ltwilliammowett:

The Midshipman

To become a midshipman at all, the way could be very long and thorny at times and many hurdles had to be overcome. One of these hurdles was to find a supporter. This supporter had to help a young man to get an apprenticeship on a ship. In the beginning it didn’t matter what kind of skills he had, how he applied or if he had passed an aptitude test. They only needed someone who was authorized to fill such an apprenticeship and they could take whoever they wanted. This led to the so-called protection system. This meant that you could get advantages in every possible way as long as you returned the favor. And so it could be that a rich man who found that his son should go to sea, gave the captain a large sum of money, and then took the boy in. This unfortunately led to the fact that many supposed talents found their way onto a ship, while true talents first tried their hand on a trading ship. But there was also the so-called Kings letter. This was a specific letter issued by the admiralty that forced the captain to take the boy in. But this happened very rarely.

A Portrait of a Midshipman, by Sir Martin Archer Shee (1769-1850)

If a young gentleman had now made it and found an apprenticeship, he was between 11 (later it was raised to 12) and 16 years old. There he started as Captains Servant - from 1794 it became the Volunteer first class. But not without his parents or a guardian paying for him. Servants were a source of income for the Captain. For example, the young man had to pay an annual fee, an extra allowance and pocket money, and his parents had to pay for his uniform etc. In addition there was a supply subsidy which had to be paid for 30 to 40 pounds for boys under 15 years and 70 to 100 for boys from 15 years on. 2- 3 years after learning the basics a servant was allowed to call himself a midshipman after confirmation of the captain.

Midshipman Blockhead, Fitting out Mastr Willm Blockhead HM Ship Hellfire West India Station, by Captain Frederick Marryat, 1820

Since 1678 it was necessary for a midshipman to take an exam to become a lieutenant. This meant that a good education was necessary to achieve this, which often led to midshipmanship during their service, which was 6 years on board and two of them as midshipmen were constantly busy learning and often changing ships to gain more experience. But more about this later.

The Academy

Influenced by the three great naval academies in France, the Naval College at Portmouth was finally opened in 1733. It was intended to provide the young men with a sound basic education and thus make Servant service superfluous. Unfortunately only with moderate success. Although the academy also taught: writing, arithmetic, drawing, navigation, gunnery, fortification, other useful parts of the mathematics, French, dancing,, fencing and the exercise of the firelocks. However, many of them relied on the old system and the academy only took in 40 students per year, although there was capacity for more, so it closed its doors again in 1837. In the second half of the 18th century, second college opend in Gosport and since 1873 was it the Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

The Royal Navy College in Greenwich

On board the older officers and the captain took over the teaching. If the ship was large enough, there was also a schoolmaster from 1702. If there was not a chaplain, he took over the general education while the nautical instruction remained with the officers.

The exams

As already mentioned, a mudshipman had to pass an exam to continue as a lieutenant. This meant that he had to have been at sea for at least 6 years. Unfortunately, there were cases where a boy was entered in the ship’s logbooks at baby age to give him a better career and early payment. Of course it was forbidden but most of them were relatives of each other and knew what was going on but nothing was done about it. The exam itself was taken in Lodon, later also in other large home ports and overseas on the orders of an admiral present there, but if he was not there the gentlemen had to wait until he was present again. Because only he was allowed to choose three captains who took the examination. At this time the pentecostal had to be at least 20, from 1806 on 19 was enough. In 1790 a catalogue of 30 questions was compiled, but here too, nepotism was a factor, because if the uncle, cousin or old family friend was sitting there, then it was often a very simple, almost ridiculous question. But if the examinee did not have this favour then he had to expect all kinds of questions.

Midshipmen studying for their Lieutenant’s examination aboard HMS Pallas. Sketch by Lt. Gabriel Bray, 1774

So it is quite astonishing that even useful officers came out. But since every failure is down to the officer (usually a lieutenant who had at least one midshipman under his protection) and the captain, they wanted their protégés to learn something useful. Therefore they were given tasks early on, such as hoisting signals, commanding a boat and the older ones even got the command of a small prize. This usually meant a lot of practice and knowledge. 

Beside the boys also deserving sailors could earn themselves the post of a Midshipmen, so that it was possible to have children in the age of 11, and adult men in their 40s. This was also possible if the midshipman did not pass the exam or there was no job for him. Because not everyone who passed the exam was a lieutenant promoted. Then he had not passed the gentleman’s examination and was therefore only a passed midshipman waiting for a job. From 1804 this was called sublieutenant.

Life on board

The boys were accommodated in the very narrow midhipmen berth. And the oldest midshipman was in command of his comrades in theBerth, which often led to mobbing and group formation. The very young were mothered a little by the Gunner and his wife - the only one legally on board.

‘Master B finding things not exactly what he expected’, the midshipman arrives on board ship; study for an illustration to ‘The Life of a Midshipman’ by Captain Frederick Marryat, 1820

The boys were punished by other officers but never by the crew. Most of the time they were mastheaded, tied in the shrouds or put over the cannon to be spanked with a cane. The food was the same as the crew, but sometimes the captain, when eating with his lieutenants, would give the excess food to the boys. All in all this time was not very easy, but at the same time it was a great adventure. So that many had only good things to report, when they came across a good captain with capable officers.