The Output of Maritime Films between 1895 and 1918

Up until the end of the First World War maritime actuality shorts were a prominent

category of films which numbered well over 500 productions.71 These were

dominated by films of the Royal Navy, which accounted for more than half of all types of maritime film. In addition there were at least a further 220 fictional maritime films made, where again the Royal Navy was the largest single category. These figures do not include the thousands of feet of naval footage produced for newsreels after their introduction in 1910.72 The numbers of films were not evenly distributed over the years, but nevertheless these figures equate to at least one film of a maritime subject made for every week between 1895 and 1918.

The film industry grew with remarkable speed. Before 1910 public appetite for film had grown through exhibition in fairgrounds and the music hall. Hiley’s research demonstrates that the proliferation of dedicated cinemas, which built up from 2900 in 1910 to 5400 by 1915, were frequented almost exclusively by the working classes. The 3.5 million tickets sold per week in1911 more than doubled by 1915 and reached 21 million by 1917.73

Despite the immediate appearance of a great number of maritime films reaching a significantly large working class audience their role has not been fully recognised in previous studies. Films do not play a part Hamilton’s analysis of the operation and agencies involved in the naval cause in the early part of the twentieth century.74 This is in spite of the fact that many of those same agencies were directly or indirectly responsible for the promotion of the navy on screen. The contribution of film in furthering the cult of the navy is recognised in Rüger’s work although it is not examined at great length, and concerns only actuality films featuring the Royal

71 _{This figure could be significantly higher in terms of individual films as many titles were in fact a} programme of films which could also be hired separately. Where possible this is indicated in the film appendices.

72 _{Pathe and Gaumont began making newsreels in Britain in 1910 followed by Topical Budget in 1911.} 73 _{Nicholas Hiley, ‘The British Cinema Auditorium’, in Karel Dibbets and Bert Hogenkamp (eds), Film}

and the First World War, (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1995), pp. 160-162.

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Navy.75 Fictional films, and non-naval maritime films are not considered, yet these were also widely distributed and contributed significantly to the idea of a national maritime culture.

The prolific output of maritime films was one of the key manifestations of the so- called ‘cult of the navy.’ The popular appeal of the sea reached every strata of society. It is not difficult to point to numerous Victorian examples of a maritime culture

represented in the works of contemporary artists such as Turner, Elgar76 and

Newbolt.77 These went alongside more popular cultural representations, including the figure of ‘Jack Tar’ as an enduring music hall favourite, sentimental prints of the ‘sailor’s goodbye,’ the dressing of children in sailor suits and cigarette advertising.78 Most of these cultural manifestations, including film were deliberately patriotic in nature. This early concentration on maritime subjects on film, and the immediate use of maritime imagery as a signifier of nation was only meaningful and possible by the osmosis of deep-rooted pre-existing ideas about Britain’s relationship with the sea.

The navy became important at the latter end of the nineteenth century for two major reasons. The first was a matter of practicality and Britain’s world status. That is the concern that the navy would remain strong enough in the face of foreign competition to continue its traditional roles: as the first line of defence both militarily and in terms of trade protection. Essentially these were linked to Britain’s standing in the world order: its naval supremacy and its prosperity through trade and empire. The second related reason was a response to the rise of tension and nationalism across Europe in the latter half of the nineteenth century whereby matters of national identity came to the fore. Building upon Britain’s long held notions of identification with the sea the navy became a potent symbol of nation and its sailors an embodiment of the ideals of British character. Before considering the interplay of film with these issues it is

75

Rüger, The Great Naval Game, pp. 52-53, 64-65, 78-79. 76 _{For example: Sea Pictures 1899.}

77 _{For example: Admirals All: and Other Verses, (London: Elkin Matthews, 1897).}

78 _{For a discussion on sailor suits see Clare Rose, ‘The Meanings of the Late Victorian Sailor Suit’,}

Journal for Maritime Research, June 2009 (unpaginated), www.jmr.ac.uk/server/show/Conjmr.270

[accessed 16 March 2010]. Matthew Hilton notes that nearly all cigarette companies in 1901 had a type of ‘Navy Cut’, and looks at military influences on cigarette advertising in ‘Advertising, the Modernist Aesthetic of the Marketplace? The Cultural Relationship between the Tobacco Manufacturer and the ‘Mass’ Consumers in Britain, 1870-1940’ in Martin Daunton and Bernhard Rieger (eds), Meanings of

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necessary to first outline the causes of the cult of the navy. Secondly it is essential to consider the Victorian casting of national history and of maritime history within it, to understand how film became a major agent in the spread of the cult of the navy.