Officers - Conditions of Service
In Tudor and Stuart times every man, almost, who was intrusted with responsibility was described as an officer. In the early days of the Stuarts the distinction between the various grades of officers, executive, civil, and petty, afterwards sanctioned by law, was very loosely drawn. The broad line of demarcation, indeed, which now exists between the foremastman and the quarter-deck officer, was a matter of the 19th century.
About 1600 the officers were given cabins ; the master in the round-house under the poop, the captain in the great cabin below the round-house, and the others elsewhere below, the partitions being, as a rule, of canvas ; for of those built of wood it was said, "they are but sluttish dens, that breed sickness in peace, serving to cover stealths, and in fight are dangerous to the men with their splinters."
Apparently everybody lived on the ship's provisions, the ration being common to seamen and officer alike. Nevertheless, as early as the reign of Charles I. we hear of stock being bought for the use of the officers in harbor, but whether at their own expense or not is nowhere stated. About 1673 the allocation of cabins to the various officers was regulated afresh, presumably in consequence of complaints from some that they had been deprived of them ; these were, however, held on precarious terms for long afterwards, as Maydman assures us. Falconer ' in his Dictionary, published in 1769, defines the wardroom as the place where the lieutenants mess and sleep ; and in 1758 we learn from the well-known "Petition" that they could turn the chaplain out of it if they objected to his company.
The higher warrant officers, as the master, purser, and surgeon, were in a different position from the other officers, by reason of the power intrusted to them and their connection with guilds or departments on shore. The masters were all Trinity House men, the surgeons were nominated by the governing body representing their profession, and the pursers were, in a sense, the representatives afloat of the Navy Commissioners, to whom they gave bond for the proper performance of their duties.
The officers with few exceptions, were content to be practical sailors only. They had nothing to do with the navigation of the ship or the rating of the chronometers. That was entirely in the hands of the master, and no other had any real experience or responsibility in the matter.
Money was to be made in several ways by the captain of a man-of-war and his friends. If they had stomach for fighting there were prizes to be taken. If not, then by carrying treasure or merchandise, a practice permitted until 1686; or a more questionable course, by conniving with the purser in stealing from the ship's provisions and stores.
As the lieutenant seldom had private means, he lived hard and fared badly. His pay was small, but what made it worse was the difficulty he found in getting it. Up to 1745 the lieutenants were not allowed to draw pay at all until the ship was paid off, and at this date permission to receive it yearly was only granted after a very strong remonstrance.
Prior to the reign of Charles II no provision existed for the maintenance of commissioned officers of the Navy while unemployed. Admirals, captains, and lieutenants were discharged to the shore as soon as their ships paid off. At the same time various practices were resorted to by those who possessed sufficient influence with the authorities, to keep their places and pay even when the ships were not properly in commission. There was, however, no permanent force of commissioned officers.
In September 1667, it was directed that "the Captains of ist and 2nd rate shipps should be kept on half pay to the very day the peace was proclaimed." About the same time the practice was authorized of bearing in time of peace all commanders and lieutenants " who might deserve it," on the books of one of His Majesty's ships, as " extra midshipmen," but it was soon found necessary to limit the number. In 1672 it was directed that commanders of first and second rates and second captains of flagships should have half-pay " while on shoar this winter season," and in 1674, the privilege was extended to them " so long as they are unprovided for." With the issue of these orders is the beginning of a permanent force of commissioned officers.
The establishment of a regular uniform for certain officers of the Royal Navy dates from 1748. Three years earlier, some officers appear to have petitioned the Admiralty for the boon ; and, in 1746, sundry captains, at Anson's wish, prepared tentative coats from which a uniform pattern might be selected. But, though a captain may have designed the uniforms which were finally adopted, King George II. himself decided upon the colours of them. Having noticed the Duchess of Bedford, wife of the First Lord, riding in the Park in a habit of blue, faced with white, his Majesty chose blue and white for the first uniform dress of his officers. The innovation applied only to admirals, captains, commanders, lieutenants, and midshipmen, and the wearing of the new uniform was made compulsory, as regards these ranks, by an order dated April 14th, 1748. But there were difficulties in the way of obedience. Patterns were not sent to foreign stations, nor were the regulations sufficiently explicit to enable officers, by their aid only, to instruct their tailors concerning what was required. It is therefore probable that, for several years, the order was not fully carried out.
In those days uniform regulations were not very strictly carried out. One lieutenant, who was a dandy, wore on his London-made uniforms an oval instead of the round curl on the distinction lace of the cuff. Another, who had been brought up in France, always wore a cap made exactly like a French Kepi with a horizontal peak. As no white coats were allowed, officers often wore in the tropics transparent alpaca coats of navy blue which the sun soon turned green. Tall white hats, suggestive of the Derby, were worn by some captains. Up to the time of the Crimean War captains often put their galley's crews into fancy rigs; in the 'Tiger they wore black and yellow striped jerseys, in the Royal Oak they had white oak wreaths embroidered round the edges of their blue collars in lieu of the three rows of braid. In the Mediterranean Captain Dundas's crew had Dundas tartan round their caps in place of the ribbon with the ship's name, whilst those of the Vulture had that bird embroidered in gold right across the front of their cloth jumpers.
In 1880 the Prince of Wales called the attention of the Admiralty to the state of naval uniform. The officers were practically wearing what they liked, and the regulations had not been revised for many years. A committee was formed consisting of the Duke of Edinburgh, Captain H. Boyes, and Percy Scott. Interminable arguments went on in the Navy as to what uniforms should be done away with and what retained. Ultimately a very concise book of regulations was drawn up, with copious illustrations, giving the exact shape and dimensions of every article of a naval officer's uniform. H.K.H. wanted pictures of everything for, as he wisely said, they convey much more than writing. The book has now been in existence for twenty-three years. Very few changes have since been found necessary, and one no longer saw naval officers in the various fancy dresses in which they used to appear before the committee's report.
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