Midshipmen and Quarterdeck Boys in the British Navy, 1771-1831

Midshipmen and Quarterdeck Boys in the British Navy, 1771-1831 PDF

Author: S. A. Cavell

Publisher: Boydell Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1843837196

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A fascinating study of midshipmen and other "young gentlemen", outlining their social background, career paths and what life was like for them. Officer recruits - "young gentlemen" - entered the Royal Navy with dreams of fame, fortune and glory, but many found promotion difficult, with a large number unable to progress beyond lieutenant. Recent scholarship has argued thatduring the wars of 1793-1815 there was greater social diversity among naval officers, with promotion increasingly related to professional competence. This book, based on extensive original research, examines the social backgroundof around 4,000 "young gentlemen" a term which includes midshipmen and various other categories, including captains' servants, volunteers and masters' mates. It concludes that in fact high birth became an increasingly important factor in the selection of officer candidates, and that as the Admiralty grip on the appointment and management of officer aspirants increased, especially after 1815, aristocratic presence in the ranks of young officers increased significantly as a result of deliberate Admiralty policy. The book also discusses the assertion that the increase in elite sons led to a dramatic increase in cases of indiscipline and insubordination, concluding that although therewas a marked increase in courts martial for insubordination during and after the French Wars there is no evidence that such cases related more to the elites than to young aspirants in general". The book includes many case study examples of midshipmen and other "young gentlemen", illustrating what life was like for them and how they themselves viewed their situation. S.A. CAVELL is a graduate of the Queensland University of Technology and Louisiana State University and completed her doctorate at the University of Exeter.

Quarterdeck and Fok'sle: Stories of the Sea

Quarterdeck and Fok'sle: Stories of the Sea PDF

Author: Molly Elliot Seawell

Publisher: DigiCat

Published: 2022-07-21

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13:

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The friendship between Young Brydell and Grubb the marine came about in this way. One morning in May, just after Admiral Beaumont had finished the beautiful toilet he made at precisely eight o'clock every morning, he threw wide his bedroom shutters to see if the toilet of the navy yard grounds had been made too. The admiral was the tenderest-hearted old fellow in the world, but the strictest sort of martial law prevailed in the matter of tidiness in every part of the navy yard over which he exercised or could claim jurisdiction. As for the small boys at the yard, they harrowed the admiral's kind soul to that degree that he gloomily declared he would have the flag half-masted and make the band play a dirge before the very next house in which a boy baby was born. Nevertheless, he had been known more than once to have begged small boys off from the avenging birch switch. To this general antagonism to small boys one exception was made—Young Brydell. He was called Young Brydell because, young as his father, the ensign, was, the boy was actually twenty years younger—being nine, and a beautiful, terrible, lovable imp. Perhaps it was because Young Brydell had no mother that the admiral and everybody else, except Aunt Emeline, winked at the mischief in which he reveled. When Young Brydell drew his first breath his mother had drawn her last—and so from the beginning a tender atmosphere of love and pity seemed to surround him.

Quarterdeck

Quarterdeck PDF

Author: Julian Stockwin

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-10-01

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1493071351

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Promoted to acting lieutenant at the bloody Battle of Camperdown in October 1797, Thomas Kydd must now sit an examination to confirm his rank—or face an inglorious return before the mast. But this is only the first of many obstacles for a man who was pressed into the King's service and discovered a calling for the sea. Kydd is from humble origins, yet he attains the lofty heights of the quarterdeck as an officer in His Majesty's Navy. If he is to avoid spending the rest of his career as a tarpaulin officer, he must also become a gentleman. Kydd and his enigmatic friend Nicholas Renzi set sail in HMS Tenacious for the North American station. Aboard the old 64-gun ship, Kydd comes to doubt he will ever match up to the high-born gentlemen officers.