George Elphinstone, Admiral Viscount Keith (1746–1823). His numerous posts included Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet during the British expedition to Egypt in 1801, when relations with his captains became strained. (Author’s collection)
Midshipmen, or ‘young gentlemen’, generally came aboard as a result of the patronage of the ship’s captain, and therefore owed their appointment to what contemporaries called ‘interest’. For the most part, a captain took on such boys for the sake of his own relations, to pay off a debt or to seek favour with an influential family, usually one with connections to the Admiralty. In choosing a midshipman a captain did not have to obtain the approval of the Admiralty; nor did the decision cost him anything, since he made no pledge to teach the boy navigation or seamanship. Such skills were to be acquired over time in his role as a sort of naval apprentice. Boys were put forward by families either who genuinely regarded a naval career as a worthy pursuit for their son, or simply by those who found other professions unpalatable. Thus, those aspiring to hold command were not the products of families whose wealth alone could secure for them a commission (which, in any event, could only be acquired by purchase in the Army, not in the Navy), but boys prepared to rise through hard work and skill amidst a degree of squalor and discomfort. Oddly enough, though they might eventually reach the rank of admiral and command a fleet, or sit on the Admiralty Board and make decisions on naval strategy, there existed no formal method of selection for midshipmen. They came aboard at the behest of the captain, with the sole qualification being their connection – usually through family ties – with the captain, and thus they joined the Navy with not the least bit of ceremony or remark by the Admiralty.
A midshipman off to sea. One of a series of satirical cartoons by Cruikshank, tracing the career of Master William Blockhead of HMS Hellfire. The boy, oblivious to the realities of life at sea, torments his sister with a dirk while his mother weeps at his imminent departure and his father examines the enormous list of clothing and provisions, the bills for which stand piled high on the table. (National Maritime Museum)
A boy joined as a ‘first-class volunteer’, according to which designation he had to serve two years before he was made a full midshipman. If, on the other hand, he had already spent two years at the Naval Academy at Gosport, near Portsmouth, he could join his vessel as a midshipman from the start. During the 1790s, a boy could begin his service at sea from the age of 11, or perhaps a year or two younger, but in 1812 the minimum age was altered to 13, with the exception of officers’ sons, who could come aboard at the age of 11. In terms of numbers, a first-rate ship carried 24 midshipmen, a second-rate had 18, a third-rate, 12, and fourth- and fifth-rates fewer according to their size.
Instruction in navigation, nautical astronomy, and trigonometry was given every morning to midshipmen from 9am until noon by a schoolmaster, who was also expected to ensure that his pupils maintained as high a moral tone as possible under the circumstances and to report to the captain any boy whose attitude towards his work gave cause for concern. In almost all cases, the schoolmaster was also the ship’s chaplain, paid for his tutelage out of the pupil’s wages. Where neither a chaplain nor a schoolmaster served aboard the ship, the captain taught the midshipmen himself, sometimes denying them their meal until they could establish the ship’s position by dead reckoning or by the altitude of the sun.
Once a boy reached the age of 15, and was properly rated a midshipman, he became known as an ‘oldster’, with concomitant higher pay, a cessation of lessons by the schoolmaster and a proportion of daily grog allotted to him. From this point he moved from the gun room into the midshipmen’s berth on the orlop deck, situated in the after cockpit, where he messed (ate) with older midshipmen who had passed their exams and qualified as lieutenants, but were merely awaiting promotion, as well as with the master’s mates. After two years’ further service he was eligible to sit the examination for master’s mate, if he wished to be qualified to pilot prize vessels into port, so long as he could demonstrate competence in navigation and seamanship.
A midshipman carrying his journal and sextant, by Thomas Rowlandson, 1799. (Stratford Archive)
From 1794, in order to be eligible for promotion, a midshipman had to have reached the age of 19 and acquired a certain amount of ‘sea time’, which meant that he had to possess a certificate confirming that he had been on the ship’s books for at least six years, two of which spent as a midshipman or master’s mate, to be able to sit the examination for lieutenant before the Navy Board examiners or a quorum of three sea captains. The system was open to fraud, however, for an unscrupulous captain, usually seeking some favour from the boy’s parents – who might have influence at the Admiralty, for instance – could place a boy’s name in the muster book for a year or two before the boy actually went to sea, therefore providing him with unearned ‘sea time’. But from 1794 the captain could not carry on this activity with such disregard for the consequences, for in that year volunteers began to receive pay, and if a boy’s name appeared in the muster book, then the Navy Board necessarily dispensed funds which, if the captain kept (for, after all, there was no boy to receive this pay), he was committing fraud, with the resulting court martial putting a swift end to his career.
Although regulations barred a midshipman from becoming a lieutenant until he was 19, in an age when birth certificates were not issued in a standard fashion, ways of circumventing the system easily existed, such as the creation of forgeries by bribing a parson or local worthy. A birth certificate, forged or otherwise, when produced with certificates (themselves legitimate or illegitimate) supplied by captains who claimed the lad had at least six years of sea service under his belt, enabled a midshipman to clear the first hurdle of his naval career. According to William Falconer, author of the much-respected contemporary naval reference work, Universal Dictionary of the Marine, captains’ testimonial were to attest to the boys’ having been not only ‘diligent and attentive to the duties of their profession, but [having] at all times been obedient to the commands of their superior officers’.
The second step, of course, required a midshipman to pass the examination, which, while originally only possible in London before the Navy Board, eventually could be conducted by three senior captains at one of the main ports, such as Portsmouth or Plymouth, or if abroad by the station commander-in-chief ordering his three senior captains to establish a panel of examiners. These reforms spared the candidate the potentially great inconvenience and expense of having to reach London. In the course of his examination the midshipman’s fitness came under scrutiny rather more closely than the documents he brought, which could not, they appreciated, with any degree of reliability prove his age or the number of years he had served at sea. That is not to say that every midshipman sat the exam as soon as he reached 19; it all depended on how much ‘sea time’ he had accumulated, and at what age he had come aboard. James Gardner, the son of a captain, was 25 when he sat his lieutenant’s exam, having spent 13 years as a midshipman.
Prince William Henry (later William IV) who, though a midshipman a decade before the French Revolutionary Wars, is shown here wearing the uniform that remained in standard use throughout the 1790s. (Stratford Archive)
If a boy possessed a sound understanding of seamanship and navigation that usually sufficed to persuade the examining board of his fitness for a commission. If he failed to answer satisfactorily a battery of questions, the midshipman would have to apply again a few months later. Some tried innumerable times and never succeeded, remaining midshipmen for years or even decades. Whereas the admirals and captains who composed the board were perhaps less than exacting in investigating a boy’s age, they were not inclined to promote a boy who could not meet the important responsibilities of a lieutenant, for the ship herself and the lives of her crew might rest on his decisions – good or bad. A young man might succeed by sheer luck, with the board neglecting to test him on his perhaps imperfect understanding of astronomy or mathematics, but if he appeared to be strong in matters navigational, or otherwise exhibited virtues connected with leadership and strength of character, that was usually sufficient. There was no medical examination, which was just as well for the likes of those of a weak constitution like Horatio Nelson.
Even when he passed his exam, a midshipman might not in fact receive a commission, for without a vacancy in a ship he could go nowhere, which meant that he joined the collection of disillusioned young and middle-aged men who had ‘passed for lieutenant’, yet continued to make their home in the midshipmen’s berth for an indeterminate period. There were 2,000 such men in this situation in 1813, having served their time and passed their exams but with no vacancy to fill. In these cases, they sometimes accepted a post as a warrant officer, but if in this capacity they subsequently found their ship decommissioned (what contemporaries called being placed ‘in ordinary’), they did not, like commissioned officers, receive half pay.
If a midshipman passed his exam and received his commission – with or without a ship to receive him – he at least now, unlike his status as a midshipman, had an official existence, with his name added to the Sea Officers List, the forerunner of the Navy List, and he became eligible for half pay in the event that he could find no employment. Even if he passed the board, however, he still faced anxiety over his seagoing appointment, for while some might bring excitement, action – and thus the likelihood of more rapid promotion through distinguished conduct or the death of an officer – and possibly even prize money, others could be boring and carry little prospect of advancement. Determination of an appointment was usually influenced by one’s record of service as a midshipman and any connections one possessed within influential naval circles.
Waiting Room at the Admiralty, where aspirants and petitioners of various sorts sought to apply, or plead their case, for an appointment, promotion or pension. While a man who reached the rank of captain often did so with at least some degree of ‘influence’ or ‘patronage’, that is not to say that the Admiralty was prepared to risk its ships in the hands of someone without the requisite skills to handle it properly. Thus, unlike in the Army, a naval officer could not purchase a commission. In short, the Admiralty would not knowingly allow an incompetent officer to reach the exalted position of captain. (Stratford Archive)
A newly created lieutenant began his commissioned years at the bottom of a list, so that as men higher up the list died or were made commanders or post captains, his name would move up the list, with new names added beneath his. This did not necessarily mean, however, that he had to wait his turn to be promoted in strict order of seniority, reaching the top of the lieutenants’ list because of the death, retirement or promotion of men above him. Rather, to make ‘commander’ or ‘post captain’ was a process of selection, not a simple mark of longevity. Thus, a lieutenant at the top of the list could remain unselected for years – even decades – sometimes for the remainder of his life. In 1799, for instance, the lieutenant at the top of the list had had his name down since 1744 – that is to say, over half a century. The names of the two following were listed under ‘1747’, the two after that as ‘1757’, with another 14 under ‘1758’. Clearly, then, a lieutenant aspiring to a captaincy could ‘jump the queue’ over his peers, for patronage often played a role here as did meritorious conduct in action, as a result of which his captain might enter his name in the ‘record of proceedings’, thus increasing the young lieutenant’s chances of promotion ahead of his less distinguished contemporaries. It is important to observe, however, that a lieutenant did not need to wait for promotion to command an unrated vessel, such as a cutter or gun boat, of his own, and could, in the event of the incapacity or death of her captain – but only temporarily until a new captain could be found – take charge of a fifth rate (a frigate of 32 to 44 guns) or sixth rate (a brig or sloop of 20 to 28 guns). Whatever the actual size or rate of the vessel, however, he was addressed as and referred to as ‘captain’. While a lieutenant only commanded a sixth rate, a commander never served aboard a vessel smaller than a sixth rate.
A newly appointed lieutenant admires himself in the mirror as his gleeful family and the household servants look on. Note the telltale single epaulette, stockings, decorated cocked hat and straight sword that betray his new commission. (Stratford Archive)
For a lieutenant seeking a captaincy in the strict definition of the term, appointment to a ship would come in the form of a sixth-rate ship, a promotion which made him in the early years of the war a ‘master and commander’, later simplified to ‘commander’. On the other hand, it was possible for a skilful and brave lieutenant to skip this rank and move straight to command a fifth rate, particularly if he were the first (i.e. senior) lieutenant of a flagship (the ship in a squadron or fleet aboard which an admiral flew his flag) and enjoyed the favour of that admiral. Thus, if a captain of a frigate in such a squadron or fleet died, a popular lieutenant stood a good chance of filling his shoes without occupying the intermediate role of commander. This was particularly so for men posted to the West Indies, where the chances of survival were poorer than in European waters owing to the prevalence of a host of deadly tropical diseases.
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LIEUTENANT AND MIDSHIPMEN: UNIFORMS, WEAPONS AND PERSONAL EFFECTS Lieutenants (1) wore a blue coat with white piping on the lapels, three buttons with one row of white piping on the cuffs, blue collar with white piping and no epaulettes. From 1812, lieutenants wore a single plain epaulette on the right shoulder, while commanders wore two, also plain, but with bullion around the edges. Sub-lieutenants, a rank introduced in 1804, were dressed as lieutenants, while midshipmen had no lapels, three buttons on their cuffs, a blue collar with white collar patch and no epaulettes. A lieutenant often carried a swagger stick (2) and employed a speaking trumpet (3) to make himself better heard, especially when addressing men aloft or amidst the cacophony of battle. His personal weaponry always included a sword (4), of which this example is an officer’s hanger (a short, curved sword) of 1805 carried in a leather and brass scabbard. In a logbook (5) a lieutenant recorded information on the daily proceedings of the ship, such as course, position, speed, weather and any events deemed worthy of notice. The lieutenant’s sextant (6) and quadrant (7) enabled him to determine latitude and longitude, the ship’s course and the distance she covered in a 24-hour period. |
| When in uniform, a midshipman, shown here in the styles of 1797 (8) and c.1812 (9), carried a dirk (10), hanger or full-length sword (11), particularly if he were no longer an adolescent. Both lieutenants and midshipmen carried a pistol (12) in boarding actions, with fine black powder held in a flask (13), though in combat, with little or no time to reload, the ball-shaped butt of the weapon could be used as a club – hence its brass cup. |
Admiral Samuel Hood, first Viscount Hood (1724–1816), who distinguished himself in the Mediterranean in the 1790s, particularly at the siege of Toulon in 1793. Nelson remarked that he was ‘the best Officer, take him altogether, that England has to boast of … equally great in all situations which an Admiral can be placed in’. (Author’s collection)
A captain commanded a single vessel of war rated from a fifth rate – designated a ‘post’ ship, with the senior officer no longer designated ‘commander’ but ‘post captain’ – to a ship of the line mounting between 64 and 120 guns. Most began their captaincy in command of a frigate, whose captains were generally regarded as particularly bold, for they sought promotion to a two- or three-decker and, as such, were sometimes prepared to take extraordinary risks in battle. If an admiral did not require such captains for scouting or work in charge of repeating frigates, then the latter could continue cruising, seeking both prize money and fame. In short, command of a frigate was sought after as an important step in the ladder of promotion to senior command.
While a captain might serve ten years in command of a frigate before being considered for promotion to a 50- or 60-gun ship as preparation for eventual command of the largest classes of warship, in some cases he went straight from a frigate command to that of a third-rate vessel, mounting 74 guns. However, a commander who was ‘made post’ had no guarantee of further promotion, for if his ship was decommissioned and there was no vacancy aboard another frigate, the post captain could not revert to being a commander, but rather went on half pay, retaining the rank of post captain – a position he could conceivably occupy for the rest of his life if patronage and a vacancy did not ease his path upwards.
Once an officer reached post rank he was bound, in the course of time, to become an admiral by sheer dint of seniority. A man who became a midshipman at 12, for instance, lieutenant at 20 and captain at 28 – whether or not thereafter he stood on half pay or on active service – remained on the Sea Officers List, so that as men above him died or were promoted, he inexorably moved up in their stead. Once he reached the top of the captains’ list, he became a rear admiral upon the next promotion above him which created the necessary vacancy, now putting him at the bottom of the rear-admirals’ list and setting him on course to move slowly up through the three categories of rear admiral, three of vice admiral and three of admiral. Thus, whereas lieutenants lower down on the list could be selected as post captain ahead of others, captains did not jump the queue to reach the rank of admiral.
Lord Nelson in the full dress uniform of a vice admiral. At Trafalgar he wore a flag officer’s undress uniform and for reasons unknown left his sword in his cabin. The uniform in which he was mortally wounded, still extant, is now in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. (Stratford Archive)
Midshipmen wore their hair short in the style of ordinary seamen and thus did not braid it into a queue. Uniforms for midshipmen were not standardized, but generally consisted of a blue tail-coat lined with white silk, the front ornamented with small gold anchor-buttons, with a white patch, called a turn back, on the collar. He wore white breeches and a waistcoat. His hat bore some resemblance to the top hat that would gain popularity during the Regency period (1811–20). Around his neck he wore a black silk handkerchief, his shoes were black leather and his shirts were made of frilled white linen. For foul weather the midshipman wore a glazed hat, watch-coat, and a waistcoat, often scarlet. While all such articles were associated with midshipmen, in reality his dress, purchased privately by his parents, varied both in style and quality and according to prevailing fashion and thus did not technically constitute a uniform.
Once a midshipman’s garments had worn out or were stolen, he had to purchase clothes from the slop (garment) chest or continue to wear his threadbare clothes. This was generally acceptable, for hard service at sea led some captains to ignore the untidy or even slovenly look of such boys, whose appearance was not necessarily considered worthy of correction or punishment. Of course, if a midshipman received an invitation from his captain to dine, the young man made what attempts he could to smarten himself up, borrowing cleaner or better-quality items of clothing from his mates in the berth. In battle he might wear his dirtiest outfit, whereas when on boat service he tended to dress with greater care, lest he impugn the honour of the ship when the craft reached shore and came into public view.
When war broke out in 1793 officers were wearing the uniform introduced in 1787. The style for lieutenants and higher ranks was altered in 1795 – the most notable new features being the introduction of epaulettes – with a general degree of simplification, possibly because of economies due to the war, but more likely because civilian dress was becoming less elaborate in the 1790s as a result of the influence on fashion – even in Britain – of the French Revolution, which spurned the stockings, powdered hair, wigs and ornate coats associated with the aristocracy. When the Prince of Wales became Prince Regent in 1811 further changes came about in March 1812. While standard uniforms were issued, officers sometimes introduced changes of their own to reflect personal taste or exercised the (usually granted) privilege of retaining their old uniform until it wore out. Variations in dress also came about as a result of long cruises in which officers were unaware of changes to dress until they returned to a home port.
Two patterns of dress existed for officers: full dress, worn for ceremonial purposes, and undress. In the course of the wars the cut of the coat changed, as did its facings, the amount and quality of the braid and the style of the hat. Officers wore a cocked hat, which had evolved from the earlier 18th-century tricorne, with a brim higher in the back than the front, and worn in the early years of the wars ‘athwartships’; that is to say, with the points extending out over the side of the head. Over the years, however, the hat was made with brims of equal size, and was worn ‘fore-and-aft’; that is, with the ends facing forward and back, though admirals in full dress tended to wear their hats in the old style for a decade after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
Without delving into the minutiae of undress uniform specifications, according to the regulations in force between 1795 and 1812, the coat of a captain of over three years’ service in that rank was blue with an unlined lapel, plain cuffs with three buttons, a blue unlined collar and an epaulette on each shoulder. For captains with under three years’ service, and commanders, the uniform was the same, except that the former wore only one epaulette – on the right shoulder – while a commander wore one epaulette on the left shoulder. From 1812, all captains wore two epaulettes, but with the addition on the shoulder board of an anchor for newly appointed captains and a crown and anchor for those with over three years’ service in that rank. The full dress uniform of a captain cost him more than his first quarter’s pay, with the jacket and epaulette alone setting him back from 16 to 20 guineas, and the undress coat and epaulette eight guineas. A gold-laced hat cost another five guineas, and a sword and knot a further six guineas. A commander or post captain with less than three years’ seniority wore only one epaulette, which rendered his coat somewhat less expensive, but the point remains that his income was insufficient to his needs.
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ADMIRALS AND CAPTAINS: UNIFORMS, WEAPONS AND PERSONAL EFFECTS The junior captain (1), commanding a frigate, wears a typical dress uniform of c. 1810, with white pantaloons and black-tasselled Hessian boots. The single epaulette, as discussed, marks him out as a captain of less than three years’ post. Beside him, this captain (2) in full dress uniform, c.1800, sports the finery as shown in the portrait of Captain Sir Edward Berry by John Singleton Copley, one of the period’s foremost portraitists. The third captain (3) wears the 1795-pattern undress coat with closed lapels and the stand-and-fall collar characteristic of the Revolutionary Wars (1793–1802). |
| Figure 4 shows an admiral in undress uniform, c.1794, based on that dating back to 1787, with long lapels bearing 12 loops, extending as low as the upper edge of the pocket. Figure 5 shows an admiral in the regulation full dress uniform of 1795, still in use in 1805, with ten lapel loops and two cuff rings, though contemporary portraits show varying numbers of both of these. He wears medals on white ribbon, edged in blue, for services rendered at the battles of the First of June (1794) and for St Vincent (1797). Figure 6 shows Vice Admiral Nelson in the undress uniform he wore at Trafalgar, consisting of the 1795 regulation flag officers’ undress, modified by an unlaced hat with a green shade which could be folded up or down to shield his damaged eye (a wound received in Corsica in 1794) from the sunlight. On his coat Nelson wore four embroidered stars: the Order of the Bath (top), the Order of St Ferdinand and of Merit (bestowed by the King of Naples, centre right), the Order of the Crescent (bestowed by the Sultan of Turkey, centre left) and the German Order of St Joachim (bottom). | |
| Figure 7 shows a typical flintlock pistol carried by officers. Admirals and captains used telescopes (8) of varying design and length, all of brass and covered in black, brown or cranberry red leather. Senior officers took aboard what books (9) they could both for education and entertainment, sometimes compiling sizeable collections on navigation, seamanship, biography, philosophy and history. Captains’ and admirals’ swords (10, 11, 12 and 13) were not standard issue and thus varied according to taste, with weapons crafted to their own personal requirements and variation so diverse as to warrant a separate study of its own. Generally speaking, though, captains and admirals, in contrast to lieutenants and midshipmen, carried ornamented swords, with personal touches such as a pommel in the form of a lion’s head and a flowing mane, nearly always in gilt metal, with ivory grips bound with wire and a plain knuckle guard in the shape of a stirrup. The blade, straight with a broad groove down its length, was often engraved with the royal cipher, masts, flags and anchors and occasionally decorated with a tassel of gold braid (14). |
