Life at Sea - Pay and conditions

People were aware of the poor conditions aboard ship and a large part of the crew was made up of 'pressed' men, that is, men who were pressed into service. Poverty on land no doubt played a large part in encouraging many men to join the Navy. Once they had joined the service they would be sure of regular meals, pay, medical attention and a pension at the end of their service and there was always the chance of 'Prize Money' after capture of an enemy ship.

Not all crew were made up of pressed men but by 1805 about 60 % of Victory's crew had been recruited that way. The long years of war had taken their toll and volunteers were harder to find.

The majority of the officers were volunteers, although some of them had been sent to the Navy by their parents at a young age.

The Press Gangs - the Impress Service: The Impress service was limited to seizing men who were seamen but this rule was often ignored. The age limits were set at 18 to 55 years of age and these limits too were frequently disregarded.

The word 'press' itself is a corruption of the old French word 'prest' which means a loan or advance.

A man who received the Kings shilling to enlist became an imprest or prest man. The Impress Service covered every port in Great Britain. Each major port had a captain in charge, while smaller ports had a lieutenant.

The senior officer was known as the Regulating Officer and his headquarters were called the Rendezvous. Having set up the Rendezvous, the Regulating officer would then hire some of the local hard men as 'gangers', to form the Press Gang (on land the press gang was rarely formed by sailors). By being a ganger one stood a better chance of not being caught by the Press Gang itself. The Gang was sent out and roamed the surrounding countryside in search of suitable recruits. The gang were paid money for travel and money for each man they brought back - up to ten shillings per head (50 pence). There was a lot of scope for corruption and many men would bribe their way out of the gangs clutches. A rich man who could afford £10 to escape had gotten away lightly and the Gang had made an easy profit.

The press was not new at the time of the Napoleonic wars - it had been about for centuries in one way or another and slowly certain rules had evolved about taking men for service at sea. Merchant ships provided good targets for the press gang captain who would board merchant ships to take off any men he might want although officers and apprentices were exempt. Many merchant captains built small hideaways for valuable men to hide in if the press gang came aboard. The rule was that the Press Gang had to leave enough men on board to 'navigate the ship' but as there were no hard and fast numbers set down a ship could be left seriously undermanned.

The Quota Acts: In 1795 William Pitt brought in two Quota Acts, which stated that each county of the country had to provide a certain number of men for service at sea. The number required depended on the county's population and number of seaports. London had to produce 5704 men, whilst Yorkshire, the largest county in area, had to provide 1081. Counties offered a bounty (money reward) for men to sign up but few came forward so to get the numbers needed men convicted of petty crimes were given the option to go to sea or go to jail. The Georgian code of justice at the time gave harsh jail sentences or death for what we would consider to be quite trivial offences. This made the option of going to sea and a pension at the end instead of prison far more attractive. Unfortunately Typhus or gaol fever were often brought onto otherwise healthy ships from the exceptionally overcrowded and unhealthy gaols where prisoners were held before even before their trials.

Volunteers: If a man volunteered for Naval service he would receive conduct money and two months wages in advance from which he was expected to buy clothes and a hammock, known as slops, from the Purser. The regulations said this about volunteers: 'At their coming on board they may be supplied by slop clothes, but the value thereof must be deducted out of the said two months advance.'

However not all Volunteers had volunteered willingly. Sometimes a man taken by the Press Gang would be offered the chance to volunteer and so receive the bounty. If he accepted he would be entered on the ships muster book as V for Volunteer instead of P for pressed. Volunteers in fact made up the backbone of the Navy 'Better one volunteer than three pressed men,' was an expression used widely at the time. Joining the navy was also a way to escape the threat of going to prison because of debts. The navy would protect any man from his creditors if his debt was less than £20.

Pay

Living conditions

Living conditions on boards ship depended very much on the rank a man held. For the ordinary crew, conditions were crowded and they lived, ate and slept in 'messes' on the gundecks between the guns themselves. Benches and tables were set up for dining from and hammocks were slung overhead. The two pictures below show a mess table and hammocks.

The mess tables and benches would have been stowed in the hold during times of battle.

Hammocks were stowed in hammock netting around the upper deck during the day or in the gunroom or hold if the weather was bad

Toilets (the heads) on the outside of the ship were open to the elements. They were just a simple seat with holes and opened straight into the sea below. These would have been used by most of the ordinary crew. There were also 'roundhouses' built into the bleakbulkhead (front of the ship) which could be entered from inside the upper gundeck. These inside toilets could be used by midshipmen and warrant officers. The roundhouse on the starboard side which was entered from the sickbay was used for the sick and infirm members of the ship's company. You can see pictures below of the outside and inside toilets.

The heads on Victory - the outside toilets

The outside toilet - open to the elements
and no privacy

The Roundhouse (inside toilet) offers some privacy and
protection from the weather

The officers and captain lived under conditions very different from the ordinary crew. The pictures that follow show Nelson's cabin and his cot (which was also designed to be a coffin on case of burial at sea) and the private washing facilites and storage chests used.

Nelson's Cabin

Nelson's cot

This seachest can be used as a night toilet,
wash-place, storage chest and writing desk

Officers of a lower rank still had much better conditions than the ordinary crew, as did the chaplain, surgeon, master and purser. You can see some of the differences in conditions by looking in our photo album at the pictures of Victory.

Pay and Conditions

Joining up

Pay

Living conditions