Extract from the Naval Chronicle for Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010

And again, on the same page, another entry from 1803, on a topic of much interest to sailors of the day.

ARTIFICIAL YEAST.
THE following is a method adopted in Germany and Sweden, for making artificial yeast : To 100 pounds of the best malt, consisting of one part of malted wheat, and two parts of malted barley, dried in the open air, and well ground or bruised, add 10 pounds of good hops, and brew the mixture with 350 pounds of water to form wort. After a short boiling, separate the grains and hops from the wort; which last, by continued boiling, may be reduced to 175 pounds. Cool it down, as soon as possible, to seventy degrees Fahrenheit, and then mix it with thirty-two pounds of yeast, which, the first time, may he of common brewer's yeast, but in every subsequent operation, or the artificial. The wort will soon ferment, and in a few hours it will be covered with a thick yeasty froth; the whole mass must then be strongly agitated, and, at the same time, well mixed with from fifty to seventy-five pounds of fine ground meal of wheat or barley, either malted or unmalted. In a cool place this yeast will keep ten or fifteen days in summer, and four or five weeks in winter.

X, 193

Extract from the Naval Chronicle for Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010

Today’s extract is from 1803.

MARINE SPENCER.
THE Royal Humane Society have awarded to Mr. Knight Spencer, of Bread-street, Cheapside, their honorary silver medallion for the invention of a Marine Spencer for the preservation of lives in cases of shipwreck, or other accidents at sea. This spencer consists of a girdle to fit the body, six inches broad, composed of about 800 old tavern corks, strung upon a strong wire, well lashed together with laycord, covered with canvass, and painted in oil, so as to make it water-proof; when it is wanted it is to be slided from the feet close up under the arms, and to be fastened over each shoulder by means of tapes or cords. A person thus equipped may safely trust himself to the waves, for he will float head and shoulders above water in any storm, and by paddling with his hands may easily gain the shore.

X, 193

Extract from the Naval Chronicle for Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010

Today’s extract from the “Naval Chronicle” is from 1816.

POETRY

On reading the Observations in the QUARTERLY REVIEW, on the Voyage
of Captain PORTER, in the Essex, American Frigate, round Cape
Horn, &c., &c., &c.

VAIN boasting PORTER, you deserve this lash,
For giving to the world such lying trash.
'Tis not enough ; for you should feel the smart,
Inflicted by Jack Ketch behind a cart.

24th February, 1816.

XXXV, 253

Extract from the Naval Chronicle for Monday, Feb. 15, 2010

Happy Presidents Day. Today’s extract from the “Naval Chronicle” is appropriate to the holiday and comes to us under the “Naval Anecdotes” section of the July to December, 1807, volume.

It is a direct result of the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair of June 21, 1807, in which the HMS Leopard fired on and boarded the USS Chesapeake. The British impressed American sailors in the incident, in which three Americans were killed and 18 were wounded.

President Jefferson responded a few weeks later with the proclamation republished below. The unpopular Embargo Act of 1807 followed in December.


PROCLAMATION,
BY THOMAS JEFFERSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA.

DURING the wars which, for some time, have unhappily prevailed among the powers of Europe, the United States of America, firm in their principles of peace, have endeavoured by justice, by a regular discharge of all their national and social duties, and by every friendly office their situation has admitted, to maintain, with all the belligerents, their accustomed relations of friendship, hospitality, and commercial intercourse. Taking no part in the questions which animate these powers against each other, nor permitting themselves to entertain a wish but for the general restoration of peace, they have observed, with good faith, the neutrality they assumed, and they believe that no instance of a departure from its duties can be justly imputed to them by any nation. A free use of their harbours and waters, the means of refitting and refreshment, of succour to their sick and suffering, have, at all times, and on equal principles, been extended to all, and this too amidst a constant recurrence of acts of insubordination to the laws, of violence to the persons, and of trespasses on the property of our citizens, committed by officers of one of the belligerent parties received among us. In truth these abuses of the laws of hospitality have, with few exceptions, become habitual to the commanders of the British armed vessels hovering on our coasts and frequenting our harbours. They have been the subject of repeated representations to their government. Assurances have been given that proper orders should restrain them within the limit of the rights and of the respect due to a friendly nation; but those orders and assurances have been without effect; and no instance of punishment for past wrongs has taken place. At length, a deed, transcending all we have hitherto seen, or suffered, brings the public sensibility to a serious crisis, and our forbearance to a necessary pause. A frigate of the United States, trusting to a state of peace, and leaving her harbour on a distant service, has been surprised and attacked by a British vessel of superior force, one of a squadron then lying in our waters and covering the transaction, and has been disabled from service, with the loss of a number of men killed and wounded.

This enormity was not only without provocation or justifiable cause, but was committed with the avowed purpose of taking by force, from a ship of war of the United States, a part of her crew, and that no circumstance might be wanting to mark its character, it had been previously ascertained that the seamen demanded were natives of the United States. Having effected his purpose, he returned to anchor with his squadron within our jurisdiction. Hospitality under such circumstances, ceases to be a duty; and a continuance of it, with such uncontrolled abuses, would tend only, by multiplying injuries and irritations, to bring on a rupture between the two nations. This extreme resort is equally opposed to the interests of both, as it is to assurances of the most friendly dispositions on the part of the British government, in the midst of which this outrage has been committed. In this light the subject cannot but present itself to that government, and strengthen the motives to an honourable reparation of the wrong which has been done, and to that effectual control of its naval commanders, which alone can justify the government of the United States in the exercise of those hospitalities it is now constrained to discontinue.

In consideration of these circumstances, and of the right of every nation to regulate its own police, to provide for its peace and for the safety of its citizens, and consequently to refuse the admission of armed vessels into its harbours or waters, either in such numbers, or of such description, as are inconsistent with these, or with the maintenance of the authority of the laws, I have thought proper, in pursuance of the authorities specially given by law, to issue this my PROCLAMATION, hereby requiring all armed vessels bearing commissions under the government of Great Britain, now within the harbours or waters of the United States, immediately and without any delay to depart from the same, and interdicting the entrance of all the said harbours and waters to the said armed vessels, and to all others bearing commissions under the authority of the British government.

And if the said vessels, or any of them, shall fail to depart as aforesaid, or if they or any others, so interdicted, shall hereafter enter the harbours or waters aforesaid, I do in that case forbid all intercourse with them or any of them, their officers or crews, and do prohibit all supplies and aid from being furnished to them or any of them.

And I do declare and make known, that if any person from, or within the jurisdictional limits of the United States, shall afford any aid to any such vessel, contrary to the prohibition contained in this proclamation, either in repairing any such vessel, or in furnishing her, her officers or crew, with supplies of any kind, or in any manner whatsoever, or if any pilot shall assist in navigating any of the said armed vessels, unless it be for the purpose of carrying them, in the first instance, beyond the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, or unless it be in the case of a vessel forced by distress, or charged with public despatches, as hereinafter provided for, such person or persons shall, on conviction, staffer all the pains and penalties by the laws provided for in such offences.

And I do hereby enjoin and require all persons bearing office, civil or military, within or under the authority of the United States, and all others, citizens or inhabitants thereof, with vigilance and promptitude to exert their respective authorities, and to be aiding and assisting to the carrying this proclamation, and every part thereof, into full effect.

Provided, nevertheless, that if such vessels shall be forced into the harbours or waters of the United States, by distress, by (he dangers of the sea, or by the pursuit of an enemy, or shall outer them charged with despatches or business from their government, or shall be a public packet for the conveyance of letters and despatches, the commanding officer immediately reporting his vessel to the collector of the district, stating the object, or causes of entering the aid harbours or waters, and conforming himself to the regulations in that case prescribed under the authority of the laws, shall be allowed the benefit of such regulations respecting repairs, supplies, stay, intercourse, and departure, as shall be permitted under the same authority.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to be affixed to these presents and signed the same.

Given at the city of Washington, the second day of July, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and [Seal] seven, and of the sovereignty and independence of the United States the thirty-first.

TH. JEFFERSON.

By the President,
JAMES MADISON, Secretary of State.

XVIII, 119-122

Extract from the Naval Chronicle for Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010

Happy Valentine’s Day.
Today’s extract from the “Naval Chronicle” comes to us from the “Naval Anecdotes” section of the July-December 1806 edition.

A MERMAID
THE journal of Hudson, the great navigator, which is deposited in the British Museum, contains the following entry:
June 15, 1607, 15 degrees latitude, 75 degrees, 7 minutes

This morning one of our company looking overboard, saw a mermaid, and calling up some of the company to see her, one more came up, and by that time she was come close to the ship's side, looking earnestly on the men. A little after, a sea came and overturned her. From the navel upwards her back and breasts were like those of a woman (as they say that saw her); her body as big as one of us; her skin very white, and long hair hanging down behind, of colour black. In her going down, they saw her tail, which was like the tail of a porpoise, and speckled like a mackarel. Their names that saw her were Thomas Nelles, Robert Rayner, and Joseph Wilson.

XVI, 200

Extract from the Naval Chronicle for Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010

The "Naval Chronicle" celebrated achievements in the nautical field. Of interest in this entry from the second edition of 1817, besides the fast transits described, is the open admiration of progress made in the former colonies and a reference to the British victory at Waterloo, only two years earlier.

EXPEDITIOUS NAVIGATION.
THE recent arrival from China, at Cowes, of an American merchant
vessel, in one hundred and eight days; and, a little while back, of another
large American schooner from the Isle of France, in sixty days, are instances
of celerity and of nautical skill and facility, deserving our notice and emulation.
We have had two similar and nearly equal of late : a transport
from Ceylon, with troops and passengers, in 77 days, and the arrival of
13 large heavy laden ships of the East India Company from China to our
Channel in 109 days; the last a triumph of mercantile navigation, a combination
of nautical skill with good fortune, of which there is no record of
an equal exertion; to cut through l5,000 miles of ocean in that short time,
is, with so many vessels, without example in marine experience. With
similar passages we ought to communicate with our Asiatic Presidency at
Calcutta within six months, instead of once in 12 or 15 months, as is now
the loitering and dilatory habit of that important intercourse. The Americans
of New York and Washington will soon exchange letters and products
with Bengal in five months! The only early account we had of the victory
of Waterloo being heard of at Calcutta was from New York.

XXXVIII, 189
From JULY TO DECEMBER, 1817

Extract from the Naval Chronicle for Friday, Feb. 12, 2010

The "Naval Chronicle" was a journal of technological advances that would be of interest to the British naval officer of the early 1800s. Today's extract is an example of what may be found in the chronicle's 40 volumes.

INVENTION OF AN IMPROVED BINNACLE.
An inhabitant of Boston, in North America, has exhibited a newly constructed
binnacle, with converging mirrors, which, from the light of a
lamp, diffuses upon the compass a clear and conspicuous light, the rays of
which are at pleasure tinged with a green shade, which has, upon the eyes
of the helmsman, a good effect in looking out, and prevents the binnacle
from shewing light abroad, so that vessels cannot be traced by it in the
night. The lamp is placed in, the upper part of the binnacle, near the
illuminator, and has attached, a trimming apparatus, which, by a simple
operation, effectually, and with perfect safety, trims itself. The binnacle
is made to carry but one compass, and is so calculated, that all the inconveniences
of smoke arising from the lamp, and of blowing out in squally
weather, are avoided. The whole is simply constructed with a manifest
saving of expense.

XXXVIII, 189
From JULY TO DECEMBER, 1817

Extract from the Naval Chronicle for Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010

Today’s extract from the “Naval Chronicle” is from the 25th edition, published in 1811. It illustrates a general attitude of the day that may be shared by patriots of any age and any country.

PREFACE
TO THE TWENTY-FIFTH VOLUME

PATRIOTISM, in the unsophisticated sense of the word, comprises nearly all that is elevated in the human mind. The real patriot, superior to all party, acts, feels, and lives for his country. He deplores her poverty, but rejoices in her wealth; sympathizes in her losses, but exults in her success; mourns over her defeats, but triumphs in her victories; shudders at the idea of her disgrace, but, as a simple part of the whole, he experiences a glowing pride, in all that adds to her honour, or increases her splendour.

XXV, v.

Extract from the Naval Chronicle for Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010

Today’s extract from The Naval Chronicle is from the 10th edition, published in 1803.

under the header GAZETTE LETTERS

THE TAR.

A PARODY OF SHAKESPEARE'S SEVEN AGES.

AT first, the cabin boy,
Cleaning the guns, and clearing out the deck;
And then, the gallant sailor, with tarr'd jacket,
And sun burn'd face, climbing like nimble cat
The topmost mast; then in a privateer,
Raging like furnace to pour in a broadside
On the rich Spaniard; then heading a press gang,
With bludgeon arm’d, and watching like a pard,
He drags, with oaths and blows, the pallid victim
Aboard the tender; then, prepar’d for signal,
In well-mann'd fleet, by modern instances
Of Nile and Baltic, he's led on to glory,
Even in the cannon's mouth; next rendezvous,
In port, on grand illumination night,
Dollars in pocket, doxies by his side,
He scorns to save a doit. The world, too scant
For his big spirit, in noisy revels, huzzas,
Songs, fiddles, reels, hornpipes, and flowing bowls,
He drowns his cares: next day to sea again.
Last scene that ends this strange advent'rous history,
Is Greenwich pension; mess, tobacco, grog,
And cheers to good Old England's wooden walls.

X, 73

Extract from the Naval Chronicle for Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010

Goodness gracious, a great ball of fire. The description below, which appeared in the “Naval Chronicle” for 1808, apparently describes an occurrence of ball lightning more than 50 years earlier. A year after this entry, incidentally, it was reported that three “balls of fire” “attacked” the British ship HMS Warren Hastings.

The “Naval Chronicle,” though it contains a great deal of military history, is full of such anecdotes. Regular readers of this blog will be pleased to note that the exact longitude is noted in the entry.

(Under Marine Scenery)

BALL OF FIRE.

On board the Montague, under the command of Admiral Chambers, in lat. 42 degrees 48' long. 9 degrees 3', on the 4th of November, 1749, about ten minutes before twelve, as Mr. Chalmers was taking an aberration, one of the quarter-masters desired he would look to the windward. On directing his eye that way, he observed a large ball of blue fire, about three miles distance from them; they immediately lowered the top-sails, but it came so fast upon them, that before they could raise the main tack, they observed the ball rise almost perpendicularly, and not above forty or fifty yards from the main chains, when it went off with an explosion as great as if hundreds of cannon had been discharged at the same time, leaving behind it a strong sulphureous smell. By this explosion the main-top-mast was shattered in pieces, and the main-mast sent quite down to the keel. Five men were knocked down, and one of them was greatly bruised, and some other damage, of less importance, was done to the ship. Just before the explosion, the ball seemed to be of the size of a large millstone.

XIX, 53

Extract from the Naval Chronicle for Monday, Feb. 8, 2010

Today’s extract may be of interest to those who have read Dava Sobel’s book “Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time.” Sobel’s story is that of the English clockmaker John Harrison, who labored for decades to perfect an accurate chronometer. An accurate chronometer would allow for comparison of a ship’s local time to the time of a second known place, such as Greenwich, England, which in turn would allow for the calculation of the ship’s longitute.

Harrison worked in the hope of winning a prize set by the British government for a solution to the problem of calculating longitute. The contest was open to anyone and can be seen as an early example of crowdsourcing.

Sobel’s book, by the way, is a highly readable popular history of the problem and Harrison’s attempts to solve it.

The entry below appeared after it had been shown that accurate chronometers could be produced and applied to the longitude problem.

(under Naval Anecdoes)

CHRONOMETRICAL REGULATION.

MR. JAMISON, time-piece-maker to the Commissioners of the Navy, has invented a machine, whereby the error of a time-keeper may be ascertained at Sea without observation. The great purpose of this invention is to prove whether the chronometer of a watch has varied from its given rate at the Royal Observatory, or any other place, the situation of which is known, so that the navigator will have the same advantage of comparison as he would by a regulator on shore.

XIII, 50

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Extract from the Naval Chronicle for Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010

Today's extract is from 1805. Grammarians will note the confusing clause at the end of this entry. But, then, it was written about 200 years before Lynne Truss' book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves."

Obituary

Dec. 30. An Officer of the Navy, in shooting birds, at Fratton, near Portsmouth, as he inadvertently attempted to divide the briars with the butt end of the piece, being on full cock, the trigger caught a bramble, and the contents of the gun were discharged through the Lieutenant's heart, who instantly expired.

XIII, 85

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And what is the "Naval Chronicle"?

From 1799 to 1819, the “Naval Chronicle” served as a sort of trade journal to the officers of the Royal Navy. Published by Joyce Gold, it is a chronicle of the Napoleonic Wars at sea and much more. Its 40 volumes contained not only accounts of captains’ exploits – including ones that inspired Patrick O’Brian and C.S. Forester in their creation of the Aubrey-Maturin and Horatio Hornblower sagas – but also poetry, suggestions of tactics, descriptions of emerging technologies and biographies of naval officers.

To the British naval officer of the Napoleonic Wars, it was a valuable resource in framing the great conflict and his place in it. To the modern reader, it a valuable record of the war and of the times.

The 40 volumes are expensive to acquire. A severely truncated edition in seven volumes, edited by Nicholas Tracey, was published in the late 1990s, but the cutting necessary to make such a republishing feasible unfortunately removed much of the flavor. A great deal of the joy found in reading the “Chronicle” is similar to that found in thumbing through old copies of “National Geographic” and seeing the dated advertisements and sensibilities. The “Chronicle” offers similar gems.

The "Chronicle," of course, has been long out of copyright. Reproduced here are some entries that caught my eye. Enjoy.

Extracts From the "Naval Chronicle"

LITERARY RECREATIONS ON BOARD H.M.S. HIBERlA, 1813.

Rules to be strictly observed in the Reading-Room.

SIR SIDNEY SMITH allows the officers of this ship, gentlemen his or their guests, passengers, gentlemen petty officers, and young gentlemen volunteers, free access to his books, maps, and charts, in the portion of the fore-cabin, which will generally be opened as a reading-room, between the hours often A.M. and one hour before the dinner hours at sea or in harbour, as it may be; which will be notified by these rules being hung up in a conspicuous place therein, and the shutters of the fore bulk-head being opened; access being then to be had by the starboard door, the larboard one being reserved for communication with the Admiral on service or otherwise.

The following regulations are to lie observed for general convenience.

1st. The most absolute SILENCE is to be maintained; salutations are mutually dispensed with. Messages and answers are not to be conveyed within the reading-room.
2d. Any gentleman selecting a. book with the intention of reading it through, will mark his place with a ticket inscribed with his name, and the date of his having so selected it ; and although another may take it up for perusal in his absence, and also mark his place therein in like manner, the first ticket is not to be removed, and the occupant is to make over the book to the person whose marking ticket is of. prior-date, on his appearance in the reading-room, witlwu his claiming or requesting it. N.B. The Encyclopedia, HUTTON’s Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary, and All other Dictionaries ; the NAVAL CHRONICLE, Panorama, and other periodical publications, are excepted from this rule, and to be generally accessible when out of hand. 3d. No books or newspapers to be taken out of the reading-room.
4th. All books are to be replaced on the shelf or in the chest from whence they were taken, and generally on the removal of these rules from their place at the hour appointed, observing that they are arranged on the shelves according to their comparative sizes, in gradual succession, without reference to their contents, and in the boxes Recording to their classification, with reference to the subject or characteristic marked thereon.
5th. Should any gentleman wish to call the atteniiou of any other to any particular rule, the mode of so doing without a breach of the first rule, is by exhibiting to him the card containing the rule in question.
6th. Any gentleman inclined to leave a book of his own for general perusal, will please to put his name on the title-page, and insert its title and his name in the book appropriated for that purpose. (Printed on
board the Hibernia, January, 1813.)

XXXII, 306


THE MISTAKE,
FROM W. TAYLOR.

A CANNON-ball, one bloody day,
Took a poor sailor's leg away ;
And, as on his comrade's back he made off,
Another fairly took his head off.
The fellow, on this odd emergence,
Carried him pick-back to the surgeons ;
Z ds. cried the Doctor, are you drunk,
To bring me here a headless trunk ?
A lying dog ! cries Jack he said,
His leg was off, and not his head.

VI, 500


SAINT HELENA

THE Government of the Island of Saint Helena have established a
Signal Post, of much importance, on the summit of Ladder Hiil, for the purpose of affording intelligence. When an alarm is made of a fleet of ships being in sight, this station becomes of consequence. From the conveniency of the situation whereon the post is erected, and the command it possesses of the windward side of the island, the people residing in the valley and other parts of the settlement are informed of the exact number of ships, as they appear in sight from the extremity of the horizon. For this purpose the post is credited in the form of a cross, from the arms of which the persons appointed to look out, suspend large balls of the size of a bomb shell; for instance, a single ship is described by a single ball, and so on for as many more as may be seen to approach the island. In former times, when Governor Skottowe resided at St. Helena, a flag used to be hoisted about half way up the rock, called by the natives the "Half-way House," which merely denoted a ship or fleet steering for the island, without expressing the number. As soon as a vessel casts anchor in the bay, she salutes the fort with nine guns, which is immediately returned; but if one of his Majesty's ships casts anchor, the fort salutes first, which is an invariable etiquette in the service. A battery is erected on purpose for
salutes, on a platform, before the front of the Governor's Castle, called the Mount, facing the main line, which consists of twenty-one nine or twelve pounders. The guns on the line are never discharged but on the days of exercise. This excellent fortification contains very heavy pieces of ordnance, being thirty-two pounders, in the face of the bay.

VI, 506