The Navy Is Very Gay

A blog about naval and maritime history, queerness in sailing, and most of all Captain Thomas Masterman Hardy

[squeakitties]

[necromosss]

As the person who got their R keyboard broken and the world mocked me for being forced to use the uwu language as replacement

My condolences

[commodore-64]

put that back

[the-davest-of-uncles]

National Lampoon, October 1985

[ltwilliammowett]

Portrait of the 'Mordaunt', Fourth Rate, built 1681, 46 guns, by Willem van de Velde, the Elder, circa 1683

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hello jack aubrey enjoyers

[megafaunatic]

I think I could have been your man

[alliaskisatallshipandastar]

USS Constitution below deck

Boston, 2023

[captainaubreysbicorne]

hello jack aubrey enjoyers

[lacnunga]

Something something something about tall ships that were drawn contemporaneously by someone from another ship being depicted without visible people on board. The artist knew there were people on there, but theyre not important because the tall ship is a Creature in itself, the little people who sail it are consumed by the Creature are the Creature are nothing to the Creature

[rulebaetannia]

May I posit that Captain Hardy's drawing of a ship is part of this genre, because while the people are there, they are clearly an afterthought. The ship is mathematically perfect, while the people are colourful sticks.

[clove-pinks]

Stephen Decatur by Charles Bird King (NPG).

An early hero of the United States Navy, distinguishing himself in the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812, Commodore Decatur was someone who would probably identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community in the present day.

He was very close to fellow US Navy officer Richard Somers—the two had known each other since they were midshipmen on USS United States. Somers gave Decatur a gold ring before departing on a dangerous mission during the Barbary Wars, and Decatur was inconsolable after Somers' death at Tripoli.

All his life, Decatur wore the ring that Somers had given him, inscribing the legend Tripoli 1804 on the outside of the band and R.S. to S.D. 1804 on the inside. The issue of the two men’s relationship has been treated gingerly by biographers, when it has been discussed at all. At the age of twenty-seven, Decatur married a woman he had never met, who had fallen in love with his picture. Decatur is reported to have told his wife that his first mistress would always be the sea and his country—not she. The couple never had any children. James Fenimore Cooper reported with some bemusement that Somers was never known to have relationships with women. “Although it is scarcely possible that a warm hearted young man, like Somers, should not have felt a preference for some persons of the opposite sex, it is now known that he had a serious attachment when he lost his life,” Cooper wrote, adding poetically, “Glory appears to have been his mistress.”

— Randy Shilts, Conduct Unbecoming: Lesbians and Gays in the U.S. Military from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf War.

'Blowing Up of the Fire ship Intrepid commanded by Capt. Somers in the Harbour of Tripoli on the night of the 4th Sepr. 1804', c. 1805 print (US Naval History and Heritage Command).

[ltwilliammowett]

The Gay Marriages of a Nineteenth-Century Prison Ship

What seemed to enrage a former inmate most was the mutual consent of the men he lived with.

[ltwilliammowett]

Well wonderful tumblr ate my associated text explaining why this article is so interesting. This article describes a letter from a former prisoner of a Prison Hulk from 1842, which not only reports about life on board but also about same-sex marriages. That there were homosexual acts, but also about a social construct that already existed with the pirates, namely the matelotage.

A structure similar to marriage, which at its core is only about caring for each other and is not accompanied by the physical act. Whereby the one does not exclude the other. It seems that at that time, at least on board this hulk, it was normal and apparently accepted. The only question is to what extent it was accepted.

Because that would shed a whole new light on the social coexistence within close-knit same-sex structures such as on ships and would certainly shed new light on some of the court rulings regarding homosexuality on board. For not all the accused have always been sentenced to death.

[ltwilliammowett]

Queer histories in the Navy

As part of LGBT History Month author and LGBT/gender historian, Jo Stanley, discusses queer history in the navy.

Unfortunately only a small insight into the topic, but still very informative

[thecrumbez]

Happy Pride Month to those two women dancing together in the foreground of the boat scene in Godzilla (1954).

I’m sorry your romantic foibles were overshadowed by a big ass atomic lizard thing.

[erratic-dragon-fruit]

out of the tags with you

[mangled-by-disuse]

in happier pride news i actually found this deeply heartwarming

that's solidarity baybeeee

[lgbtlaughs]

Further context: Durham city council (Reform UK) cut funding and support for Pride. The Durham Miner's Association and other trade unions raised enough money for Durham Pride 2026 to go ahead - a direct call back to when Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) raised money for mining communities when Margaret Thatcher seized union funding during the miner strikes of 1984-85.

At the 1985 Labour party meet, the motion to support LGBT rights as a party was passed due to a block vote from mining unions.

Stephen Guy, the chair of the Durham Miners’ Association, said that when it became apparent Durham Pride was under threat, he took it upon himself to “encourage the trade union movement to step up and do the right thing, and stand shoulder to shoulder with the LGBT+ community […] They not only raised funds for us, but came to our communities, uplifted our spirits when they were down, and showed their solidarity.”

[not-this-crude-matter]

One day Palpatine was like, "New guy just dropped: Vader. You don't get to read his CV but he's allowed to kill anyone he wants. He's guy #2 in a religion that's just us. He gets to order the navy around."

It's like if the Archbishop of Canterbury had diplomatic immunity and an aircraft carrier.

[blogofex]

That's literally just how archbishops were for most of the middle ages. Very authentic.

[rulebaetannia]

This is also very Admiral Nelson

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Men's silk velvet plush waistcoat with horizontal black stripes over vertical stripes of green, blue and pink, dated late 1830s.

[ltwilliammowett]

Amerigo Vespucci

Photo - © Roberto Bonini

[thefighting74]

Thinking about the one Trafalgar painting where Nelson has to stand on something to be taller than Hardy (hilarious) + his hand on Hardy's shoulder? 10/10

[rulebaetannia]

Such a classic

[flowercrowncrip]

I’ve been looking forward to sailing for so long, but I had forgotten exactly how completely joyous it is to be out of my wheelchair and in a little sailing boat. Hours later and I’m still smiling and uplifted by it.

In my chair I move by pointing my joystick the way I want to go. In the boat moving is a conversation between you, the boat, the wind, the tide, and the current. One where I am immersed in my environment.

And I think of how many thousands of years people have been sailing for and being part of that same conversation. All those people who have been on the water and hearing those same sounds of ropes and sails and water and birds.

[flowercrowncrip]

If you’re in the UK, disabled and are even slightly curious about sailing/ power boating I really recommend looking up your local Sailability group – there’s absolutely loads of them on rivers, the sea, lakes and reservoirs all over the country.

The phrase I often hear is “if you can sit you can sail” which seems pretty accurate. I know quadriplegics who sail, and it’s possible to get equipment that allows you to control an entire boat using electric controls including sip and puff controls for people with no arm function. I can’t sit in the regular seats used in the boat because they’re too upright for me, but one of the other sailors has made me a custom seating system so I can sit reclined and have appropriate head and lateral support while in the boat.

On days when getting out my wheelchair isn’t an option, we also have a powerboat which allows you to drive your wheelchair straight onto the boat and stay in it. Other Sailability groups I know of also have access to larger sailing boats which are set up so that you can stay in your wheelchair.

Most places will give you a free taster session to see if you enjoy it, and they’re usually very highly subsidised and often have bursary schemes if finances are tight. It’s fun and it’s usually very social – tea and cake after is as much a part of sailing as being on the water for me.