The Royal Navy ratings were magnificent

As Queen Elizabeth II is laid to rest amidst the kind of pageantry at which Britain excels, the role of the Royal Navy was fascinating to observe.

Drawing the gun carriage with the Queen’s coffin draped in the Royal Standard, topped by the Imperial State Crown, Orb and Sceptre, their discipline and strength took me back to the descriptions of their antecedent’s travails in the Sudan:

I have never witnessed such a sight as the sailors drawing their machine guns. The pluck they showed and the work and labour required to drag those guns along for more than twenty miles was very great. I am sure if I had not seen it, I would not have believed it.

Royal Marine Artillery Gunner JT Wilkinson quoted in Richard Brooks’ The Long Arm of Empire: Naval Brigades from the Crimea to the Boxer Rebellion

Jack Tars hard at work 138 years ago.