Stockwin's Maritime Miscellany by Julian Stockwin Read Free Book Online Page B

fighting elections circumventing the usual process of auditing. DERIVATION : one of the perks of being a sea cook in the Royal Navy was the slush, the fat skimmed off the cooking liquor as salted meat was boiled in vast copper vats. This murky fluid was solidified and then sold to be used for lubricating rigging aloft.
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D UEL OVER A DOG
    James Macnamara built a reputation as an intrepid naval officer, but it was not so much his seamanship or courage that ensured his name is remembered but his Newfoundland dog. On 6 April 1803 Macnamara fought a duel at Primrose Hill, London, with Colonel Robert Montgomery, a Life Guard officer, who also owned a dog of the same breed. The quarrel arose after a fight between the two animals in Hyde Park earlier in the day. In the duel, fought with pistols, both men were wounded, Montgomery mortally. At the ensuing trial for manslaughter, Macnamara’s defence was that the provocation and insult came from Montgomery. He called a number of famous naval figures including Viscount Hood and Admiral Nelson, who testified that Macnamara was ‘the reverse of quarrelsome’. The jury deliberated for 20 minutes, then returned a verdict of not guilty.
‘I F I WERE NOT THE RUSSIAN TSAR …’
    Peter the Great was the founder of the Russian navy and the first tsar ever to venture outside his country’s borders. From a very young age he was keen on ships and sailing, and he developed an abiding and very much hands-on interest in shipbuilding.
    In 1697 the young tsar began his ‘Grand Embassy’, a fact-finding mission to look into ways of modernising his country. After studying shipbuilding in Holland Peter made it known to King William III that he now wished to see something of England’s maritime capability. When Tsar Peter arrived in England in 1698, the king provided a number of attendants to accompany him and arranged for him to have every assistance, as well as excellent accommodation.
    Peter was given the use of Sayes Court, a fine house adjacent to Deptford royal shipyard; conveniently its back gate led directly into the yard. The tsar loved to watch the craftsmen at their operations and would pick up tools and work alongside them himself. Often he wore the dress of a common shipwright as he roamed about the shipyard, although with his height of just over 2 m he was hardly inconspicuous.
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Peter not Great as a Tenant
    The owner of Sayes Court, the diarist John Evelyn, was initially delighted to have such a famous tenant, but was later incensed at the damage Peter and his companions caused to his property. Furnishings were ruined and many of the fine paintings had been used as shooting targets. What particularly appalled Evelyn, a keen gardener, was the harm done to his fine holly hedges by a riotous game in which Peter and his friends were raced around the grounds in wheelbarrows. Eventually the King’s Surveyor recommended that Evelyn be paid £350 in compensation .
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    When Peter visited the dockyard at Portsmouth the king arranged for the fleet to put to sea and staged the first-ever mock battle in the Channel in his honour. Peter was so delighted that he said: ‘If I were not the Russian tsar I would have wished to be an English admiral.’
    While in Portsmouth he asked to see the arrangements used for hanging sailors who had been given a death sentence. There was nobody scheduled for execution at the time, so Peter offered one of his own men for a demonstration. The offer was politely declined.
    When the time came for Peter to return to Russia the king presented him with Royal Transport , a lavishly furnished yacht armed with 24 guns. The tsar set off with a number of English naval craftsmen whom he had engaged to help him build up his own navy.
    Peter’s deep connection with shipbuilding and the sea continued throughout his life. He became a competent marine architect and shipwright; some said he was the best in Russia. One of the first major projects in his new imperial