The Sailor's Revenge or the Strand in an Uproar

This print records events in the Strand on 2 July 1749, when a group of sailors ransacked a brothel, having been robbed there the night before. A young man named Bosavern Penlez was hanged for causing the riot.

The street is packed with sailors, prostitutes and assorted passers-by, who comment on the situation with varied emotions. The general tenor of the print is unsympathetic to the prostitutes' plight. Most bystanders express approval of the events - 'A joyful riddance' and 'Those beds won't wag again in haste' being typical comments. In the middle of the throng, a man, evidently suffering from syphilis, observes 'Had this been some years ago I'd sav'd my nose'. A portly quack doctor, at the far left, grumbles 'O villains I shall lose all my patients'. One of the prostitutes complains 'Now must I pyke to Goodmans Fields again'. And, at the far right, a scantily-clad girl, obviously ejected from the brothel, seeks protection from the sailor's captain - 'Dear Capt. protect me from your tars' - and has her breasts fondled in response.

The print's subtitle refers to the situation as as a 'tragi comical farce' and it was certainly tragic for one young man. Bosavern Penlez, who by chance was in the Strand that night, was tried and hanged for his part in the riot.