Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "royal-nay"

Portsmouth Point: The British Navy in Fiction 1793-1815 by C. Northcote Parkinson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


If you enjoy stories of the Royal Navy, chances are you’ve read at least a few that take place during the French and Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815). At some point, the ships, sailors, and officers visit Portsmouth. As much as we may like to visit, this early 19th-century naval base and dockyard is gone. It is only through the pages of stories that it is recreated. But these are modern interpretations. What was Portsmouth Point like back then? How did novelists of yore, those to whom this was a real place rather than a fictional recreation, portray it?

True, history books describe Portsmouth Point, but such scholarly works rarely breathe life into the past. Parkinson believed “there is that to be learnt from fiction which can be learnt in no other way.” (11) Novelists who actually lived or spent time there were far better “guides who understand.” (11) Hence, the purpose of this book, allowing readers to experience the place as they did. All the writers included were members of the Royal Navy, some serving during these wars and some soon after. As much as Parkinson wanted to include only contemporary novels, he found this impossible to do, for the novelists were too engaged in their duties to devote time to fictional accounts of what transpired. Therefore, only two stories were published before 1826. The majority chosen were released between 1826 and 1848, so they are as near to being contemporary recreations of Portsmouth as is possible. Among the selections are The Navy at Home (1831), Frank Mildmay, or The Naval Officer by Captain Marryat (1829), The Naval Sketch Book (1826), Tom Bowling: A Tale of the Sea by Captain Frederick Chamier, R.N. (1841), and Jack Tench, or the Midshipman Turned Idler by Blowhard (1841).

The book is divided into twelve chapters, each covering a different aspect of the navy: The Man-of-War, The Officers, The Midshipmen, The Crew, The Marines, The Daily Routine, The Food, In Harbour, Naval Dialect, Prize-Money, Religion, and Anecdotes. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction about the topic. If additional insight is deemed necessary, Parkinson inserts this between snippets as well. One example where this occurs is in the chapter on The Officers; brief portraits of specific positions are summarized followed by a pertinent excerpt, such as the comeuppance of a surgeon whose go-to treatment for the men was seawater. The chapter on food served in the navy includes “The Logarithm for Making Punch” and a “recipe for a mess of chowder.” The only chapter without the brief insights is the last chapter; the chosen anecdotes are brief, interesting, amusing, and self-explanatory. One concerns a captain who swears his familiarity with the local waters negates the need for a pilot.

Scattered throughout the book are black-and-white illustrations, diagrams, and maps. These are explained in Appendix B, Note on Illustrations. The first appendix, Bibliographical Note, lists the works included in the book, as well as brief summaries of the history of naval fiction and the authors’ naval careers. The final appendix is a Glossary of Technical Terms. The book is also indexed.

First published in 1949, this is an invaluable resource for readers and writers of naval fiction. The snippets and the introductory material are as close to “direct evidence” of Portsmouth Point as it existed in the early 19th century and what life was like in the Royal Navy between 1810 and 1815. Some titles are still in print; others are available online for free. (Readers will have to search for these themselves.) Portsmouth Point also serves as a wonderful introduction to early works of naval fiction.


(This review originally appeared at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/Parkinson....)



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