The Serpentine was not utilized for any purpose until August 1st, 1814, when a national rejoicing called “The Jubilee” was held in the Park, to celebrate the conclusion of peace with France, and the celebration of the centenary of the accession of George I. There were to be illuminations, fireworks, and balloon ascents in St. James’s and the Green Parks, and in Hyde Park a fair, and a “Naumachia,” or sea-fight, which was somewhat appropriate, as the famous Battle of the Nile was fought on August 1st, 1798.
The mimic three-deckers and frigates were necessarily small, and they were made out of ships’ barges at Woolwich, and great was the chaff made about this “liliputian navy.” Here are some skits thereon:--
“_John Bull_, the other day, in pensive mood, Near to the Serpentine Flotilla stood; His hands were thrust into his emptied pockets, And much of ships he muttered, and of rockets; Of silly Fêtes--and Jubilees unthrifty-- And babies overgrown, of _two and fifty_;[32] I guess’d the train of thought which then possess’d him, And deem’d th’ occasion fit, and thus address’d him:
“‘Be generous to a fallen foe, With gratulations meet, On Elba’s _Emperor_ bestow Thy Liliputian fleet:
“‘For, with his Island’s narrow bounds, That Navy might agree, Which, laugh’d at daily here--redounds In ridicule to thee.’
“Says John, ‘Right readily I’ll part With these, and all the gay things, But it would break the R----’s heart To take away his play things.’”
“A simple Angler, throwing flies for trout, Hauled the main mast, and lugg’d a First Rate out.
“A crow in his _fright_, flying over the Fleet, Dropped something, that covered it all, like a sheet.”
In contemporary accounts, the “Naumachia” was generally very summarily dismissed, and the following is, perhaps, one of the best of them.
“Between eight and nine o’clock, the Grand Sea Fight took place on the Serpentine River, where ships of the line, in miniature, manœuvred and engaged, and the Battle of the Nile was represented in little. Of this mock naval engagement on the great Serpentine Ocean, it would be extremely difficult to give any adequate description. It is, perhaps, sufficient to observe that it was about on a par with spectacles of a similar nature, which have been frequently exhibited at the Theatres.... We were as heartily glad when the cockle-shell fight was over, as we had been tired of waiting for it. We were afraid, at one time, whether it would have neither beginning nor end. Indeed, there had been a wretched skirmish between four and five in the afternoon, between an American and an English frigate,[33] at the conclusion of which, the English colours were triumphantly hoisted on the rebel Yankee.... At a signal given, the fireworks in the Green Park were let off, and four of the little fleet in the Serpentine were set on fire. The Swans screamed, and fluttered round the affrighted lake.”