Existing comment:
Recruiting & Disciplining the Crew:
Manning the fleet was a perennial problem in the Royal Navy. Boys as young as twelve years old often volunteered in search of adventure, while other youngsters were recruited from poor families or orphanages and thus "bred to the sea."
Some men were lured to the Navy by the promise of prize money or to collect a substantial recruitment bounty. Their numbers notwithstanding, the constant need for seamen, especially in times of war, forced the Navy time and again to resort to impressment -- a system in which groups of sailors were authorized to seize able-bodied landsmen and merchant seamen and force them into His Majesty's Navy, often for years at a time.
To control the surly crews that resulted, stern measures were enacted to punish infractions of the Articles of War. The ship's captain was normally both judge and jury. Punishments ranged from confining the guilty party in irons or stopping his daily ration of run to tying the culprit to a hatch grating and flogging his back with twelve or more lashes of the dreaded "cat-o'-nine-tails."
As Adam Smith observed in "The Wealth of Nations" (1776), the life of a seaman in the Age of Sail was "one continual scene of danger and hardship." This chart reveals a shocking statistic more than 93 percent of all fatalities in the Royal Navy during the Wars of the French Revolution and Empire resulted from non combat-related illness or accidents.
| Estimated Fatal Casualties in the Royal Navy, 1793-1815: |
|---|
| Cause of death | Number | Percentage |
Individual and non-combative
(disease & personal accidents) | 84,440 | 81.5 |
Collective, non-combative
(foundering, shipwreck, fire & explosion) | 12,680 | 12.2 |
| Enemy action | 6,540 | 6.3 |
| Total | 103,660 | 100 |
The press gang was an important means of manning the Royal Navy during periods of armed conflict. Throughout the 18th century, crew members were sent to round up new men for their ships, by force if necessary. Though widely deplored, it was considered an unfortunate necessity by those in office.
Between 1799 and 1812, an estimated 9,991 men claiming American citizenry were pressed into service by Britain's Royal Navy, then engaged in the Napoleolic [sic] Wars.
On June 22, 1807, the infamous encounter between the USS Chesapeake and HMS Leopard took place where four sailors were forcibly removed from the Chesapeake. British impressment was among the reasons for Congress's declaration of War in 1812.
Naval Manuals:
Although much sea lore was passed through oral tradition, numerous books were available on all aspects of ship building and ship handling. Perhaps the most famous of these works was David Steel's "The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship" first published in 1794. Virtually every dimension of every line and spar in every class of ship and boat in the Royal Navy is identified. Other works focused on more limited, and more technical subjects. ... |