#there was also a book about the life in nelson's navy by one Dudley Pope

[ratuszarsenal]

today I went to a book shop to search for a specific anthology, I blinked after saying hello to the cashier and when opened my eyes, it had gotten dark, said cashier was dusting off shelves before closing and my eyes were teary from staring at a gorgeous album of english mariners' art for three hours

[tautline-hitch]

Do you know of any books that are about life at sea in Nelson's Navy? I know there's Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men, and Organization 1793-1815, and Feeding Nelson's Navy. What about homosexuality at sea? The only thing I've been able to find is Boys At Sea: Sodomy, Indecency, and Courts Martial in Nelson's Navy. Are there any books about songs sung by the Navy? I've only ever heard of one book covering songs from the time, Napoleon and British Song, 1797-1822.

what’s that? an ask from three hundred years ago? 

here’s the answer I typed out whenever it was, which may or may not be correct; i have a sneaking sense that i disagreed with myself on some minor point here, or got the name of something wrong, or i would have posted it by now: but then perhaps i was just experiencing a minor episode. I imagine the original asker is long gone to better things, but for the record:

Life at sea is probably the easiest of these to answer! There are three things that come immediately to mind, other than the Lavery book you mention: the first is Roy and Leslie Adkins’ Jack Tar (Abacus: London, 2008) which is an excellent, easy-reading account of the everyday life of seamen in Nelson’s navy. The second is Shipboard Life and Organisation, 1715-1815 (NRS/Ashgate, 1998), effectively a sourcebook collecting contemporary accounts, and the third is Rodger’s The Wooden World (Collins, 1986) which has a good chapter on shipboard life. (2018 note: If you’re interested in the social dynamics of ships, Evan Wilson’s A Social History of British Naval Officers [Boydell & Brewer, 2017] is very good if a bit dry.) I also have fond memories of Dudley Pope’s Life in Nelson’s Navy, which is super readable but I seem to remember being a little casual with…facts?

songs

I’m assuming you’re looking for information about forebitters, here, and I’m not sure I know of a book specifically about Napoleonic focsle songs? (This is not really my field i must stress!) I would expect them to reflect contemporary popular music in the general sense, on which the aforementioned Napoleon and British Song is probably the most obvious source (I assume you know about the companion Soundcloud account); probably some of the more coherent early merchant-trade work songs crept in, too, for which I suppose I’d recommend Stan Hugill’s Shanties from the Seven Seas (Mystic Seaport, 1994). Hugill quotes Landsman Hay (1834) with a specific mention of “Drops of Brandy” and “Off She Goes” as capstan songs played on the fife aboard HMS Culloden in 1804; there’s a passage in Shipboard Life from the diary of a midshipman’s tutor on how sailors insist on singing everything to the tune of “Admiral Hosier’s Ghost.” Jack Tar has a nice if brief description of forebitters and their singers; there’s also Roast Beef of Old England, a collection of songs inspired by the Aubreyad, if that interests you. You might also check out http://www.jsward.com/shanty/index.shtml.

homosexuality

I don’t own any books specifically about homosexuality at sea! This is in part because there…aren’t many? There are surprisingly few explicit mentions of homosexuality in period sources; opinions differ as to whether this is because 1. the severity of the punishment and the fierceness of the approbation were such that people didn’t do gay stuff at sea; or 2. the severity of the punishment and the fierceness of the approbation were such that people didn’t talk about doing gay stuff at sea. I’m solidly in the latter camp, here, but the fact remains that primary sources are thin on the ground.

Rodger summarizes: “the very fact that it was completely illegal, and severely punished if discovered, makes it impossible to write a full history of it.” Almost all the definitive accounts of homosexual activity in the navy are transcripts of trials, and in most of those trials, one party is accusing the other of assault.  Presumably the vast majority of queer activity was not reported and thus not recorded. I’m sure sooner or later close reading of some lieutenant’s letters will turn up something interesting, but until then it’s the trials (which can make for fairly miserable reading).

Personally, I’ve relied on more general sources: Homosexuality in the EighteenthCentury and the like. I like “Buggery’s Travels: Royal Navy Sodomy on Ship and Shore in the Long Eighteenth Century,” (JMR 2015); it’s quite short, and its main concern is the perception of homosexuality—the idea of identifiable stereotypes, etc—but I seem to remember a good biblio? But Burg is the go-to, I think. I’ve also just been reading Ackroyd’s Queer City; it is not very naval, but for general period atmosphere it’s helpful.

So, in summary, I have basically zero helpful answers to your questions. I should like to say again that I am hardly an expert in any of this! But I don’t know, maybe something here will be helpful to someone. (And, you know, feel free to correct me on any points.)