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Abstract
In 2011, Nick Harvey, communication and campaigns manager for Seafarers UK, wrote an article for the Maritime Foundation deploring what he called ‘alarming ignorance of our island nation's dependence on the sea’. ‘Our nationwide survey revealed that general maritime knowledge amongst the public at large is severely lacking, and “sea-blindness” is a huge problem,’ he stated. Knowledge of Britain's past and present seafarers appeared patchy and a character from American film was identified by some as Britain's greatest seaman. But why might Britain have become ‘sea-blind’, as the survey results suggest? Building on Harvey's claim that the fictional Jack Sparrow has replaced Alfred the Great and Nelson as a national maritime icon, this article seeks to demonstrate the close connection between literary culture, the politics of identity and the fortunes of the British seafaring tradition, especially its navy. The representation of seafarers in a literary trend is seen to be an accurate indicator of the nation's attitude to maritime activities at any given time. Bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives, this article suggests that the impact of literary and filmic depictions is more important than has been recognised: opinion formers are likely to be influenced by such depictions rather than, or alongside, overt arguments about hardware or policy.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Harry Bennett, Julian Parker of the Maritime Foundation, Barbara Bond and other participants for their kind reception and helpful comments in subsequent discussion.
Notes
† A version of this article was presented at the ‘Britain and the Sea’ conference (September 2012) at the University of Plymouth.
1. Harvey, ‘Finding a cure for sea blindness’.
2. H.M. Government, Securing Britain in an age of uncertainty; G.H. Bennett, ‘UK armed forces future force structure’; and Prins and Blackham, ‘Britain's trade depends on the sea’. Save the Royal Navy, http://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/wordpress/?page_id=0. Phoenix Thinktank, http://www.phoenixthinktank.org/. Willett (Royal United Services Institute), ‘Euronaval’. See also Chatham House's evaluation of the UK's Strategic Defence and Security Review at http://www.chathamhouse.org/research/security/current-projects/uks-strategic-defence-and-security-review.
3. Griggs, ‘The navy in the maritime century’.
4. Corbett, Review of Chris Jones, 294 and Niles, ‘Old English verse’, 300.
5. North and Allard, Beowulf and other stories, ix–x, 1.
6. Southey, ‘Race of Odin’.
7. Parker, England's darling, 152–60; Turner, History of the Anglo-Saxons; Palgrave, History of Saxon England; idem., History of the Anglo-Saxons; and Green, Making of England. Parker surveys the impact of these works, 39.
8. ‘A brief history of the Royal Navy’. http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheets_naval_history.htm.
9. Parker, England's darling, 147–51; Stables, ‘Twixt daydawn and light; and Austin, England's darling. For further discussion, see Gibson, Imagining the pagan past, chap. 4.
10. Cunliffe, Facing the ocean.
11. Tennyson, ‘A welcome to Alexandra’. For its popularity, see Ledbetter, Tennyson and Victorian periodicals, 155.
12. Litzenberg, Victorians and the Vikings and Wawn, Vikings and the Victorians; see also Wawn, ‘The Viking revival’.
13. Taylor, ‘English translations’, xxi–xxiii.
14. Wawn, ‘The Viking revival’ and Latham, Frithiof, 85, 92.
15. Collingwood and Stafansson, Life and death of Cormac the Skald.
16. Dearden, ‘Collingwood’.
17. Ransome, ‘Thorstein's country’.
18. Originally, the first line of ‘Sea-fever’ read ‘I must down to the seas’ but the better-known version is from Masefield's Collected poems.
19. Fleming, Moonraker, 169.
20. Fleming's naval service is discussed in Lycett, Ian Fleming; Macintyre, Operation Mincemeat; and Rankin, Ian Fleming's commandos.
21. Viking fleet, http://bfbs.com/news/uk/%C2%A337m-lease-life-viking-fleet-60861.html and http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/News-and-Events/Latest-News/2012/December/20/121220-258M-Contract.
22. Annan, ‘Kipling's place in the history of ideas’, 332; Whitlark, ‘Kipling's scriptural paradoxes for imperial children’; and Coates, Day's work, 52.
23. Archibald, ‘Religion in some contemporary poets’, 61.
24. Kipling, ‘Mary Postgate’. The story first appeared in Nash's and Pall Mall Gazette (Sep. 1915) and The Century (Sep. 1915) with the title ‘How does your garden grow’, implying that Mary is ‘quite contrary’ as the nursery rhyme tells us.
25. See the debate at the Victorian web: http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/kipling/postgate.intro.html.
26. Ramsden, Don't mention the war, 91–7; Hewitt, Encroachments of the German Ocean; and Van de Noort, North Sea archaeologies, 1–20.
27. Ireland, History of England, 82, 92.
28. Hunter Blair, Roman Britain, 25, 83; obituary, The Times, 10 Sep. 1982, 10.
29. Hunter Blair, letter, The Times, 20 Feb. 1980, 15.
30. Marshall, The Viking; The Vikings, dir. Fleischer.
31. Wood, Flag and fleet.
32. For example, The Naval Review 13 (May 1925) was devoted to the battle: ‘The Jutland scandal’ (216–31), ‘Jutland criticisms’ (232–7) and ‘Jutland or Trafalgar’ (238–43).
33. Sutcliff, Silver branch, 28, 160; idem., Lantern bearers, 50, 63–4, 272.
34. Frenchman, ‘Finding a good word for the poor old Vikings’, 12.
35. Wilson, ‘Sutton Hoo’, 6.
36. PBS Newshour, Seamus Heaney interview with Elizabeth Farnsworth, 28 Mar. 2000.
37. ‘It's always sunny in Doc. Martin's town’ at http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv/tv-reviews/172407/TV-review-i-Its-always-sunny-in-Doc-Martins-town-i.
38. Doc Martin, ‘On the edge’.
39. ‘Manly men can hunt/fish’ at http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ManlyMenCanHunt.
40. Mighty ships.
41. Mackenzie, ‘Broadcasting the new navy’.
42. Fleming, Casino Royale; Casino Royale dir. Campbell (Eon, 2006); Quantum of solace dir. Foster; Skyfall dir. Mendes.
43. In the novels, Bond is a reservist, like his creator. In the films, he is occasionally seen at sea or in uniform and is attached to MI6, as discussed by Newton, ‘Bond and the navy’.
44. Judith Bridgland's discussion can be found at these blog posts: http://jibridgland.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/skyfall-paintings-in-national-gallery.html; http://jibridgland.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/skyfall-and-painting-in-ms-office.html. On paintings in Bond films see Stock, ‘Dial M for metonym’.
45. A bleak appraisal of the Royal Navy's capabilities is ‘Dark clouds on horizon for the Royal Navy, says academic’ at: http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Dark-clouds-horizon-Royal-Navy-says-academic/story-16819179-detail/story.html#axzz2NsmmUif2.
46. Low, Whale road and sequels; Kristian, Raven and sequels.