We may never give a thought to the shipping which circumnavigates the globe carrying goods of all sorts, transporting people for leisure or business, and the crews who man the ships, but they are there. In times past they were very important and could make fortunes or loose them for those who were waiting for their ship to come home. Every so often a seaman turns up far inland in some historical document, and has a yarn to spin that captures the imagination and takes us back into another world. This story starts in Ormskirk in Lancashire - and ends in Reeth in the North Riding of Yorkshire - and travels all over the world. This painting is called Navigator with globe and dividers by Henrick van der Borch [1583 - 1660] and is at the National Maritime Museum and on the ArtUk website. David Jameson was apprehended in Swaledale in 1775, brought before a magistrate, and recounted his life story which was written down for the courts. He was picked up as a beggar, in court terminology he was a Rogue or a Vagabond, but I will let you decide if he really fell into these categories. He said that he was born in Ormskirk son of David Jameson and his wife Ann nee Frazier. Although I have found Jamesons in Ormskirk I have not pinpointed a David among them, but that does not mean to say he was not telling the truth. He would have been born about 1740. When he was 13 years old his mother bound him apprentice to a Miles Barker, a merchant in Lancaster. This painting is called Lancaster from Skerton with a sailing ship, unknown artist, and is at the Lancaster Maritime Museum. Lancaster had been an important port on the west coast of the country until Liverpool began to grow and took over. Whilst he was an apprentice David served on the ship Cato with Turner as Captain and the ship Eagle with Tomlinson as captain, sailing out of Lancaster. He served on these ships for five years and then his master signed him over to a Mr Crosby who was a merchant in Liverpool. Here he sailed on the Wheel of Fortune out to the West Indies. Here his adventures began. By now Britain was involved in European wars which spread around the globe because of trade links to various ports and colonies. David said that he was taken by the French in either 1760 or 1761 and carried to Marti.... could be Martinique? and from there he was carried as a prisoner to somewhere even more indecipherable (I guess the clerk in Northallerton had no idea where it was) and was held a prisoner for eleven months. Now I wonder if it was the French, or if it was the Spanish. There had been a ship called the Wheel of Fortune, and its goings in and out of port can be tracked through columns of newspapers that reported such movements. In 1752 a ship of this name had been captured by the Spanish in the Bay of Honduras. In 1754 a ship of this name was trading boxes of prunes, capers and olives from Bordeaux, then a sloop of this name sank off Wicklow with a cargo of Portland stone. But in 1756 a ship called the Wheel of Fortune left Liverpool for Tortola, which is the largest of the British Virgin Islands. In 1758 it was reported that the Wheel of Fortune, in coming to Porto Rico, was surrounded by 300 Spanish men who wounded some of the crew and took others prisoner. The next mention is when the Wheel of Fortune arrived in Liverpool in 1763 with a cargo of sugar and cotton from Barbadoes. So in between all of this we have to try and put together David Jameson's story and decide if his memory served him well or not. He said that he was released when there was an exchange of prisoners, and this did often happen. This painting is called Man 'o War and other shipping and is by "British School" at the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre. Once he was released from being a prisoner poor David was Press- ganged, which means he was kidnapped and forced to serve on one of His Majesty's ships and go to war. This is from the Lewis Walpole collection and the speech bubble on the right reads "let them starve & be damned, the King wants Men, haul him on board you dogs". The woman pleads that the captured man has a father and mother, sister and wife to support. This is another painting of a Man o'war and is by Charles Brooking [1723 - 1759] and is also at the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre. So poor David was now in the Navy and served on a ship called HMS Defiance with Captain Mackenzie at the helm. There has been a whole series of ships called Defiance but this one was a 60 gunner launched in 1744. They sailed to Jamaica and then on to the siege of Havannah, they were there for eleven weeks. Official reports record that the Defiance and the Hampton Court were ordered to cruise between Port Mariel and the Bay of Honda, which are in Cuba, in 1762. The British army was commanded by Lord Albermarle and the Navy by Admiral Pocock. British troops numbered 12.500, which leads to the question how many ships were involved as troop carriers? The naval fleet at Havannah numbered thirty ships, one was called "Ripon" another 60 gunner, and there was a huge merchant fleet of 150 ships to supply the army and navy. The siege of Havannah was a success for the British against the Spanish and lasted from March to August 1762. When the Spanish surrendered the crews of the various ship shared Prize Money. Britain had been at war against France since 1756 and Spain had been neutral, but after 1761 Spain took the side of France and started capturing British ships, Britain then declared war against Spain in January 1761. After the siege David said that the voyage back to Britain took five weeks and two days. and brought him to Plymouth. As soon as he was discharged and received his pay and prize he returned to Liverpool. Here he stayed for nine months, not saying if he had to work or not. This painting is called Man o' war off Whitby and is attributed to James Cleveley, born 1750, and is at the Hull Maritime Museum. David's next voyage was on the Albermarle as Boatswain, Commander called Captain Walker, and this time he was bound for Africa. There is no reason to disbelieve him, but the only record of a ship called the Albermarle was in 1763 when it sailed for Jamaica but was lost on the Culver Sands which are off Bristol. But David's voyage may be on a later ship of the same name. This voyage took twenty two months and he returned to Liverpool about 1767 and stayed in Liverpool for six months. Then he was crew out to Guinea in a ship which looked like it was called "Duck", and was at sea fourteen months. After this another voyage on the same ship to "Cape Mount". I have never heard of this before, but good old google tells me it is in Liberia, so in the same part of Africa as Guinea. This voyage took nine months. He returned to Liverpool about 17th March 1770. When someone says "about" and then gives a precise date, you think they are fairly sure of their story. This painting is called Whale Fishing in a Polar Sea by John Wilson Carmichael [1799 - 1868] and is at the York Art Gallery. David's next voyage, by way of great contrast, was on the ship Perseverance, Captain Smith in command, to Greenland where they were out three months. The movements of the whaling fleet were recorded, and in 1771 the Perseverance returned to Liverpool with 2 fish [whales] and four or five hundred seals. Don't think about it. The crew were laid up for two months and then sailed for Greenland again, this time they were out for three months. Whaling ships ventured north at the time that there would be maximum daylight, if they were delayed by storms or winds in the wrong direction, they could not work when there was almost total darkness around the arctic. This painting is called Greenland Fishery, English Whalers in the ice by Charles Brooking [1723 - 1759] and is at the National Maritime Museum. After his return to Liverpool David must have felt that he had had enough excitement for the time being and went as crew on a ship that was a Cheeseman, Captain called Scott, which traded with cheese between Liverpool and London. This was a booming business. Londoners ate a lot of cheese and it was all imported from the countryside, much of it going by sea. Cheese factors bought up cheese from farmers and sometimes owned their own ships. Various cheesemongers in London specialised in cheese from the particular regions, and the ships that sailed out of Liverpool would have taken Cheshire and Lancashire cheeses. This is the trade card of a Cheesemonger in London who specialised in Yorkshire and Westmoreland cheeses and hams. This is from a collection at the British Musem. Yorkshire cheeses went to Yarm which had a Cheese Fair and then sailed down the Tees and along the east coast to London. David went to London, came back to Liverpool, had shore leave for seven weeks and then went on board the Perseverance back to Greenland, was out for four months and two days and returned to Liverpool which brought him to July 1774. His time as a sailor was alomost coming to an end. Another voyage to London on the Dredgewater in November 1774, and a last voyage up the east coast to Whitby where he lay sick for five weeks. This painting is called Whitby harbour with figures and donkey by Unknown Artist and is at the Whitby Museum.
Suddenly a wife appeared in the story! She was Nanny Jameson and he went with her to a place called Steens? which I am not sure about. They then travelled to Coatham, near Redcar, where the River Tees meets the North Sea. There David met with his step son, his wife's son by a previous marriage, and all three went to Stockton on Tees. From there they went to Darlington, stayed the night at Jenny French's, and then journeyed on to Richmond. Here they lodged at Nanny Waggett's and stayed three days then travelled on to Reeth where they arrived "last Friday se'ennight" i.e. a week ago, a seven night being a week and a fourteen night two weeks. In Reeth he passed his time sitting in the Red Lion and drinking, and I am sure he had some amazing tales to tell anyone who would stand him a pint of good Yorkshire ale. What happened to David Jameson after that I know not, it is most likely that the court would order him to be sent back to the place of his legal settlement, which was Ormskirk in Lancashire. But what a life, and he was only one of many, many sailors who are now anonymous, but played such a part in the history of the world. Now the story that his step son told adds more, and is quite different, but you will have to wait for another time! My bonny lies over the ocean My bonny lies over he sea My bonny lies over the ocean Oh bring back my bonny to me. Fortunately David Jameson did always come back.
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AuthorThis is where you can share creativity with me. I believe that everyone has something creative within them, and it is a joy to find ways of being creative. Blogging is NEW to me, so here goes ..... Archives
January 2024
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