Baynham, Henry. Before the Mast: Naval Ratings of the
Nineteenth Century. London:
Hutchinson and Company, 1971. 217 pp.
Introduction, note on sources, naval chronology, illustrations, list of
nautical terms, index.
In this sequel to From the Lower Deck, Henry Baynham
strives to examine how the sailors of the Royal Navy adapted to service during
the post-Napoleonic era. After the peace
of 1815, the Navy reduced its manpower from a height of 145,000 to only 19,000 men,
who adapted to new roles and new dangers.[i] Baynham argues that the sailors who served in
the “New Navy” not only served in different roles than they had in the “Old
Navy”, but they became a significantly different breed of men: more educated,
less rough, and less unified than their earlier counterparts. Before
the Mast is Baynham’s effort to show the Royal Navy of the nineteenth
century “as the sailors saw it”.[ii]
The change in the type of men who
became sailors was due to many factors, not the least the end of the Press
Gang. This ended the conscription of
merchant sailors at sea and ashore, leaving the only conscripts in the Royal
Navy those unfortunates sentenced to serve time by a judge, and the boys of the
Marine Society.[iii] These changes produced new recruiting
challenges for ships’ Captains, but the new volunteer force developed over the
next thirty-five years into a cohort of long-serving enlisted men. By the 1850’s, most sailors enlisted for
multi-year stints followed by a pension after twenty-one years of active
service.[iv] By this time, most sailors joined the service
as boys after years of formal training, developing a new kind of
professionalism and esprit de corps.
The Royal Navy of the Pax Britannica undertook a wide variety
of missions, including anti-slavery patrols off West Africa and in the Persian
Gulf, explorations of the poles, surveying the Pacific Ocean, and fighting
ashore in a manner reminiscent of the U.S. Navy’s Naval Construction Battalions
of World War II in the Crimea. Despite
changes in mission and the end of conscription, the legacy of the Old Navy
remained, including the punishment of Flogging Round the Fleet, in which the
condemned was flogged on each ship of the fleet until they reached their total
sentence. Flogging fell into disuse only in stages, first being removed from
the authority of the Captain, then disappearing from the list of peacetime
punishments in 1870, and finally completely abolished in 1879.
A major and continuing source of
discontent among enlisted sailors of the Royal Navy through the 1860’s was lack
of liberty ashore. Baynham’s primary
dissenting voice regarding the positive changes in the Navy was John Tilling,
serving on the Leander on the South
American station. The crew of the Leander endured illness, desertions,
lack of shore leave, and harsh discipline reminiscent of the Napoleonic
Wars. Tillman at least eight floggings
of men sentenced by courts martial during his time on the South American
station.[v] Most of the sentences on the Leander were for the crime of
desertion. Baynham asserts that the
number of such punishments on Tillman’s ship was unusual for the Navy of the
1860’s, which records indicate only occurred for about 1.5% of offenses in the
fleet.[vi] Tillman’s vessel was also unusual in that the
crew mutinied over lack of shore leave and the harsh shipboard discipline. Despite Admiralty orders requiring that
sailors not be kept aboard for more than three months without leave, many of
the crew had not been ashore in sixteen months.[vii]
Other sailors provide a happier
view of their service, but point to several items as necessary improvements for
discipline and shipboard happiness.
Drinking represented a significant contributor to breakdowns in
discipline, leading the Admiralty to reduce rum rations throughout the century.[viii] While some sailors opposed this change,
others like Sam Noble and Tom Holman were disciples of the temperance
movements, and John Beechervaise noted improved discipline and fewer accidents
as the ration decreased.[ix] Similarly, relaxing of rules for shore leave
reduced desertion, particularly when men were able to visit family and friends
between cruises.
Since Before the Mast
focuses on enlisted men, Baynham predominantly relies on the letters and
journals of seaman and petty officers.
Although he found some of these documents in archives or as works
published by former sailors, many came from a novel source. These include the anonymous pamphlet Seaman of the Royal Navy, A View from the
Lower Deck by One who Knows, which Baynham contrasts with the more positive
autobiographies of Sam Noble and Tom Holman.
To gather additional material, Baynham resorted to the novel approach of
publishing a letter in the Daily Express
asking the public for assistance in locating recollections from family
records. In this way, he obtained a
large number of letters and journals that might otherwise have gone
undiscovered.[x]
In areas not covered by the recollections of the
Bluejackets, Baynham fills in gaps by resorting to descriptions of events and
voyages provided by officers and other witnesses. One exemplary episode is his use of Captain
(later Rear Admiral) Frederick Beechey’s account of his voyage north of the
Bering Strait, which Baynham supplements with the accounts of John
Beechervaise, Quartermaster in HMS Blossom. The Crimean War is an especially unusual
event for Baynham since no first-hand accounts written by members of the Naval
Brigade survive despite its valiant efforts at Sebastopol and other
battlefields. To make up this lack, Baynham
utilizes letters written by an anonymous member of the Rifle Brigade who fought
alongside the sailors, providing a ground-level view of the Royal Navy in a
“dismounted” role.[xi]
Despite the extensive use of primary sources, Baynham
provides none of the footnotes, endnotes, or bibliography that Historians rely
upon in evaluating research. This lack
indicates that Before the Mast
occupies the middle ground between scholarly and popular work. While avoiding excess patriotism in his
accounts, portraying both the positive and negative aspects of life, including
drunkenness, in the Royal Navy, Baynham nonetheless portrays the common sailor
as an inventive, diligent, and reliable sort the British public can be proud to
remember.
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