The R-[oya]L Cascade!! or Pumping Ship on board the Yatch [Yacht] (caricature)

A hand-coloured nautical satire at the expense of George IV, who had become king earlier in 1820. He is shown straddling a cannon being violently sick, ostensibly from the motion of a tumultuous sea. In the top left, an officer with a wooden leg, declares through a speaking trumpet, ‘It is nothing when you are used to it’, while a group of three sailors, on the opposite side, look anxious to avoid the King. They pump water from the bilge to keep the ship stable and afloat, one orders, ‘Heave away and be d__n’d to you heave!!!’ A woman rushes below the king, pursued by an officer as another emerged from below the deck. Distant ships ride the choppy waves as Neptune, the King of the Sea, observes on the right.

A lady to the left of the King checks his temperature. She wears a tiara concealed under a hat that has blown off behind her. She places her hand on his forehead, and asks, ‘Oh dear!! My Darling!! – what can the matter be? – can’t I cure you?’. One interpretation is that this is his estranged wife, Queen Caroline, whose solicitous attention is causing him extreme disgust. Another reading is that she is Maria Anne Fitzherbert, the King’s mistress, and the woman below, who complains, ‘Make haste with the Brandy Bottle – I am getting Sea-sick too!!’ is Queen Caroline. She runs from the advances of a naval officer who suggestively asks, ‘Ma’am shall I hand you below’. His curly sideburns are reminiscent of Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith who was rumoured to have had an affair with the Queen. Another officer, who could be Caroline’s alleged lover Royal Navy Captain Thomas Manby, emerges with a glass and bottle of brandy from below the deck, assuring, ‘I am coming – coming – to the Cunning Lady’.

This caricature was published towards the end of what was known as ‘The Trial of Caroline’ that subsequently resulted in the short-lived passing of the Pains and Penalties Bill 1820. It was debated in Parliament at the request of King George IV in an attempt to divorce his wife and deny her the title of Queen Consort, without disclosing his adultery. The trial, which exposed scandalous and private details of the monarchy and Caroline’s life, garnered public sympathy for Queen Caroline and, throughout the trial, a number of caricatures were printed representing the King poorly in comparison to his wife. Here, Neptune also calls George’s conduct into question, asking ‘D you Lubber – what are you at – what are you after?’.

‘Pump ship’ was slang for vomiting demonstrating the title’s play on words to refer to the King.