FOOTNOTES:
[22] “In a man-of-war,” says Edward Thompson, “you have the collected filths of jails: condemned criminals have the alternative of hanging or entering on board.... There’s not a vice committed on shore that is not practised here; the scenes of horror and infamy on board a man-of-war are so many and so great that I think they must rather disgust a good mind than allure it.”
[23] The pay of an able seaman, such as a topman or forecastle hand, was 33s. a month. An ordinary seaman received 25s. 6d. The landsman 2s. 6d. or 3s. a month less. Until 1797 the pay given was about a third of that quoted above.
[24] Or on the orlop.