Roy Adkins - Jack Tar: life in Nelsons navy

Roy and Lesley Adkins are authors of sixteen widely acclaimed books on history and archaeology, including The War for All the Oceans, Trafalgar, Empires of the Plain and The Keys of Egypt. So far, their books have been translated into sixteen languages. They live near Exeter in Devon.

For more information, visit www.adkinshistory.com

Gritty detail springs from Jack Tar Roy and Lesley Adkins have allowed the salts of Trafalgar to tell their stories in their own words The Times

A full account of life on the lower decks in the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century navy Roy and Lesley Adkins bring their world alive The material is so rich that this is a fascinating, even occasionally humbling read Sunday Times

If youve read the Hornblower novels and Master and Commander, you may think you already know about life with Nelsons Navy. Jack Tar will make you think again An extraordinary read Daily Mail, History Books of the Year

Written with verve and enthusiasm to convey a vivid picture of shipboard life Times Literary Supplement

Roy and Lesley Adkins possess that rare knack among historians: merging the academic with the narrative and providing a riveting read This is as comprehensive and lively an account of the life of Jack Tar as you could hope to read Navy News

A new thunderstorm of a book The Adkinses have unfolded a rich and questing canvas of life in the wooden warships of the day. This is a treasure chest of incident in masterly hands Oxford Times

A graphic and enthralling picture of what life was really like for ordinary seamen and marines Western Morning News

THE KEYS OF EGYPT

EMPIRES OF THE PLAIN

TRAFALGAR

THE WAR FOR ALL THE OCEANS

Published by Hachette Digital

ISBN: 978-0-748-11211-1

Copyright 2088 by Roy and Lesley Adkins

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

Hachette Digital

Little, Brown Book Group

100 Victoria Embankment

London, EC4Y 0DY

www.hachette.co.uk

To Susan, Robin, Chris and Ali,
with love

SECTION ONE

SECTION TWO

Approximate comparison of ship sizes

The parts of a ship

The pattern of sails on a 100-gun ship of the line

The standing rigging, masts and decks of a 100-gun ship of the line

Major place-names worldwide

Major place-names of Europe and the Mediterranean

Major place-names of the British Isles

Major place-names of Southern England

Major place-names of the West Indies

It is a pleasure to acknowledge the help, enthusiasm and generosity of many people and organisations during the formation of Jack Tar, which was being researched and written during the publication of our previous book, The War for All the Oceans. Thanks are due to everyone who took the trouble to contact us about that book, some of whom provided information and leads that helped in the writing of this present book. Please keep that feedback coming! We can be contacted via the publisher or by email from our website at www.adkinshistory.com.

For Jack Tar, we are especially grateful to all those people and organisations who gave unlimited access to their archives and publications, and permission to make use of the material in this book. We are particularly indebted to John and Francesca Upton, Peter Yule-Booth and Susan Lucas for so generously allowing us to see and make use of original manuscripts in their possession. The staff of many archives also gave us invaluable assistance, most notably at the Royal Naval Museum Library and Archives, particularly Matthew Sheldon, Heather Johnson, Paul Raven and Allison Wareham, as well as the Caird Library of the National Maritime Museum, where everyone is always so helpful, and at the Royal Marines Museum, where the archivist Matt Little spared no effort to ensure that we found everything we needed. As ever, we also received exemplary service from the National Archives at Kew and the British Library.

Many people in numerous other libraries and organisations also assisted in our research, especially the Local Studies Library of the Newcastle Libraries and Information Service, Diana Gregg at Portsmouth City Museum and Record Office, the South Tyneside Local Studies Library at South Shields, the London Library, Exeter University Library, the Devon and Exeter Institution, Bamstaple Library, the Newfoundland Historic Trust, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Studies at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Special mention must be made of Jill Hughes, Judith Prescott, Katie Forsey and Karen Lee of the St Thomas branch of the Devon Library and Information Services, as well as Lesley Salter and Hazel Skinner of Tiverton Library and Andrew Davey and Vera Wright of Exeter Central Library.

We are also very pleased to acknowledge the Special Collections of University of Miami Libraries for permission to use their Aaron Thomas journal, to Jean M. Murray for permission to use her Aaron Thomas joumal, to Alistair Kennedy for permission to quote from his George Price letters, to Anne Yannoulis for permission to quote from the wonderful Major T. Marmaduke Wybourn letters and joumals, to the Military History Society of Ireland for use of the Henry Walsh journal in the Irish Sword, and to the librarian of the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine for use of manuscripts. Philip Armitage of Brixham Heritage Museum very usefully alerted us to the existence of William Ffaringtons logbook, and the staff of Tiverton Library tipped us off about a prisoner-ofwar archive in their keeping, while the Tiverton War Memorial Trust gave permission to use that material. We are also grateful to Lieutenant Commander John Scivier of HMS