The Navy

A nautical bookseller, David Steel routinely published a list of all of the officers in the British navy. Steel’s list can be considered the naval equivalent of the Baronetage, the document treasured by the vain Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion, which listed the names, histories, and ranks of the nation’s nobles.

Founded in 1733, The Royal Naval Academy was an institution for the training of naval officers. The vast majority of young aspiring officers skipped attending the academy, and instead pursued an apprenticeship at sea. Jane Austen’s brothers Francis and Charles attended the Royal Naval Academy, as their father lacked the necessary connections to help them land an apprenticeship. Francis and Charles’s education at the academy consisted of subjects such as seafaring skills, mathematics, fencing, French, and dancing.

Routinely commended for his exemplary conduct as a naval officer, Francis Austen served with distinction in the English Channel, the Baltic, the Mediterranean, the West Indies, and other theaters of conflict. Renowned for his piety and decorum, Francis paid particular attention to ensuring the welfare of the sailors under his command; his conscientiousness set him apart from his fellow officers, who were often brutal in their treatment of subordinates. He received numerous promotions, culminating in his appointment as Admiral of the Fleet in 1863.

This short article in the London Gazette announces Jane Austen’s brother Francis William Austen’s appointment to the position of Admiral of the Fleet, the highest rank in the British Royal Navy.

In the text excerpted here, Jane Austen’s nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh (1798­–1874) discusses his aunt’s relationship with her two sailor brothers. Austen-Leigh’s recollections were intended to introduce Jane Austen to a middle-class readership, and to curate her image and reputation.

[Austen’s] two youngest brothers, Francis and Charles, were sailors during that glorious period of the British navy which comprises the close of the last and the beginning of the present century, when it was impossible for an officer to be almost always afloat, as these brothers were, without seeing service which, in these days, would be considered distinguished. Accordingly, they were engaged in actions of more or less importance, and sometimes gained promotion by their success. Both rose to the rank of Admiral, and carried out their flags to distant stations. …

… [T]heir honourable career accounts for Jane Austen’s partiality for the Navy, as well as for the readiness and accuracy with which she wrote about it. She was always very careful not to meddle with matters which she did not thoroughly understand. … But with ships and sailors she felt herself at home, or at least could always trust to a brotherly critic to keep her right. I believe that no flaw has ever been found in her seamanship either in Mansfield Park or in Persuasion. …

One of the most prominent painters of British naval battles, Nicholas Pocock spent more than thirty years illustrating clashes between the navies of Britain and France. This particular image is of the frigate HMS Phoenix in a battle against the French ship Didon in the early years of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1814, Charles Austen took command of the Phoenix, and, in 1815, the last year of the Napoleonic Wars, his ship helped to prevent Neapolitan warships from joining the French fleet. After Naples surrendered to the English, Charles persuaded the ships’ captains to switch sides. Charles retained command of the Phoenix until 1816, when it was wrecked in a storm on the coast of Smyrna; no lives were lost, but the ship sank.

This excerpt from the Peterel’s log describes the ship patrolling the seas in pursuit of enemy vessels. This day was particularly eventful, as the crew managed to capture two Spanish ships, and win numerous prizes from the valuable cargo.

5 o’clock A.M., saw a strange sail bear S.W. by S. Bore up and set royal and steering sails in chase.

8 o’clock.—Fresh breezes and clear weather; came up with the chase close off the west end of Ivica. Shortened sail and hove to, sent a boat on board; she proved to be a Spanish brig laden with barley, from Almeria bound to Barcelona. Sent an officer and eight men to take possession and took all the Spaniards out of her.

At 10 o’clock.—Took her in tow and made sail to the eastward.

At half past 10.—Saw a brig at the south part of Ivica, cast off the tow and made all sail in case.

Half-past 11.—In steering sails.

At noon.—Moderate and clear weather, passing through between Ivica and Formentera, prize in company.

Half-past 12.—Fired five guns at the chase to make her bring to, but without effect.

At 1 o’clock.—She anchored close under a signal tower with four guns on it. Hoisted out the pinnace, and sent her armed under the direction of the second lieutenant to board the vessel.

Half-past 2.—The pinnace returned with the brig; sent her away to cut out a small vessel, which was then riding about half a mile to the westward of the tower. The brig appears to be French, but no one was found on board her. Sent an officer and five men to take charge of her.

At 5 o’clock.—The pinnace returned with the other vessel, a Spanish settee, appearing by papers found on board to be the Alicant packet. Her crew had quitted her on seeing our boats approach. Sent an officer and five men on board to take charge of her. Took her in tow and made sail; prizes in company.

One of the most notable maritime painters of the Napoleonic era, Whitcombe created numerous images of the British Royal Navy. This particular painting depicts the capture of a Spanish treasure convoy by a fleet of British frigates. From 1708 until 1918, the crews of British naval vessels were awarded “prize money” for the capture of enemy ships; as the money awarded depended upon the value of the ship and its contents, the capture of the convoy to which the Thetis belonged earned the British sailors involved an unusually substantial sum. The potential for sailors of any class to become wealthy by capturing enemy ships plays an important role in Persuasion (1817), in which prize money enables the character Frederick Wentworth to become a suitable match for a baronet’s daughter.

Born in 1815, Herbert Austen was the fourth son of Jane Austen’s brother Francis. Herbert joined the navy in 1830 and rose to the rank of Captain. This is a pencil sketch of a sloop of war, the same class of ship as The Peterel, the first ship under Francis Austen’s command. In Persuasion, Captain Wentworth reminisces about his time serving on an old sloop called The Asp, remarking, “Ah! she was a dear old Asp to me. She did all that I wanted. I knew she would. I knew that we should either go to the bottom together, or that she would be the making of me; and I never had two days of foul weather all the time I was at sea in her.”

This excerpt from the order granting prize money to the crew of The Peterel describes the rewards bestowed upon sailors and officers of each rank. While prize money was a means for members of the lower classes to enhance their wealth and social standing, it was also disproportionately profitable for those who were already well established in the navy.

To a captain . . . .  750 dollars
To a lieutenant . . . .  62 ½ dollars
To a warrant officer . . . .  36 ½ dollars
To a petty officer . . . .  10 ¼ dollars
To a foremast man . . . .  2 dollars

Charles Austen was particularly successful at obtaining prize money by capturing enemy ships. He frequently spent his winnings on jewelry for his sisters, as Austen laments in a letter to her sister Cassandra:

Charles has received £30 for his share of the privateer, and expects £10 more; but of what avail is it to take prizes if he lays out the produce in presents for his sisters? He has been buying gold chains and topaz crosses for us. He must be well scolded. I shall write again by this post to thank and reproach him. We shall be unbearably fine.

The topaz crosses Charles bought for Jane and Cassandra are depicted here. In Mansfield Park, William similarly purchases jewelry for Fanny.

A self-taught painter, Nibbs was best known for his images of ships and ocean landscapes. This painting depicts the HMS Canopus, a ship captured from the French navy in 1798. Austen, who mentions the Canopus in Mansfield Park, was familiar with the ship because her brother Francis served as its commanding officer in 1805. Francis Austen helped to pursue the French fleet to and from the West Indies, but he was unable to participate in the Battle of Trafalgar—a circumstance he would deeply regret. Admiral Nelson’s Order of Battle and of Sailing prior to the Battle of Trafalgar suggests that Nelson intended for Austen’s ship, The Canopus, to play a significant role in the attack upon the Franco-Spanish fleet. However, The Canopus needed to re-supply in Gibraltar, and, much to Austen’s dismay, just missed the battle. As he wrote in an 1805 letter to his soon-to-be wife Mary Gibson,

As a national benefit, I cannot but rejoice that our arms have been once again successful, but at the same time I cannot help feeling how very unfortunate we have been to be away at such a moment, and by a fatal combination of unfortunate though unavoidable events to lose all share in the glory of a day, which surpasses all which ever went before, is what I cannot think of with any degree of patience, but as I cannot write on that subject without complaining, I will drop it for the present till time and reflection have reconciled me a little more to what I know is now inevitable.

An English painter, Lemuel Francis Abbott is best known for his portraits of English naval officers. In this image, he portrays Horatio Nelson, the most celebrated British admiral of the Napoleonic era. Born into a wealthy but not particularly illustrious family, Nelson was awarded a viscountcy for his naval accomplishments. A brilliant naval strategist, Nelson won several famous victories, most notably in the Battle of the Nile (1798), the Battle of Copenhagen (1801), and the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). Nelson was celebrated in Britain as a hero, and he was idolized not only for his accomplishments, but also for his willingness to sacrifice his body for his country. After losing his right arm and the sight in his right eye in battle, he served for several more years before dying from wounds sustained during his decisive victory at Trafalgar.

A leading figure in English Romantic painting, J.M.W. Turner created numerous works depicting the fury of the ocean. In this image, commissioned by King George IV, Turner shows England’s great naval triumph over the French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Trafalgar. During the Napoleonic era, the French military, under the command of Napoleon, was utterly dominant in land warfare. At sea, however, the Royal Navy kept the British Isles protected. On 21 October 1805, the British destroyed Napoleon’s hopes of invading England by sea, when Nelson led the outnumbered and outgunned Royal Navy to victory over the Franco-Spanish fleet. The Royal Navy captured more than twenty enemy ships, while losing no ships of their own—though Nelson himself was killed.

In the center of this painting, Nelson’s flagship, the HMS Victory, displays the word “DUTY,” spelled via signal flags. This is the last word of the message “England expects that every man will do his duty,” a statement which Nelson famously communicated to the fleet before the battle began.

Legrand was a French painter whose work embodies the transition from neoclassical style to Romanticism. After his death at the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson was lionized as an incomparable hero. In this painting, Nelson is depicted as he ascends into the heavens to become an immortal god amongst the Roman pantheon. Neptune, the god of the sea, takes Nelson into his arms, as the dead admiral bids farewell to a mournful Britannia, who is clad in a white mantle and red robe. Mars, the god of war, stretches out his hand to Nelson, as Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and war, and Jupiter, the king of the gods, gaze on approvingly in the upper left corner of the painting.

William Beatty (1773–1842) was the Ship’s Surgeon on Horatio Nelson’s flagship, the HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar. After returning to England, he composed a report upon the final hours of Nelson’s life. Celebrating the admiral’s physical and mental toughness, Beatty promoted Nelson as a model of British masculinity and heroism.

About fifteen minutes past one o’clock, which was in the heat of the engagement, he was walking the middle of the quarter-deck with Captain Hardy, and in the act of turning near the hatchway with his face towards the stern of the Victory, when the fatal ball was fired from the enemy’s mizzen-top. …

… Captain Hardy expressed a hope that he was not severely wounded; to which the gallant Chief replied: “They have done for me at last, Hardy.” – “I hope not,” answered Captain Hardy. “Yes,” replied his lordship; “my backbone is shot through.” …

… He evinced great solicitude for the event of the battle, and fears for the safety of his friend Captain Hardy. Doctor Scott and Mr. Burke used every argument they could suggest, to relieve his anxiety. Mr. Burke told him “the enemy were decisively defeated, and that he hoped His lordship would still live to be himself the bearer of the joyful tidings to his country.” He replied, “It is nonsense, Mr. Burke, to suppose I can live: my sufferings are great, but they will all be soon over.” Doctor Scott entreated his lordship “not to despair of living,” and said “he trusted that Divine Providence would restore him once more to his dear country and friends.” — “Ah, Doctor!” replied lordship, “it is all over; it is all over.”

An hour and ten minutes however elapsed, from the time of his lordship’s being wounded, before Captain Hardy’s first subsequent interview with him. . . . They shook hands affectionately, and Lord Nelson said: “Well, Hardy, how goes the battle? How goes the day with us?” – “Very well, my Lord,” replied Captain Hardy. . . . “I am a dead man, Hardy. I am going fast: it will be all over with me soon. Come nearer to me. Pray let my dear Lady Hamilton [Lord Nelson’s mistress] have my hair, and all other things belonging to me.” …

… LORD NELSON had often talked with Captain HARDY on the subject of his being killed in battle, which appeared indeed to be a favourite topic of conversation with him. He was always prepared to lay down his life in the service of his Country; and whenever it should please Providence to remove him from this world, it was the most ambitious wish of his soul to die in the fight, and in the very hour of a great and signal victory. In this he was gratified: his end was glorious; and he died as he had lived, one of the greatest among men.

Nelson was particularly admired in Ireland, which contributed one third of his sailors at the Battle of Trafalgar. The fallen admiral was memorialized in Dublin with a triumphal pillar reminiscent of Trajan’s Column in Rome. Designed by the architect William Wilkins, the Pillar of Nelson was completed in 1809.

A Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy, Sir Home Riggs Popham was an innovator in naval communications. He developed a system of signal flags that the Royal Navy adopted in 1803. During the ill-fated invasion of Spain’s South American colonies, Popham captured and then lost Buenos Aires, a failure that caused him to be court martialed. In an 1807 letter, Austen enclosed a poem that celebrated Popham as a paragon of the British navy, and that chastised the government for imposing an unjust penalty upon him:

Of a Ministry pitiful, angry, mean,
A gallant commander the victim is seen.
For promptitude, vigour, success, does he stand
Condemn’d to receive a severe reprimand!
To his foes I could wish a resemblance in fate:
That they, too, may suffer themselves, soon or late,
The injustice they warrant. But vain is my spite,
They cannot so suffer who never do right.

James Walker was a British mezzotint engraver who collaborated extensively with his nephew John Augustus Atkinson. In the collection in which the following selection appears, the two artists pair short essays celebrating the professions of Britain with images of civilians, soldiers, and sailors. The following illustration depicts a British Post Captain, a commander of a large and important navy vessel.

Post Captain

The nautical tactics of Britain have established a brilliant and extensive fame on a series of splendid achievements, so judicious in their preceding arrangements, and so tremendously decisive in their execution and consequences that, in a comparison with them, former naval contests lose much of their character and interest.

To investigate the causes that have combined the influence to produce these powerful effects in the province of the politician, the philosopher and the historian; but it may not be improper here to observe that the constitutions and rules that govern the British Navy have doubtless contributed no inconsiderable share to its present prosperous state.

Every officer, however high his rank, must have passed through all the previous gradations of experience, by entering the service as a Midshipman, and proceeding in regular order to the rank he holds.

After a stated service, the Midshipmen pass an examination, and those approved gain the rank of Lieutenant; the next step is that of Master and Commander, to which first Lieutenants are advanced as occasion requires, or as their services may deserve; and are then able to take the command of sloops and all inferior vessels; beyond this point the promotion does not necessarily go on, and therefore many officers never advance any higher.

Those who are promoted to the next rank, that of Post Captain, take the command of frigates and all larger ships, which are therefore called post ships. Officers who are once placed on the list of Post Captains, proceed in regular successive promotion to the more elevated ranks of Admirals. A Post Captain in the navy, at his appointment, ranks with a Lieutenant-Colonel in the army, and after the first three years, with a Colonel.

The authority of a Captain, while on board, is absolute; from his determinations there lies no appeal; the ship, the men, and the stores are all entrusted to him, and he is alone responsible for them to the King.

John Wilson Croker (1780–1857) served as the Secretary of the Admiralty for more than twenty years. In this piece, he delivers an order from the Admiralty Office concerning changes to the uniforms of British naval officers. After 1795, commanders, captains, and flag officers were required to wear epaulettes on their uniforms, and these epaulettes were the primary means of signifying an officer’s rank until 1856.

His Royal Highness the Prince Regent hath, in the name and on the behalf of the King, signified to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, the Royal pleasure, that the uniform at present worn by the Flag Officers, Captains, Commanders, Lieutenants, Masters’ mates, and Midshipmen of his Majesty’s royal navy shall be altered in the manner undermentioned namely:—

Admiral of the Fleet.

Full dress: – Coat of blue cloth, blue cloth collar, white cloth lapels and cuffs, with five laces round the cuffs; laced as at present. Epaulettes as at present; buttons the same as at present, with the addition of a crown over the anchor.

Undress: – Blue cloth, blue cloth collar, white lapels and cuffs with five laces; laced round the collar and lapels to the end of the skirts; flap and frame, hips and back skirts laced; twist button holes in lapels and flaps as at present; epaulettes and buttons same as in the dress uniform.

Admirals

Full dress: – The same as the Admiral of the Fleet, with only four laces on the cuffs.

Vice Admirals

The same with only three laces on the cuffs.

Rear Admirals

The same with only two laces on the cuffs. The epaulettes, with the respective distinctions of three, two, and one start, the same as at present. Buttons as at present with the addition of a crown over the anchor.

The undress or frock uniform of Flag Officers, except the Admiral of the Fleet, to be the same as at present, with the alterations only of the button.

The Captain to the Admiral of the Fleet, and First Captains to Commander in Chief (if not Flag Officers) to wear, while so employed, the Undress or Frock Uniform of Rear-Admirals. Captains and Commanders of his Majesty’s Fleet to wear Uniforms of the same pattern.

The Full Dress to be similar to that now in use, excepting that the lapels and Cuffs in future to be White, laced as at present with a Crown over an Anchor on the Button. Captains and Commanders are both to wear two Epaulettes, of the same pattern as at present, with only the following distinctions:

The Epaulettes of Captains of three years’ post to have an addition of a Silver Crown over a Silver Anchor. The Epaulettes of Captains of under three years’ post to have the Silver Anchor without the Crown. The Epaulettes of Commanders to be plain.

Lieutenants of His Majesty’s Fleet to wear a Dress Uniform of the same pattern as Captains and Commanders, but without any Lace, and with one plain Epaulette (similar to that now worn by Captains and Commanders) on the Right Shoulder; Buttons of the same pattern as for Captains.

The Undress or Frock Uniform of Captains, Commanders and Lieutenants to be the same as at present worn by Captains and Commanders, with the addition of the Epaulettes and Buttons, which are to be worn the same as in Full Dress.

This engraving, created by satirical artist Robert Cruikshank for the cover of Charles Westmacott’s fictional work The English Spy, depicts the different orders of British society, as well as the various possible pursuits of British life. At the center is King George IV, who is flanked by a nobleman and noblewoman. To the right of the nobleman there is an academic, and to the left of the noblewoman, a fashionable gentleman. Sitting atop the Temple of Life that looms over the crowd are anthropomorphized images of the concepts of Fashion and Taste. Standing on columns at the extreme edges of the cover are representatives of the navy and army, as well as stylized representations of the residents of West London and East London.

Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827) was an English artist best known for his satirical images and caricatures. In this image, Rowlandson depicts a game of cribbage—a popular card game—being interrupted by the arrival of a press gang. From 1664 until 1814, the British Royal Navy used press gangs to forcibly recruit or “impress” sailors, often targeting the residents of port towns and the staff of commercial ships.

Impressment was not the only means by which the navy supplemented its volunteer recruits. In 1795, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger instituted the Quota System, which required each county to provide a certain number of people for the navy. Counties frequently sent convicts to fulfill their quota, which resulted in diseases—particularly typhus or “gaol fever”—being spread from prisons to ships. The Quota System was despised by the British public, but it was also resented by many officers of the Royal Navy, who believed most of the recruits to be difficult to train. As Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood explained in a 1797 letter,

Billy Pitt’s men, the county volunteers, your ruined politicians, who having drunk enough ale to drown a nation and talked nonsense enough to mad it, are the fellows who have done the business, the seamen who suffer are only the cat’s paws. … What were you to expect from the refuse of the gallows and the purgings of a gaol, and such make a majority of most ship’s companies in such a war as this.

Samuel Leech, an enlisted sailor in the Royal Navy during the war of 1812, defected to the American navy. In this image, taken from his diary, he depicts a British sailor who is about to be flogged. The brutality of the Royal Navy towards its own sailors was one of the reasons for Leech’s desertion. Floggings would be administered even for minor transgressions. For more serious offenses, a sailor could be made to “Run the Gauntlet,” which involved running between two lines of sailors and being beaten by each one in turn. The most serious crimes would sometimes be punished by a practice known as “flogging round the fleet.” An offender would be taken to each ship in port and lashed by the crew. It was not uncommon for hundreds of lashes to be meted out—a practice that frequently resulted in the death of the offender.

In this image, Rowlandson shows the cook of a Royal Navy ship preparing a meal. Cooks were usually older sailors who were no longer able to perform physically demanding tasks. The typical diet of an enlisted sailor in the Royal Navy was extremely repetitive and extremely high in calories. The rations were made up of foods that could be preserved by drying, pickling, or salting, and would therefore remain edible for long lengths of time. Rations included dry biscuit; preserved beef and pork; dried beans, peas, and oats; and small amounts of butter and cheese. Sailors also received a ration of beer, wine, or rum; the latter was heavily diluted in water and blended with lime juice in an attempt to ward off scurvy.

James Gillray was a British caricaturist best known for his political cartoons and satires. In this image, Gillray depicts the naval officer Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, who is dressed in the clothing of a typical British sailor or “tar,” complaining about the cowardice and lasciviousness of other members of the navy. Gillray mocks the Duke for criticizing the morality of the navy while he himself was having an affair with the actress Dorothea Jordan.