In some few instances the Admiralty had to deal with difficulties of another nature among the officers. Richard Knowlman, a gunner, and described as a Quaker, wrote to the Commissioners that he had served by sea and land from 1641, and was still willing to continue in any other capacity, since ‘I would be free to act against all deceit ... for I see most men, especially those in the navy and of most rank and quality, are corrupted.’ Knowlman could not have expressed less respect for the average official had he enjoyed access to the State Papers, but on the whole his was one of the very rare eras when such doubts were unjust. Another master gunner had, for two months, refused to fire a gun, ‘lest blood might be spilt,’ and a third insisted on preaching to the crew of the Fame, who by no means appreciated his amateur ministrations. In three instances chaplains are found accused of drunkenness, but their presence on board ship was not invariable, and their influence appears to have been very slight. One was tried for forging Monk’s signature.

The Commissioners’ Success.

The habits of half a century were not to be at once overthrown, but after 1655 references to thefts became far fewer; and the Navy Commissioners could congratulate themselves on having done much to extinguish customs which had gone far to destroy the vitality of the former Royal Navy. The want of trust, that long experience had shown to be justifiable in gunners, carpenters, and boatswains, who had been, and were still to a certain extent, treated as officers, may have been one reason why lieutenants were now always attached to ships, except fifth- and sixth-rates. Another may probably be found in the growing demand for scientific seamanship, an accomplishment the former class had little opportunity of acquiring. Whatever the cause, the effect was to thrust the gunners and their compeers lower down in the social scale, to lose them that respect on shipboard they had hitherto possessed, to lessen their authority, and so quicken the downward movement. We are told that, a generation later, it was as usual to strike them as to strike the men, and that they had to ‘fawn like spaniels’ on the lieutenants to retain favour or position. The lieutenants must have been found much more satisfactory; in the whole series of papers relating to this period there is no instance of one being tried by court-martial, and only one in which such an officer got into any trouble. His captain put him in irons, but the reason is not given. Lieutenants were occasionally appointed to the naval service in the reign of Elizabeth, but the Dutch war may be taken as the period where their position became permanent. In June 1652, Sir Wm. Penn, then vice-admiral, writing to Cromwell, gave expression to the unanimous desire of his colleagues that such a rank should be allowed in all ships carrying 150 men.

Another difficulty the Commissioners had to contend with was the forging of seamen’s tickets, an old form of crime which grew in extent with the employment of so many more men. The Navy Commissioners, in advance of their time, recognised that the only legal penalty, death, was too severe, and practically prevented any punishment.[1421] The Navy department was not the only one which suffered from these forgers, who were all more or less connected with each other; in the same year forgeries of public faith bills to the amount of £115,000 were discovered. Some of these men were in league with clerks in the Navy and prize offices, and obtained the necessary papers and information from them. At a later date one of the gang confessed, when in prison, that the total of the public faith bill and other forgeries was nearly £500,000.[1422] In 1656 a new plan was tried: ‘to prevent the many frauds and deceits formerly practised,’ the Commissioners were ordered to send the Treasurer, daily or weekly, an abstract of all the bills or tickets they signed authorising payment of money. Subsequently the Admiralty Commissioners obtained power to themselves commit offenders to prison. Nicholas Harnaman, for instance, was sent to Bridewell with hard labour ’till further order,’ for counterfeiting tickets.[1423]

Officers’ Pay.

Officers’ pay was raised in March 1649, and again in 1653, after which latter date there was no alteration.[1424] It then stood per month at:—

1st Rate2nd Rate3rd Rate4th Rate5th Rate6th Rate
£sd£sd£sd£sd£sd£sd
Captain21001616014001000880700
Lieutenant44044031003100
Master7006604138462376[1425]
Master’s mate or pilot36030021622710220220
Midshipman2502001176113911001100
Boatswain40031003002100250200
Boatswain’s mate1150115011201100180160
Quartermaster1150115011201100180160
Quartermaster’s mate11000100180180160150
Carpenter40031003002100250200
Carpenter’s mate2002001160114011201100
Gunner4003103002100250200
Gunner’s mate1150115011201100180160
Surgeon210021002100210021002100
Corporal1150112011001100180150
Purser40031003002100250200
Master Trumpeter[1426]1100180150150150140
Cook150150150150150140

Guns and Ordnance Stores.

When Parliament began the rapid construction of new ships some of its members may have had misgivings about getting the crews to man them, but few probably anticipated the future difficulties in procuring the guns wherewith to arm them. Geo. Browne, for so many years the royal gunfounder, was still almost the only maker, and his works were unequal to the increased demands.[1427] In March and April 1652, when war appeared certain, 335 guns were immediately required to equip only part of the Navy,[1428] but the authorities were already reduced to such straits as to be compelled to send searchers about London to try to find ordnance.[1429] A month later some of the inland strongholds were disarmed, and 84 brass and 544 iron guns thus obtained; the sale of ordnance taken in prizes was strictly prohibited, and, in the course of the year, guns were hired at ten and twelve shillings each a month. In December the ordnance officials announced that 1500 iron pieces, weighing 2230 tons, at £26 a ton, were required, the same number of carriages at from 21s to 31s 3d each, 117,000 round and double-headed shot, 5000 hand grenades at 2s 6d each, 12,000 barrels of corn powder at £4 10s a barrel, and 150 tons of breechings and tackle at £50 a ton.[1430] To meet these wants they had in store only 121 guns and 34,000 rounds.[1431] In February 1653 the contracts were made for these guns, but, very soon after they were entered into, the officials saw that the deliveries would be at ‘a vast distance from our pressing occasions,’ for not only was the Tower empty but the ports were also destitute of munition, and, at Portsmouth, they were in April ‘at a stand’ for powder and shot.

All that Browne and Foley could promise was to deliver 140 guns in October, 190 in February 1654, 254 in June, 230 in October, and 86 in June 1655; but, as 500 were still to be sent in on old contracts, their engagements could hardly be relied on. Fifty tons of shot and 5000 hand grenades they promised for June, 50 tons in September, and 100 more by March 1654. In the meantime ships intended to serve as armed merchantmen were actually waiting uselessly for 117 guns, which the Ordnance department could not procure anywhere.[1432] The immediate outlook for powder was no better, since there was instant demand for 2780 barrels and only 500 in store, while the contractors were only bound to supply 660 barrels a month. Here, however, the further prospect was more favourable, as there were many powder-makers at work and the government could purchase quantities at Hamburg.