an amount of rivalry onboard, especially by those who feel their status is being threatened or made fun of by those lower in rank.[7]
He describes how the men suffered a great deal of sea sickness as the voyage was just starting, making their work incredibly hard. The work of the midshipmen is then stated as to keep the time and he tells the reader of how the ship is divided into the starboard and the port watch and mentions the significance of each bell toll in the bells system. They were also taught how to furl and reef the sails and explained his first experience of a squall at sea.[8]
The writer than tells us in great detail the capture and killing of a shark that must have apparently been following them from the previous night after one of their sheep had been thrown overboard and found to be in the sharks stomach. What is most astounding is that they did not cook and eat much of it, saying ‘The greater portion was thrown away as useless, but a part of the tail was cooked and served up, not only at our table, but also in the cuddy’.[9]
Overall, the strengths of this article are the recurring themes of a romantic idea of the sea and adventure when opting for a seafaring lifestyle. It is a good insight to the naivety of the first time voyagers and what they did not realise actually happened before joining the ship, for example the food changing from fresh supplies near land to extremely scarce whilst at sea for long periods of time. The limitation as previously stated is that the article was written five years after the events and so can pose problems regarding accuracy whether intentional or not. The purpose of the article could be used to act as a light warning to young boys who aspire to a seafaring life with ideas of adventure and fun as it begins to highlight problems, but most of these do not crop up until the second chapter which I shall now discuss.
The second chapter of the Life In The Merchant Service article, published a week after the first, continues to describe in detail the life onboard a ship through the eyes of a midshipman. This chapter highlights particular matters that would otherwise not be known by the general public. It becomes apparent in the opening paragraph the men were keen to write home, showing a sensitive side you would not expect from men who are often described at this time as Jolly Jack Tar. The writer stated men who were on watch were still expected to continue duties and not permitted to go below and write letters, and this shows the tyrannical rule of Captains and first mates often described in these memoirs. They would have an allotted time for leisure and fun on deck and were sometimes permitted to involve the ladies onboard. The Chief mate of this particular ship seems to be slowly trying to grind the men’s morale down and is probably being a lot harsher with them than is necessary.[10]
He mentions he did not like a lot of dirty work as this spoilt his uniform which had to last a long time, suggesting, as in the Jack Afloat article of the naval men, that seamen were often concerned with their clothing and appearance. The men would cover for each other on the night watch so each could have extra sleep and this surely shows a degree of camaraderie amongst certain groups of men on board. The writer describes a very violent ritual or ceremony that occurred on board what he calls shaving. It appears to be some sort of initiation for first voyagers into Neptune’s Court. As he describes you could pay a bribe to be excluded from it but the men who did not would be beaten with sandbags, forced to swallow pills of unpleasant nature, had a tar brush pushed in their mouth, their face scraped with an iron hoop and lastly dunked into a bucket of water before the men would move onto the next victim. This is a very brutal occurrence which even the Captain would be part of which is quite shocking as he would normally be part of the upper sections of society and so readers may be shocked to see men of their social status treating others in this manner.[11]
This memoir is a good insight to how the men kept themselves entertained onboard. It shows how they came up with different ideas and suggestions to drive away boredom such as a play and a newspaper published weekly, but it also shows how quickly their entertainment would be stopped if it offended the upper ranks of men or the Captain. The play created by the soldiers seems to be quite a significant entry in the article as the author makes it clear there was a great dislike between the soldiers and seamen before this event. The account of the storm and how the men would work through it is one I did not come across in other memoirs and so on that basis is significant for the reader. He gives a very detailed account of what happens to a ship and what would be expected of the men in stormy weather. It highlights some aspect of health and safety on board by putting the lightning conductor down to the water and shows there was a clear pecking order with the midshipmen usually drawing the short straw to do the least appealing duties. It also once again portrays a man with a romanticised view of life at sea as many others, he says ‘When I first came to sea, one of my greatest wishes, singular as it may seem, was to be in a storm, and certainly my desire was fully gratified.’[12]
One factor that crops up as a limitation or weakness to any memoir is exaggeration or complete fabrication. When further speaking of the storm he later injured himself in he tells the reader ‘Many were the reports circulated as to the disasters which had happened, one of which is worth mentioning, as it is a good sample of a yarn, for the spinning of which sailors have acquired such a reputation.’ This poses problems with accuracy of accounts as well as anything from slight exaggerations to completely made up stories and so it is necessary to look upon these memoirs with some caution as to how much is believable, especially as the mind can distort memories if you are writing a length of time after the event occurred.[13]
Another factor also important to this memoir is the documentation of worship and church service on Sundays which shows religion played a part in a life at sea, however it is difficult to provide an extent of how important it was because the sailors aboard this particular ship were not required to attend. He goes on to say about particular privileges such as being able to smoke on the quarter and main decks whilst on other ships they would not have been allowed to smoke at all. This once again comes back to the recurring theme of each ship having its own rules according to each Captain. The last few paragraphs of the memoir tells us how death and disease were greatly feared by the men and also different methods of working with the equipment and sails.[14]
Overall the strengths of this memoir are the insights into rituals or ceremonies the general public would probably not have any knowledge of, a clear pecking order onboard between all the men with camaraderie between the midshipmen in order to help each other, and a more sensitive side to seafarers with the importance of letter writing and religion still a part of a life at sea. The limitations would be the accuracy of particular accounts such as what really happened in storms and the extent of brutality in the Neptune’s Court ceremonies. It is difficult to know if parts have been exaggerated to create a story more violent than what it actually was. The purpose of this memoir seems to be to inform readers of particular activities of life at sea which challenges the men of the upper ranks.
I will now discuss the memoir entitled Jack Afloat which was printed in 1867. This also comments on misconceptions by the general public with its opening line ‘The popular idea of a sailor is rather degrading to sailors. Forgetting that sailors are divided into numerous kinds, we are in the habit of grouping them all together under the representation of them which we generally call the “British Tar”.’ He describes naval seamen as being very concerned with their fashion and appearance in an excessive way and claims that public opinion of the judgements and images based on seamen stem from the naval seamen. He states ‘A landsman is thinking of a seaman, somehow or other invariably looks upon him as being employed in the navy. His notions of a seaman are borrowed from the stage, from pictures, or from a trip to Portsmouth; and, of course, he has come to the conclusion that a seaman is the costume, and that all seamen are alike’. The writer recognises there is a certain amount of dislike between different types of seafarers and uses the merchant seamen and crews of colliers as an example.[15]
He describes what a merchant seaman character is like, stating ‘His principal business is then to spend his money and to get drunk; and if he does not do this successfully, and considering that it is a matter of no very great difficulty, he is pretty often successful in its accomplishment, he considers that he has behaved as it is the duty of every right minded British tar to behave when on shore’. He then continues to tell the reader how this character is split into two personalities of a beast and a man depending on where he is. He does however, praise them for their tailoring abilities and portrays men concerned to a certain degree about their appearance. The writer then suggests that the merchant seaman will make friends onboard to suit his purposes, for example, the cook is usually favoured, and he also suggests the men can cope with whatever food is given to them claiming ‘But the merchant seaman has a strong stomach’, however the writer of the earlier article of Life in the Merchant Service: Chapter Two seems not to agree with this after a long description of bad food and seasickness throughout his ship.[16]
The strengths of this article appears to be keeping the Jack Tar image at the forefront of the publics minds as it is not a very complimentary written piece that seems to be in favour of the merchant seamen, in fact it appears to be quite the opposite. As in many circles of life there are the few individuals that give a large group of people a bad public image which can be hard to shake off, and this seems the case with the Jack Tar image. The limitations of this article would be that it does not appear to be written by someone who has experiences as any sort of seafarer and if it was, this was not stated in the text as others have been. It is also a great deal shorter than the other memoirs I have looked at and also lacks detail too.
The next memoir I shall discuss is Symondson’s article who wrote this in 1876, ten years after the Jack Afloat article. This writer had seafaring experience in a British ship working as an apprentice. As with the Jack Afloat article, it comments on misconceptions of a seafaring life often made by the general public. In the preface he mentions the thought of adventure enticed him into a life at sea as is a common occurrence in the other memoirs. Overall this is a good basic account of the different job roles onboard a ship, describing in good detail the watch and bells system. He does not appear to mention what sort of cargo they carried or what their usual routes were.[17]
One striking comment in this article is ‘Feeling assured that my friends would like to know what I did at sea, and what I saw, I kept a diary or “log”, in which I entered occurrences, and my impressions.’ This is odd as no parts of this article had been dated or written in the normal style of a diary. Symondson’s description of a merchant seaman is very different to the one described in the Jack Afloat article.[18]
As with many of the other memoirs already discussed, Symondson wants to impress on the reader the importance of the Captain and how he ultimately determines how his ship is run and what happens onboard, stating ‘The captain has supreme authority aboard: even to regulating the hours of work and rest. His word is law: to refuse obedience is mutiny. He can order a man to be put in irons at any moment of the day or night’. He then goes onto discuss a particular mutiny in which the foreigners were overpowered by the English group of the crew, striking up images of patriotism onboard the vessels.[19]
Symondson then writes in great detail what is expected of particular men onboard such as the chief mate, the carpenter, the boatswain, the steward and the cook who also acted as ships surgeon in many cases. He also describes how an ordinary ships crew would be divided.[20] The last few pages are devoted to explaining to the reader about the examination systems in place that were required of some of the men and writes in dismay about how the advance note is used by some seafarers, which in effect gives them all the bad name and label as drunks.[21]
The article literally describes the ship’s day to day routine, job roles on board, food rations and living quarters. It has been written for the general public at a time when Plimsolls beliefs were circulating throughout Britain. He could have possibly been trying to show a more structured and disciplined side to seafaring in order to change people’s misconceptions about drunken sailors and other connotations Jack Tar would normally bring to mind. However, due to the obvious attempt to sway public opinion, he may have omitted certain things in his memoirs such as behaviour afloat and ashore.
The final article entitled ‘Prentice Life at Sea, published in 1877, takes a look at Symondson’s memoirs but puts a different perspective onto the seafaring life as described by Symondson’s which had been published a year prior to this. The opening paragraph conveys a much romanticised idea of the adventure of the sea. This author recognises the same routine of a ship’s working day, as can be seen in other memoirs. This particular memoir is written with a certain degree of humour and light heartedness which at certain points can seem very off hand. It touches on topics such as superstition, the importance of obeying a captain and even the death of a captain.
As with other memoirs, the advantages of the roles of the carpenter and the cook have been described with a degree of jealousy, speaking of the cook ‘As is befitting in the case of such a superior being, he has certain social advantages; he can smoke in his galley whenever he chooses; and he slumbers peacefully all night in the best bunk of the forecastle, blissfully unconscious of the existence or claims of port or starboard watches.’ However, he further goes on to say how hard it can be as a cook after taking up this post when the previous cook on board had abandoned his post.[22]
The Captain is often regarded as tyrannical in many memoirs but a common theme throughout is that men respect and obey the word of a captain. It is apparent just how important the captain’s word is in this particular article when he decides against saving a man who has fallen overboard as it would risk losing more lives trying to save him.[23]
This was the only memoir I have investigated which actually comments on the types of cargo it was carrying and is very specific about where the ship was travelling to. It is also the only memoir that accounts for superstition in such great detail, possibly suggesting religious undertones as it was written. The strengths of this particular memoir are the documentation of destinations and cargo whereas the limitations include the superstition, which is down to each individual whether to believe or not to believe.
In conclusion, based on the memoirs I have investigated for this essay, strengths of memoirs from the period discussed are that they have been written at the time and so would act as a first hand account or primary source. Some have been written by seafarers and so are focussing on personal experience of seafaring; however this could also be seen as a limitation as it would be impossible to write a personal account without becoming bias about particular events or opinions. The utility of these particular memoirs would depend on what the reader is searching for. Some seem to be a simple description of life at sea, however, others encourage the reader to develop feelings around what they are writing about, for example, the Jack Afloat article tells us ‘The merchant seaman, on the whole, is a creature to be pitied’[24] and the Twenty-Four hours of a Sailors Life at Sea article says the reader should ‘Make every Christian allowance for his follies and his sins when ashore.’[25] Another strength of the memoirs is that each show very similar, if not exact, descriptions or opinions with regards to the watch and bell system on board, the importance of obedience, a clear pecking order or hierarchy onboard with focus on tyrannical rule, food and drink quality and job descriptions, as well as being in agreement that many young boys are enticed into a life at sea by romanticised images conjured up by stories. They also collectively show a certain amount of religion was involved, whether on a large or smaller scale.
Therefore it is impossible to group all seafaring memoirs under one particular label as they all appear to have different purposes depending on how the reader interprets them. It is important to bear in mind that memoirs are written by one individual and so we are only getting one viewpoint of events occurring through their eyes. Continued misconceptions of what seamen were really like afloat and ashore raises the question, on the basis of these memoirs, as to the extent of change of attitude or opinion towards seamen, if in fact there was change in public opinion at all.
Bibliography
Foulke, Robert, D. Life in the Dying World of Sail, 1870-1910, (The Journal of British Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, Nov. 1963) pp. 105-136 (eBridge Version)
Symondson, F. W. H, Two Years abaft the Mast or Life as a Sea Apprentice (William Blackwood and Sons: London, 1876) Preface and Chapter 2 (eBridge Version)
Jack Afloat, London Review of Politics, Literature, Arts and Science, 15:379 (1867: Oct) pp. 374-375 (eBridge Version)
Life In The Merchant Service: Chapter One, Chambers’ Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts, 335 (1860: June 2) pp. 343-347 (eBridge Version)
Life In The Merchant Service: Chapter Two, Chambers’ Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts, 336 (1860: June 9) pp. 357-362 (eBridge Version)
‘Prentice Life at Sea, Chambers’ Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts, 712 (1877, Aug 18) pp. 520-523 (eBridge Version)
Twenty-Four Hours of a Sailor’s Life at Sea, Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal, 431 (1852, Apr.) pp. 221-223 (eBridge Version)
[1] Twenty-Four Hours of a Sailor’s Life at Sea, Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal, 431 (1852:Apr) p. 221
[2] Ibid. P. 222
[3] Ibid. P. 223
[4] Ibid. P. 223
[5] Life in the Merchant Service: Chapter I, Chambers’ Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts, 335 (1860: June 2) p. 343 (eBridge Version)
[6] Ibid. P. 344
[7] Ibid. P. 345
[8] Ibid. P. 346-347
[9] Ibid. P. 347
[10] Life in the Merchant Service: Chapter II, Chambers’ Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts, 336 (1860: June 9) p.357 (eBridge Version)
[11] Ibid. Pp. 358-359
[12] Ibid. Pp. 359-360
[13] Ibid. P. 361
[14] Ibid. P. 361
[15] Jack Afloat, London Review of Politics, Society, Literature, Art and Science, 15:379 (1867: Oct)p. 374
[16] Ibid. P. 375
[17] F. W. H. Symondson, Two Years Abaft the Mast or Life as a Sea Apprentice, (William Blackwood and Sons: London, 1876) Pp. 39-45 (eBridge Version)
[18] Ibid. preface
[19] Ibid. Pp. 44-46
[20] Ibid. P. 48-61
[21] Ibid. P. 61-64
[22] ‘Prentice Life at Sea, Chambers’ Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts, 712 (1877: Aug 18) p. 520
[23] Ibid. P. 522
[24] Jack Afloat, London Review of Politics, Society, Literature, Art and Science, 15:379 (1867:Oct) p. 375
[25] Twenty-Four Hours of a Sailor’s Life at Sea, Chambers Edinburgh Journal, 431 (1852:Apr) p. 223
How come you never continued with your posts? Do you have anything more on the public opinion towards the seagoing men (and women in modern times!)? I think this is a very under researched topic, public opinion can sometimes be very different to that which reflects the real events of our seagoing people(s).
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