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(Taken from Steering to Glory: A Day in the Life of a Ship of the Line, a secondary source by Nicholas Blake.)
: The after end of the upper deck was taken up by the wardroom, where the naval lieutenants, the marine officers, the master, the surgeon, the purser and the chaplain lived - their 'mess-room and common sitting-room'. it was 19ft long, from the pantry forward to the rudder-head case aft, and the whole width of the ship (18ft at its widest, narrowing to 14ft at the rudder-head case aft). it had a full row of stern windows, cased and glazed, a quarter-gallery each side aft (the larboard for the first lieutenant and the starboard for the others), and a row of cabins each side. The four most senior lieutenants, the captain of marines and the master each had a cabin in the wardroom (the master had an additional cabin under the half deck next to the ship's wheel for his charts and plans), the junior lieutenant, the two marine subalterns of marines and the chaplain had a cabin each on the lower deck...
...The wardroom was separated from the rest of the deck by a bulkhead with a door at which stood a sentry with a lantern. (pp29-30)
The main ladder to the lower deck, which was where most of the men and marines lived and slept, was in the waist, with a smaller one forward of the ward-room. at the aft end of the lower deck was the gunroom, 28ft long and 40ft wide narrowing to 24ft. The gunner's cabin had been moved to the orlop deck in 1805, but the young gentlemen who had traditionally been in his care, the first-class volunteers, still messed there, and the junior lieutenant, the two subalterns of marines and the chaplain had their cabins there. Unlike the wardroom there were no stern windows, and the tiller swept immediately under the deck above, so it was rather less comfortable. There was a sentinel at the door, as at the wardroom door; he was usually a marine. (p31)
The mate of the watch superintended this duty [washing the decks]; the forecastlemen washed the forecastle, the foretopmen pumped the water, the maintopmen washed one side of the quarterdeck, and the afterguard (which included the marines who were not sentinels) washed the other side and the maindeck. (pp38-39)
(Steering to Glory, pp44-5)
There was also a second set of officers to maintain discipline, the master-at-arms and his two corporals. In 1808 they were 'to prevent, or put an end to, all improper drinking, rioting, or other disturbances; and if any person shall presume to disobey his orders, and shall persist in his misconduct, he is to take him before the lieutenant of the watch' on the quarterdeck. On the afternoon of 15th December 1798, David Baillie, ship's corporal in the Achille (74), saw John Mackay, a seaman and John Barr, a marine, fighting or wrestling under the forecastle; he called out "Help, Marines!" Abraham Birtham or Beetham, another corporal, was sent to seize Mackay, and in taking hold of him struck Barr, and said "he would mark him for his behaviour"; after he had taken Mackay aft to the officer of the watch as ordered, he was put in irons by the first lieutenant. The captain examined him later and decided that "if he had done his duty with too much severity, he had already suffered an adequate punishment, especially as a petty officer, by being confined four night in irons, during very severe weather", but Captain McNamara in command of the marine detachment sent him a letter desiring him to disrate the corporal and bring him to a court martial for drunkenness, which letter he forwarded to the Admiralty, requesting the Lords consider "whether it be consistent with the discipline and necessary order of [the] service, that the captain of marines shall express his discontent upon the captain of the ship under whom he serves". The Admiralty noted that Birtham need not have a court martial, "having struck the man by mistake".1
The master at arms had his own berth: in the Mediterranean Fleet under St Vincent it was directly opposite the fore hatchway on the lower deck. He was usually older than the typical able or ordinary seaman, and as likely as any other petty officer to take the opportunity to have a wife on board: the master at arms of the Defiance had his wife living aboard in the summer of 1798 while she was stationed at Cawsand Bay.
The master at arms was also used for a variety of responsible job about the ship, acting as a senior sentinel. It followed naturally that he was also used as a kind of ship's policeman ashore. St Leger Beville, gunner of the Valiant (74), was absent from his ship without leave and after three days was found to be at home drunk; on the fourth day he told the lieutenant sent to fetch him "he would not go on board the Valiant that Captain Harvey had used him very much unlike a gentleman and an officer and that he could never see him without it was at the point of his sword". He was eventually carried to the ship after the lieutenant appeared with the master at arms, two soldiers and a corporal, and two constables called by the man of the house after Beville ran upstairs and broke a frame of windows".2
The post, and that of ship's corporal, could be filled by a marine NCO, an infantry NCO doing duty as a marine NCO or a former midshipman, although they were appointed by warrant the regulations directed that they were to be considered as petty officers, and could be rated or disrated by the captain, and consequently their social status was always below the 'true' warrant officers. When William Holsby, cook of the Montagu (74), was causing a disruption in the steward's room, Lieutenant Harford warned him that he would send for the master at arms, to be told that "the master at arms had nothing to do with him he was a warrant officer". It made no difference, of course (he was caught by the same regulation).3
1) 1808: Regulations & Instructions, 1808, p 375 art VI. Achille: ADM 1/2498, Capt S270 enclosures, and turnover.
2) Court martial of St Leger Beville, ADM 1/5333
3) Regulations and Instructions, 1808, pp 121-2 article XVI; this article also applied to the sailmaker, caulker, ropemaker, armourer, armourer's mate, and cook, and formally any charge of rate was until the 'pleasure of the Admiralty or Commander in Chief shall be known'. Examples of marines and midshipmen: Sergeant John (alias James) Andrew of the marines of the Quebec (32) was doing duty as ship's corporal, his court martial ADM 1/5351; Sergeant William Roberts of the marines was doing duty as ship's corporal in the Carnatic (74) in November 1799, his court martial ADM 1/5351; Sergeant James Russell of the marines was doing duty as master at arms in the Hebe (36) in Plymouth Sound, on 3rd September 1795, his testimony as a witness as the court martial of James Anderson, ADM 1/5333. Sergeant William Thompson of the 95th Foot was doing duty as master at arms aboard the Tromp in December 1797, court martial of the Tromp mutineers, ADM 1/5343.
: The after end of the upper deck was taken up by the wardroom, where the naval lieutenants, the marine officers, the master, the surgeon, the purser and the chaplain lived - their 'mess-room and common sitting-room'. it was 19ft long, from the pantry forward to the rudder-head case aft, and the whole width of the ship (18ft at its widest, narrowing to 14ft at the rudder-head case aft). it had a full row of stern windows, cased and glazed, a quarter-gallery each side aft (the larboard for the first lieutenant and the starboard for the others), and a row of cabins each side. The four most senior lieutenants, the captain of marines and the master each had a cabin in the wardroom (the master had an additional cabin under the half deck next to the ship's wheel for his charts and plans), the junior lieutenant, the two marine subalterns of marines and the chaplain had a cabin each on the lower deck...
...The wardroom was separated from the rest of the deck by a bulkhead with a door at which stood a sentry with a lantern. (pp29-30)
The main ladder to the lower deck, which was where most of the men and marines lived and slept, was in the waist, with a smaller one forward of the ward-room. at the aft end of the lower deck was the gunroom, 28ft long and 40ft wide narrowing to 24ft. The gunner's cabin had been moved to the orlop deck in 1805, but the young gentlemen who had traditionally been in his care, the first-class volunteers, still messed there, and the junior lieutenant, the two subalterns of marines and the chaplain had their cabins there. Unlike the wardroom there were no stern windows, and the tiller swept immediately under the deck above, so it was rather less comfortable. There was a sentinel at the door, as at the wardroom door; he was usually a marine. (p31)
The mate of the watch superintended this duty [washing the decks]; the forecastlemen washed the forecastle, the foretopmen pumped the water, the maintopmen washed one side of the quarterdeck, and the afterguard (which included the marines who were not sentinels) washed the other side and the maindeck. (pp38-39)
(Steering to Glory, pp44-5)
There was also a second set of officers to maintain discipline, the master-at-arms and his two corporals. In 1808 they were 'to prevent, or put an end to, all improper drinking, rioting, or other disturbances; and if any person shall presume to disobey his orders, and shall persist in his misconduct, he is to take him before the lieutenant of the watch' on the quarterdeck. On the afternoon of 15th December 1798, David Baillie, ship's corporal in the Achille (74), saw John Mackay, a seaman and John Barr, a marine, fighting or wrestling under the forecastle; he called out "Help, Marines!" Abraham Birtham or Beetham, another corporal, was sent to seize Mackay, and in taking hold of him struck Barr, and said "he would mark him for his behaviour"; after he had taken Mackay aft to the officer of the watch as ordered, he was put in irons by the first lieutenant. The captain examined him later and decided that "if he had done his duty with too much severity, he had already suffered an adequate punishment, especially as a petty officer, by being confined four night in irons, during very severe weather", but Captain McNamara in command of the marine detachment sent him a letter desiring him to disrate the corporal and bring him to a court martial for drunkenness, which letter he forwarded to the Admiralty, requesting the Lords consider "whether it be consistent with the discipline and necessary order of [the] service, that the captain of marines shall express his discontent upon the captain of the ship under whom he serves". The Admiralty noted that Birtham need not have a court martial, "having struck the man by mistake".
The master at arms had his own berth: in the Mediterranean Fleet under St Vincent it was directly opposite the fore hatchway on the lower deck. He was usually older than the typical able or ordinary seaman, and as likely as any other petty officer to take the opportunity to have a wife on board: the master at arms of the Defiance had his wife living aboard in the summer of 1798 while she was stationed at Cawsand Bay.
The master at arms was also used for a variety of responsible job about the ship, acting as a senior sentinel. It followed naturally that he was also used as a kind of ship's policeman ashore. St Leger Beville, gunner of the Valiant (74), was absent from his ship without leave and after three days was found to be at home drunk; on the fourth day he told the lieutenant sent to fetch him "he would not go on board the Valiant that Captain Harvey had used him very much unlike a gentleman and an officer and that he could never see him without it was at the point of his sword". He was eventually carried to the ship after the lieutenant appeared with the master at arms, two soldiers and a corporal, and two constables called by the man of the house after Beville ran upstairs and broke a frame of windows".
The post, and that of ship's corporal, could be filled by a marine NCO, an infantry NCO doing duty as a marine NCO or a former midshipman, although they were appointed by warrant the regulations directed that they were to be considered as petty officers, and could be rated or disrated by the captain, and consequently their social status was always below the 'true' warrant officers. When William Holsby, cook of the Montagu (74), was causing a disruption in the steward's room, Lieutenant Harford warned him that he would send for the master at arms, to be told that "the master at arms had nothing to do with him he was a warrant officer". It made no difference, of course (he was caught by the same regulation).
1) 1808: Regulations & Instructions, 1808, p 375 art VI. Achille: ADM 1/2498, Capt S270 enclosures, and turnover.
2) Court martial of St Leger Beville, ADM 1/5333
3) Regulations and Instructions, 1808, pp 121-2 article XVI; this article also applied to the sailmaker, caulker, ropemaker, armourer, armourer's mate, and cook, and formally any charge of rate was until the 'pleasure of the Admiralty or Commander in Chief shall be known'. Examples of marines and midshipmen: Sergeant John (alias James) Andrew of the marines of the Quebec (32) was doing duty as ship's corporal, his court martial ADM 1/5351; Sergeant William Roberts of the marines was doing duty as ship's corporal in the Carnatic (74) in November 1799, his court martial ADM 1/5351; Sergeant James Russell of the marines was doing duty as master at arms in the Hebe (36) in Plymouth Sound, on 3rd September 1795, his testimony as a witness as the court martial of James Anderson, ADM 1/5333. Sergeant William Thompson of the 95th Foot was doing duty as master at arms aboard the Tromp in December 1797, court martial of the Tromp mutineers, ADM 1/5343.
no subject
Date: Mar. 29th, 2012 23:21 (UTC)From:(the larboard for the first lieutenant and the larboard for the others),
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Date: Mar. 29th, 2012 23:23 (UTC)From: