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Playing At Command: Midshipmen And Quarterdeck Boys In The Royal Navy, 1793-1815, Samantha A. Cavell
Playing At Command: Midshipmen And Quarterdeck Boys In The Royal Navy, 1793-1815, Samantha A. Cavell
LSU Master's Theses
The golden age of the Royal Navy, which saw its apotheosis at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, also presented one of the great paradoxes of modern naval organization. "Young gentlemen," some as young as eight or nine, were placed in positions of authority aboard His Majesty's ships and expected to command veteran mariners with decades of sea experience. The effectiveness of this system, and the continued success of the Royal Navy as an institution, tended to belie the obvious disadvantages of placing adolescent recruits on the quarterdecks of active men-of-war. This study examines two aspects of the process that …