Amanda Vickery on... Men

Tony · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2012 10:09 pm

Sorry this is a bit late, but tomorrow morning (Mon 27 Aug) 9am, BBC R4, Episode 4 is on 'The Sailor', heavily featuring Nelson:

Quote:

Episode 4 of 6

Duration: 28 minutes

Amanda Vickery explores the history of masculinity through six different archetypes of the ideal man. This week: the Sailor.

From the defeat of the Armada to the Battle of Trafalgar, the sailor was the most virile poster boy of British manhood. Any boy worth his salt wanted to run away to sea. National wealth rested on maritime trade and it was the sailor who ensured that Britain ruled the waves. The bravest were lionised and none more so than Horatio Nelson.

Professor Vickery begins on location in Nelson's flagship HMS Victory, with Quintin Colville, curator of naval history at the National Maritime Museum. She explores how it was that Nelson became a symbol of the nation, with historian Kathleen Wilson. And there is new research from David Turner, author of a history of disability, about what happened to less famous sailors who were disabled by war. Were they still men?

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01m5dw2

There's always iPlayer to catch up on it.

tycho · **Posted:** Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:45 pm

The historain G M Trevelyan, a little outdated now but still of interest, not least for his elegant prose style, had this to say about the confidence of British seamen, who despite their reputation for drunkenness and on-shore indiscipline, nevertheless, performed heroically in battle:

'the men before the mast knew that, for all the ill-treatment they received, the nation regarded them as its bulwark and its glory, that at the sight of one of Nelson's men..... the landsman's eye kindled with affection and pride. The country that used them so ill looked to them confidently to protect her, and they knew it'.

Devenish · **Posted:** Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:46 pm

Tony,

Thanks for the link. Having listened to it, I have to say I thought it was a bit light, but then I suppose it was largely for an uninitiated audience – and did anyone else think Ms. Vickery just a tinsy bit irritating, or was it just me?

I wasn't too sure about Kathleen Wilson either, when she was talking about you know what. There was no mention of the Article of War regarding the practice, or the thoughts it might have on morale – just that it was ok, and nobody seemed to mind!

Again, I think it was a case of twenty-first century views meeting the sensibilities of the 18th/19th centuries and not quite believing that seamen (I prefer that term to sailors) in those days lived that kind of life.

Sorry if I sound a bit negative. It would be interesting to hear other views.

Nelson & His World

Amanda Vickery on... Men

Who is online