The Blind Sailor

This mezzotint print was published in 1793 by Robert Sayer. It depicts a sailor, sitting on a rock and holding out a hat. His clothes are worn and patched, and a bandage is wrapped around his head to cover his eyes. Two women and a child look on in sympathy as one drops a coin into the sailor’s hat.

Originally the print included a printed ballad of ‘The Blind Sailor’ by Charles Dibdin in the lower section but this has been cut away. The poem describes a sailor who has lost his nose and eyes during a battle. It alludes to the sufferings that sailors endured on their voyages yet ends on a patriotic note with the sailor admitting he did it all for his King.

While it was common for maritime ballads and prints to represent a patriotic feeling amongst sailors, this print also includes representations of their sufferings and of their receipt of sympathy and charity.