Nelson & His World

The comment about the height of the deckhead/ceiling in HMS Elephant called to mind this extract from the Naval Chronicle Vol. II:


A VERY tall gentleman was appointed to a small ship, where his cabin was every way inconvenient. After applying in vain to his friends to get him promoted, he at last wrote up to the Admiralty Board, humourously [sic] setting forth his grievance, who remitted an order for his immediate removal to a larger ship, reciting the words of the petition to this effect:—"Whereas A.B. of his Majesty's ship ---------, has informed us, that, having the misfortune to be six feet three inches high, and his cabin being neither in height nor length above four feet six inches, he can neither lie, sit, stand, nor even kneel at his devotions: this is therefore to certify, that we appoint him to the ----------, a ship commodious for all the above purposes."

Can it really be true that an officer, even a junior one, had to squeeze himself into a space four feet six inches high and wide or is the complainant exaggerating his difficulties to gain sympathy? I also remember reading, though, that one very tall officer (Hardy, I think) had to stick his head out of the window to shave in the morning.

It was Cochrane that had to stick his head out of the skylight to shave.

From 'Autobiography of a Seaman', on his appointment to the Speedy sloop:

"I was very proud of my little vessel, caring nothing for her want of accomodation, though in this respect her cabin merits passing notice. It had not so much as room for a chair, the floor being entirely occupied by a small table surrounded with lockers, answering the double purpose of storechests and seats. The difficulty was to get seated, the ceiling being only five feet high, so that the object could only be accomplished by rolling on the locker, a movement sometimes attended with unpleasant failure. The most singular discomfort however, was that my only practicable mode of shaving consisted in removing the skylight and putting my head through to make a toilet table of the quarter-deck"

Cochrane, of course! Thanks for the info, P-N.

Living in such cramped conditions must have taken some getting used to for officers, most of whom came from reasonably comfortable and spacious homes - all those parsons' sons from large draughty rectories! Cochrane, being an artistocrat, must have found the contrast between home comforts and Spartan conditions on board even more pointed, despite his professed pride in his 'little vessel.'

As a sideline, shaving at sea must have been quite hazardous in the days before safety razors. Not for nothing were the razors of the day called 'cut-throat'. I wonder if any officers accidentally did themselves a mischief in turbulent conditions.

Well, they say the old jokes are the best! Good old Google Books shows that this one was at least 60 years old when printed in the Naval Chronicle in 1804, although slightly embellished. Here is the version from 1744:

They call them 'fillers' in the trade - old chestnuts that can be served up again (with suitable changes) when you have a few blank spaces in the layout!

I really don't see how a cabin of four feet six inches could be 'made commodious' and allow a man of six feet three to lie, or stand, though he might just manage to kneel at his devotions!

What I would like to know is whether the 'A.B.' in question is the ship's parson, or perhaps one of the 'bluelights' amongst the officers?

Even assuming the bulkhead wasn't canvas, it would take the carpenters crew only a few minutes to move the bulkhead - after all they were removed altogether when clearing for action. But then of course the adjacent cabin would become correspondingly smaller, which is no doubt what you were driving at.

As Anna perhaps suggests, if he couldn't kneel in a 4'6" cabin, then even at 6'3" he was obviously not a man inclined to adopt a particularly humble posture...

Or maybe this 'quart in a pint pot' story - told and re-told - is the seaman's equivalent of the Urban Myth?