The Brave British Tar

Broadside ballad entitled 'The Brave British Tar, or the True History of a Sailor who had both his legs shot off in Lord Duncan's Victory, with an Account of his Extraordinary Dream and how remarkably it was fulfilled' Printed in two columns the ballad refers to the true story of James Covey a sailor on HMS Venerable who, during the battle between the Dutch fleet at the British at Camperdown in 1797 had his legs shot off by a piece of bar-shot. Covey, who had predicted his injury during a dream survived the amputation long enough to be converted, give up his wicked ways and tell the story of his life to John Griffin, the author of the broadside.

Ballads based on both true and fictional stories were hugely popular with Londoners. Primarily printed by small back street printers based in the Seven Dials area of London they were sold by ballad hawkers trading on London's streets. The ballad writers would receive little reward from the printers for their efforts, reportedly sometimes only a few pints of ale. The printer of this ballad John Pitts was a leading figure among the Seven Dials printers having established his business in Great Andrew Street in 1802. Pitts dominated the ballad trade until the advent of Jemmy Catnach in 1813.