ABSTRACT
In 1798 James Stanier Clarke published a set of sermons given on board the Channel fleet ship the Impetueux, where he had served as sea chaplain since 1796 (Clarke, 1798; Taylor, 1978, pp. 210–11). As well as being part of a naval population whose political and social composition had been transformed by the effects of the 1795 Quota Acts, the crew to whom they were addressed had participated directly in the mutiny at Spithead in April 1797, and manned a ship which by 1799 had gained the reputation of being one of the most mutinous vessels in the navy (Price, 1990, p. 84). 1 The sermons address the general themes of obedience and duty; and with their prompt publication following the thanksgiving for naval victories preached on 19 December 1797 (also included in the volume), they are clearly a response to the extreme events of 1797 – the crisis of the mutinies, followed by the crucial victory at the Battle of Camperdown – as well as to the continued fears over invasion from France and the uncertain loyalty of the lower deck. I shall deal with Clarke’s sermons in detail later. For now I want to claim that they constitute part of a remarkable shift in attitude towards the ordinary sailor. Their suasive character implicitly acknowledges that the stereotype of Jack Tar as the unthinkingly loyal ‘son of Britannia’, which had been the predominant character attributed to the sailor during the eighteenth century, could no longer be sustained in the light of recent events. Instead, his loyalty was to be won by sophisticated and reasoned argument. 2 Tacitly acknowledged too, however, is the presence of a large constituency of the navy whom reason might lead to republicanism rather than constitutional monarchy; and the presence of many, particularly Irishmen, whose loyalty might not, anyway, be naturally towards England.
