Charon's Boat, or Topham's Trip with Hood to Hell

In classical mythology, Charon was the ferryman of the dead, transporting them over the river Styx or Acheron from the land of the living to Hades, the realm of the dead. Guarding the gates of the Underworld was Cerberus, most often depicted as a fierce three headed dog whose job it was to keep the dead from escaping and returning to life.

As in so many of his satires, Gillray refers to myths like these to describe a current political situation. For those familiar with the myths, the allusions provided an immediate framework for understanding what would otherwise require laborious explanation and detail.

In this case, the (politically) dead Admiral Hood is ferried by the newspaper owner, Edward Topham (who had been a major supporter of Hood's candidacy) to the Hell of defeated politicians. Earlier that month, Hood, the naval hero and Tory candidate had lost the hotly contested Westminster by-election to the Whig favorite, Lord John Townsend, the friend of Charles James Fox.

As described in Gillray prints like The Butchers of Freedom and The Battle of Bow Street, nearly every possible dirty trick had been played (ultimately by both sides) including voter fraud, bribery, and voter intimidation. Indeed, there were several bloody skirmishes between sailors supporting Hood and butchers and tradesmen supporting Townsend, resulting in property damage, injuries and at least a couple of deaths. Reports of rallies and skirmishes, trending votes, and the personal histories of the candidates, however, were all highly skewed, depending upon the political affiliations of the newspapers, making it difficult to determine which was real and which was "fake news." In the end, however, in spite of not so secret government funding, Hood was defeated.

In Gillray's representation, Hood is seated in the boat. He is still pursued by demons behind him carrying bones and cleavers representing the Whig opposition. He is headed to the shore of Hell where three of his campaign supporters, Horne Tooke, John Churchill, and John Frost are represented by the three-headed dog Cerberus. The Hell to which Hood is now consigned consists primarily of the torments of regret (the "Worm of Conscience") for the dirty campaign he waged with Topham's help. That campaign included stories published in Topham's daily newspaper, The World, represented by the notes such as "Murder! Murder! Macnamara," "Massacre of Shipmen" and "Ideson's Bad Votes" floating alongside the boat which were, as the British Museum commentary suggests, fabrications or at least exaggerations of the facts.

The other source of torment comes from devils carrying "bills" from the many tradesmen who provided food, drink, meeting rooms, and placards in support of the campaign. In this regard, Charon's Boat is similar to the August 14th print, Election Troops, Bringing in Their Accounts to the Pay Table where creditors (including Topham) appear at the Treasury Gate to receive payment from Pitt. But unlike Pitt Hood cannot send his creditors to the back door to be paid out of government funds.

The copy of Charon's Boat reproduced here from the British Museum collection has been marked up, presumably by Gillray, as if he were still unsatisfied with the result, and the signature and publisher have been mostly crossed out. Coupled with the fact that the print is extremely rare (I have not seen another copy in any of the major Gillray collections), this may suggest that, in fact, the British Museum copy is a proof and that Gillray never finished or published the print.

Sources and Reading

• Commentary from the British Museum on Charon's Boat, or Topham's Trip with Hood to Hell.
• Draper Hill, Mr. Gillray The Caricaturist, 1965, p. 32.
• "Cerberus," Wikipedia
• "Charon," Wikipedia
• "Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood," Wikipedia
• "Edward Topham," Wikipedia
• Thomas Wright and Joseph Grego, The Works of James Gillray, the Caricaturist; With the History of His Life and Times, p. 350.

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