"Black Tars – The role of black sailors in the ..." Topic

….Royal Navy in the Age of Fighting Sail.

"In the heart of London is Trafalgar Square, where the figure of Nelson stands on top of his column and gazes out over the city's traffic. The base of the column is decorated by four bronze reliefs which commemorate some of his victories. The one for the Battle of Trafalgar shows the admiral being carried from the quarterdeck of the Victory, moments after being shot by a French marksman. The scene has fourteen people in it, including Nelson, one of whom is clearly a black sailor. He has been given a prominent role, standing with a musket held across his chest as he looks towards where the shot has come from, as if about to revenge the dying hero.

The relief was produced by the Irish artist John Edward Carew. In an era before notions of political correctness or ethnic balance could have influenced him, he chose to include a black sailor in his scene. A study of the work gives us some clues to Carew's motivation. The relief shows a desire on his part to achieve a good level of historical accuracy, from an artist with no experience of the sea. In which case, it may indicate that black sailors were a sufficiently common sight on board Royal Navy ships at Trafalgar to make the unknown sailor's inclusion unremarkable…"
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