Life in Nelson's Navy
ROBERT HAY was born of poor parents at Kirkintilloch in Dum- barton in the year of the French Revolution. During the next ten years his father changed house and trade several times, settling finally as a weaver in Paisley in 1798. In 1803 Robert, aged thirteen, depressed at not being able to obtain work, " resolved in some way Or other to get into action." One July morning, without telling his parents, he set off for Greenock to join the Navy. Here his harassed father found him a few days later, but, as he had not enough money to procure a discharge, he was obliged to return home without him ; and soon afterwards his son's ship sailed for Plymouth.
Robert Hay's naval career lasted for the next eight years. After being " broken in " in the Plymouth hulks, he was posted to the Culloden ' in the Channel Fleet, in which ship Collingwood for a time hoisted his flag. In 1804 the Culloden ' sailed for the East, taking Admiral Pellew (later Lord Eitmouth) to his command as C-in-C, India. Here Hay acted first as officers' servant, and later as apprentice to the ship's carpenter ; he spent several months ashore in the hospital at Bombay because of an injury to his leg, but rejoined the ship in time to take part in a number of engagements against the Dutch in Java. In 1809 the Culloden ' returned home and Hay was transferred to the Amethyst ' frigate. This ship was wrecked in a gale in Plymouth harbour, and jn the ensuing confusion Hay, by now tired of sea life, made good his escape. He joined a merchant- ship which took him to the West Indies, after which he proceeded to London in the hope of getting a passage north. Here however he was seized by the Press Gang (who fortunately did not know he was a deserter) and taken on board the guardship at the Nore. A second escape was more successful, and in October, 1811, Hay arrived back at Paisley. In 1812 he obtained a post .with the Ardrossan Canal Company which lasted until 1830, when he became first sub-editor and later editor of the Paisley Advertiser ; which appointment he held until within four years of his death in 1847.
It was in 1820 that Hay wrote the memoirs of his naval life, which are here published for the first time. They have been arranged bY his. great-grand-daughter, Miss M. D. Hay, whoSe work is a model of accurate and selective editing. My only complaint is that she has not seen fit to correct Hay's occasional, and irritating, lapses in spelling. The memoirs themselves add little to our knowledge of naval history, and they are not so interesting or well-written as other personal accounts published during the early nineteenth century or, in more recent times, by the Navy Records Society. There is a revealing chapter on Collingwood, and a description of being " shampooed ' in India is a delightful piece of humorous writing. But on the whole Hay's style is too sententious, and the part he played in the wars too limited, for his memoirs to have much appeal to the general
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