Dec 3, 2020
Nelson used to say, “Aft the most honour, forward the better man.” Yet the topmen were the hardest treated, for smartness aloft was a point of honour in every ship. Up to the topmast head in twelve minutes and all sail set in half an hour was the rule of a crack frigate. Thus it was the topman, in spite of all his skill and agility, who was most frequently ‘started’ with the bosun’s rattan or rope’s end. He was the man who pulled on his jacket without a grimace after three dozen lashes at the gratings.
— Christopher Lloyd, Captain Marryat and the Old Navy
image: 1830s watercolour of sailors aloft, USS Constitution Museum collection
