Nelson & His World

Does anyone recognise Nelson's coxswain described below? I'd be very glad of any suggestions as to who this sailor might be.



Any additional information would be most gratefully received.

Mira:

it's a long shot, but Nelson mentions by name one of his bargemen in his report of the Battle of Cape St Vincent:

'Extravagant as the story may seem, did I receive the swords of the vanquished Spaniards, which as I received I gave to William Fearney, one of my bargemen, who placed them, with the greatest sang-froid, under his arm.'

In addition to Fearney, Nelson also mentions that he was 'surrounded by John Sykes, John Thompson and Francis Cook, all old Agamemnons'. Whether the others, apart from Fearney, were also bargemen, I can't say.

Mira,

The answer to your question will be findable in the National Archives in the Muster Book of 'Agamemnon' for 1798 which should include a list of the Admiral's 'retinue' incuding the name of his coxswain.

Anybody going to Kew in the near future?

Brian

May I be cheeky, Brian, and suggest the Vanguard might be a better bet?

Was the Admiral's coxswain always identified as such?

William Fearney along with Cook and Shillingford, according to Sugden, was promoted to midshipman on transferring to the Theseus with Nelson.

John Sykes was indeed promoted to coxswain and famously saved Nelson's life at Cadiz, but he is not a candidate as he was then promoted to Gunner in the Andromache (Captain Mansfield) and was killed in 1798 when a gun exploded.

Thank you all very much for your replies.

Being unable to take another trip to London for a while, the signposting for ship's musters thankfully brought to mind Roger Knight's listing of Nelson's Ships and officers in 'The Pursuit of Victory.'

Knight's excellent list includes all the relevant ships and quite a few names crop up.

I'm fairly open minded about the original quote at the head of this thread, as it isn't clear whether the 'noble-looking, tall seaman" was Nelson's coxswain whilst at Naples in 1798 or had filled that role some time in the past.

But I'm not sure what the difference between 'Boatswain' and 'Coxswain' is, and also unclear what 'AB' and 'Yeoman' relate to in the list below.

Fearney appears on a number of occasions, on board the Foudroyant briefly in 1799, but no clue to his whereabouts in the Mediterranean immediately before or after.

Should Fearney be discarded as a possibility because the coxswain in question became a 'warrant officer' or could it be another of the names below?


Agamemnon (February 1793 - 10th June 1796)

AB: John Sykes: 12th April - 15th July 1793, then ship's corporal, 10th June 1796 (discharged to Captain.)

AB: William Fearney: 6th March 1793 - 1st January 1796, then Yeoman to 10th June 1796 (discharged to Captain.)


Captain (26th September 1796 - 25th May 1797)

Gunner's Mate: John Sykes (11th June - 1796 - 14th Feb 1797).

AB: William Fearney (11th June 1796 - 26th May 1797)


Theseus (27th May - 19th August 1797)

Coxswain: John Sykes

Midshipmen: William Fearney.


Vanguard (28th March 1798 - 7th June 1799)

Boatswain Michael Austin (24th January 1798 - 7th June 1799)

Midshipmen/first class boys included: James Quick (entered 6th March 1798 as coxswain.)


Foudroyant (8th June 1799 - 29th June 1800)

Rear Admiral: Lord Nelson 'and retinue' John Tyson, Thomas Spencer, Thomas Allen, Angelo Melone.

Boatswain: Philip Bridge (24th December 1799 - 6th July 1800.)

Midshipmen: William Fearney (15th - 25th November 1799) to Courageaux on promotion.

Once again, many thanks!

Mira,

The 'boatswain', or bosun in modern parlance, was warrant officer in charge of the sails and rigging, anchors, ship's boats and all things pertaining to the practical seamanship side on board ship. He and his mates also saw that the men were attentive to their duties. As would be expected he was one of the most experienced men in the ship's company. Out of deference to his position, he normally had his own cabin.

A 'coxswain' was directly in charge of, and usually took the helm of, any one of the ship's boats, specifically the captain's gig or admiral's barge. In that position of course the boat's crew were directly under his orders.

An 'AB', or able seaman, was an experienced seaman who could 'hand, reef and steer' as the saying went, being above a landsman and ordinary seaman in rate.

A yeoman, was the term used for a minor position of authority in different parts of the ship, such as 'yeoman of the sheets', 'yeoman of the heads', 'yeoman of the powder room', etc.

I hope this helps.

Kester

That's perfect Devenish. Many thanks.

Can I ask one additional question, which I'm sure you'll know the answer to.

What would be the position of a ship's corporal? And what would he do?

Mira,

The ship's corporal was assistant to the Master at Arms, who was concerned with the discipline on board ship. His duties were to aid with any trangressions of conduct and also to see that lights were extinguished at the proper times.

According to Lavery's 'Nelson's Navy', each rated ship had a Master at Arms: in fifth rates and above he had two corporals and sixth rates he had one, but in unrated ships, where no Master at Arms was usually carried, the corporal worked alone.

Kester

Although Roger Knight headed his list “Ships and Officers”, it seems he included Able Seamen and other ratings on whom he had information.

No, Fearney should not be discarded for that reason. He didn’t make it to Lieutenant, which leaves the possibility that he might later have become a warrant officer, especially as coxswains and midshipmen were petty officers sho could be rated or disrated at will by a captain. However the service history that you list from Roger Knight does not leave many gaps where he could have been Nelson’s coxswain. He was Able Seaman then Yeoman in the Agamemnon, Able Seaman in the Captain, and Midshipman in the Theseus and the Foudroyant.

Having commented on the Vanguard yesterday, my brain eventually cranked into gear and I remembered that I actually have a copy of the Vanguard’s muster on CD for July & August 1798 (the Nile). Unfortunately the CD is somewhat unreliable so it took a while to look through it, but the Admiral’s retinue consisted only of John Campbell, secretary, and Thomas Spencer, Thomas Allen and Arthur Leary, all rated as able seamen. Presumably the Admiral and his Captain would often use the same barge crew and coxswain. James Quick (from Plymouth) was Coxswain until 30 March 1798 and then Midshipman. Roger H Cload (from Inverness) was AB until 30 March 1798 and then Coxswain. I didn’t spot William Fearney in the muster.

Very interesting info Tony!

I am not sure however that it would have been possible for the same man to have commanded both the admirals' and captain's barges. And could the captain and the admiral - both of whom had manifold duties in port - have shared the same barge? Likewise the 'Coxswain' listed in the 'Vanguard's muster book was an established post on the ship and had its own duties and pay. Would it have not been complicated in 18thC terms to have asked him to do a bit of 'overtime' as the admiral's coxswain as well?

It also seems odd that Nelson's retinue included 3 ABs. The listings of admiral's retinues I have seen, generally specify a secretary, a cook and a steward (and often many more). Why 3 ABs? Nelson would certainly have needed the services of a secretary, cook, steward etc: but why would he need men whose skills (as you pointed out) were to hand, reef and steer'?

The amount of detail given in a ship's musters clearly varied with the writer. Perhaps the 'Vanguard's clerk rated the 3 men as ABs because the didn't know their jobs at the time of writing - and never got round to putting them in.

I suppose you havn't got the muster book for 'Foudroyant'? If so, it would be interesting to see who was transferred from 'Vanguard' to 'Foudroyant' with Nelson when he moved on 7 June 1799.

I find this level of detail fascinating. Am I odd?

Brian
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Brian,

I wonder if the three AB's might have partly been employed to look after the one-armed admiral in practical terms, such as in getting into, or out of, his barge for example? It seems clear they had other duties too, since Tom Allen became Nelson's personal, and forceful, servant.

As to whether you are 'odd', my answer would be 'no more than the rest of us on this site, who find levels of detail fascinating!'

Kester

Kester has pre-empted some of my reply, so I don’t need to comment on who may or may not be odd around here!

I think the explanation for Able Seamen in Nelson’s retinue may be even simpler. I think that men’s ratings listed in the muster really had only one function – to determine what they were paid. A man’s rating in the muster might not reflect his actual duties on board. Until 1794 a rear admiral was allowed a retinue of fifteen servants. But from 1795, admirals were given an allowance to compensate for the loss of most of their servants, and the admiral’s retinue was reduced to five for a rear admiral (twelve for a commander in chief). The retinue of five would include the flag lieutenant, secretary, and his clerk (source; Brian Lavery). Also from 1795 the Admiral’s servants in this reduced retinue were now paid at the rate for an Able Seaman (source: Michael Lewis). Hence, I think, the ratings of AB in the muster. Thomas (Tom) Allen (as Kester points out), rated as Able Seaman in the muster, is usually described as Nelson’s servant or valet, and I think Thomas Spencer was Nelson’s steward.

Presumably an admiral could still bring a larger retinue, but they would be ‘supernumeraries not borne for wages’.

Interestingly, Mira, Tom Allen is occasionally referred to in books as Nelson’s coxswain. In Michael Lewis’s ‘Social History of the Navy’ there is a plate with his portrait captioned ‘Tom Allen, Nelson’s Coxswain’. Elsewhere in the text, referring to another admiral’s coxswain, he comments that an admiral’s coxswain was often also his body servant. Tom Allen’s later life is of course well documented. But it is perhaps possible that the man you are looking for, who was coxswain of Nelson’s barge, was never actually rated coxswain in a muster book.

Brian, you are very likely right that it would have been difficult for the same man to have commanded both the admiral's and captain's barges – it was pure surmise on my part, and I have no knowledge of the usual arrangements. But did a flagship always carry an additional barge for the Admiral? It seems the Victory at Trafalgar did not. According to Peter Goodwin, she carried a 34ft Launch, a 32ft Barge (for conveying the Admiral to & from ship), a 28ft Pinnace (for conveying the officers & general use), two 25ft Cutters, and an 18ft Cutter. Presumably Hardy had to make do with the pinnace unless Nelson didn’t want the barge. Would the Vanguard have carried two barges? She was small for a flagship.

Also it looks to me as though none of the Admiral’s retinue could be rated as Coxswain in the ship’s books, as a coxswain was paid more than an able seaman. According to the Ayshford Trafalgar Roll, there were no ships with more than one coxswain at Trafalgar, despite there being three with admirals on board. Also members of admiral’s retinues were rated Able Seaman at Trafalgar: three in the Britannia, three in the Royal Sovereign, and five in the Victory.

According to Roger Knight, John Sykes was coxswain in the Theseus, and he is described as Nelson’s coxswain, so I do wonder if Captain Miller lost his coxswain to the admiral?

No, I don’t have the muster book for the Foudroyant. The CD I have has the muster books of all the ships at the Battle of the Nile, plus the Master’s Logs for the battle - scanned images of over a thousand pages. It is available here: http://www.yesteryearsgen.com/ for £19.99 – not bad value.

Fascinating stuff Tony!

You write with both authority and insight. I am sure you are right. As Jack Aubrey pointed to out to Maturin, things are seldom what they seem ratings-wise in the navy. Perhaps the musters alone will never tell us who commanded Nelson's barge. Likewise, with only one designated coxswain in board, who was in charge of the other ships boats? Senior AB's presumably who did not have this duty specified in the muster either.

Brian

I have come across several accounts of midshipmen in charge of boat's crews.

Authority and insight? - As Jack Aubrey pointed to out to Maturin, things are seldom what they seem...

Mira:

I have a rather quaint little booklet published by the Nelson Society in 1999. It is a facsimile edition of an anthology of Notes and Queries from TP's Weekly magazine published in 1905 to mark the Trafalgar Centenary, and contains many anecdotes about Nelson, some of which may be apocryphal.

The booklet mentions two men - neither was a coxswain but there might be something to go on - one was a boatswain, 'Nelson's favourite boatswain', apparently, named Thomas Carter. The anecdote about him is mentioned in Hilda Gamlin's 'Nelson's Friendships.'

There was also Duncan Wallace, described as a 'petty officer' who was with Nelson at the Battle of St Vincent and at the Nile, where he displayed such heroism that Nelson offered to make him an officer, saying, 'Wallace, this is the third ship and fourth battle that I have been in with you, and today I will make you an officer.' Wallace declined. Since he survived the Nile, he may well have been 'at Nelson's side in Naples.'

I might be barking up the wrong tree so I won't type out the whole long anecdote unless you think it might be any use. It comes from 'a memoir edited by Thomas Kirkup.'