Norfolk nChance Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 Hi All, One for the history buffs out there. Looking for Pay scales and grade for the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Struggling on this with a lot of conflicting amounts. The prize money split also is extremely confusing... A RN Frigate from the Mid-Atlantic fleet chases down and captures another vessel in the Caribbean. The Prize value split starts with a portion going to the Jamaica or Leeward station as well as the Captain’s senior Admiral reporting line. Now him, and then the crew, this includes all crew like The Marines and The Chaplain. Is this correct? How is the prize actually valued? Assume the cargo contents the easiest to value and sell off but the ship itself? If anybody could point me to a good site or book that would be really helpful. Thanks Norfolk Ps. Capt. 1st Rate Ship pa GBP400, 6th Rated GBP150 pa Surgeons GBP165, Chaplains GBP100 and Able Seaman GBP20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norfolk nChance Posted October 2, 2019 Author Share Posted October 2, 2019 That’s great @Lieste thank-you. 'Pay' was instead made by promissory note, which commonly would be sold or redeemed via money lenders, loan sharks et al... This opens up a whole new can of worms... lol The division split would leave little for the average man indeed. At the Battle of Cape St. Vincent with Nelson’s patent bridge boarding I’d loved to know what the payout was. In his 74-gun Captain he took the 84-gun San Nicolas and then the 114-gun San Josef. This before the HMS Britannia 94-gun closed in. His small ship and crew taking two much larger vessels. The San-Nicolas was really badly damaged, but I keep thinking was Nelson’s motivation the prize on the San Josef rather than the boldness of the move? Once Britannia arrived it would dilute the purse somewhat... Sir John Jervis 8th, then the rest for the HMS Captain would seem to be a huge fortune. Thank-you again for the information N. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norfolk nChance Posted October 2, 2019 Author Share Posted October 2, 2019 I’ll have a look for ‘An Appeal to Admiralty’. This seems the thing I’m looking for. Brilliant. The Battle of Cape St. Vincent I found out was GBP140,000 in prize money (GBP14m in today’s value). Sir John Jervis would have taken GBP17,500 home from the battle. Four ships captured two thirds and two firsts. So, a straight even split, with GBP70,000 going to HMS Captain. This leaves Nelson’s highest possible prize for HMS Captain would be GBP61,250. I’d assume this number is then split into eighths of GBP7,650. Nelson Himself on your numbers of two eighth takes GBP15,300 the rest split downward. Nelson was in charge, the senior officer as Commodore, the HMS Captain’s Captain Miller... this adding confusion. I would certainly agree with you that Nelson wouldn’t receive the whole amount. Pensions, provisions and other additions would have reduced the 61k to a fraction. However, I bet that Sir John probably did walk away with 17k. He was awarded later for this action a pension of GBP3,000 per year as well. N. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norfolk nChance Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 your split looks a lot more realistic... great work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Cornelius Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 I know that as a midshipman, Robert Calder received 1,800 GBP; I believe it was on the Essex under George Faulkner. This was regarded as an exceptionally large payout. I seem to recall reading, though I don't remember where, that if a ship was not attached to a fleet or higher division then the admiral's 1/8th share was divided amongst the entirety of the crew. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hethwill Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 https://www.academia.edu/14515791/Golden_Harvest_The_British_Naval_Prize_System_1793-1815 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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