No description available.

The introduction of steam propulsion during the early nineteenth century presented the Royal Navy with two interlinked challenges. In the first, steam propulsion had to overcome the sceptics and the challenges of technical development until it proved a reliable and superior alternative to sail. The second was a challenge to the social infrastructure of the Navy which struggled to integrate increasingly large numbers of engine room personnel into a traditional close knit naval hierarchy dominated by seamen. The engineers’ struggle for commissioned status and equality with the executive branch is well documented, as is the history of the engine room artificers’ branch. By comparison, where naval and historical custom has promoted and celebrated the ideal of the Royal Naval ‘bluejacket’ or seaman, its stokers have become subjects of censure while their story has been largely ignored and corrupted by prejudice and myths. Tradition dictates that stokers are portrayed as coarse, uneducated men with a reputation for being trouble makers. As a result, they were judged to have the worst discipline record on the lower-deck. Because of the physical nature of their work and the filth and detritus from the coal they worked with they were also commonly believed to originate from the lowest classes of contemporary society. Yet without stokers no ship could leave harbour let alone engage the enemy. Every item of machinery and equipment onboard a ship relied on the steam produced by stokers. But far from being seen as equals or given any credit for their endeavours in the miniature hell of the stokehole, stokers became social outcasts. No other branch of men in the Navy has been subjected to such longstanding and deep seated censure. The negative stereotypes which surround stokers continue to perpetuate a disservice to a much overlooked and maligned branch of men. In order to determine the reasons why stokers attracted such negative sympathies this thesis will separate the facts from the myths and offer a new perspective on the men condemned by history as ‘the lowest of the low.’

A 1998 joint survey undertaken by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology and Portuguese authorities located and identified the sunken remains of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Pallas (1757-1783) off of the Azorean island of São Jorge. Physical remains are so limited as to suggest that excavation would likely yield little new information. However, much documentary evidence has been preserved in Admiralty archives. Contemporary treatises about 18th-century British ship construction focus on glossaries of terms, scantling lists and design theory, and include only short sections on frigates insofar as they apply to those topics. They rarely address specific construction aspects. Most current works address individual aspects of ship construction for the period, but provide little significant detail about the frigate as a ship type. All of these works are useful and reliable, however none attempt to combine the ship with the crew, or pursue the complete history of one ship. As the flagship of a prototypical class, intended to address French superiority in cruiser design, it is reasonable to expect that a history of Pallas would exist with some analysis of how successfully these new frigates fulfilled the Royal Navy’s perceived need. However, to date there has been no attempt to consolidate the evidence of her 26-year career. This study provides a comprehensive history of a single ship from perceived need and conceived solution through design and construction. The ship’s logbooks and additional primary sources made it possible to accurately document and analyze Pallas’ activities, maintenance, modifications, and ultimately to draw conclusions about the overall effectiveness of the frigate type. I began with basic background information to establish the perceived need for a new frigate type, followed by an examination of the conceived design solution. A partial set of admiralty drafts served as a foundation from which to develop a more complete set of construction plans, a spar plan, and rigging plans. Comprehensive research into life aboard Royal Navy warships of the period provided a social context within which to examine the service history of Pallas. Finally, a review of the maintenance record and the events leading up to her sinking enabled an informed assessment of how well HMS Pallas fulfilled the perceived need for which she was developed.

This thesis looks at how the Scottish state, with a long coastline, got away with a minimal naval footprint in a period when European navies were becoming large permanent institutions. Increasingly, Scottish authorities did this by relying upon the English Royal Navy. This thesis hopes to go some way to filling the lacuna in the historiography of the Royal Navy in the seventeenth century regarding Scotland. The Royal Navy in Scotland is used as a prism through which Scottish and British state development in the period of the union of the crowns is looked at. From the standpoint of 1707 Scotland is generally seen as being an underdeveloped state. Explanations of why this was tend to point to the regal union as a cause due to the removal of key elements of statehood to London, in particular the state's 'monopoly of violence'. This thesis suggests that Scotland did not lose its monopoly of violence and that, instead of being a sign of the regal union's failure, underdevelopment actually indicates success. The Royal Navy shielded Scotland from much of the maritime insecurity which would generate demands to create a significant Scottish naval force. However, this relative success was not indicative of British development providing structures to allow the Royal Navy to react well to Scottish defence needs. Multiple monarchy was a poor organisational structure and AngloScottish communication on naval matters was either poor or non-existent. Instead, geopolitical and strategic factors meant that much Royal Naval provision principally aimed at English defence also helped Scotland. That these factors did not lead to equal protection against all types of maritime threats offers an alternative explanation for the maritime tensions between England and Scotland in the 1690s which Eric Graham identifies with the imposition of English mercantilism on Scotland.

No description available.

The Royal Navy, and especially its leadership, is perceived to have performed poorly in the First World War and its officers have been described as being automatons who only came alive when directed by superiors. By contrast in the Second World War the Royal Navy and its officers are seen as having ‘done well,’ displaying flair and initiative. There does not appear to have been any attempt to look in any detail at what, if anything, changed in the twenty years between the wars to explain the perceived improvement. This thesis critically examines the executive branch of the Royal Navy, and contends that the navy adapted and modified the training of its officers to meet whatever was required of them; when they were required to passively obey orders as in the Grand Fleet of the First World War, they had been trained for that eventuality, when to show initiative likewise. During the 1920s the officer corps was mismanaged and morale and motivation suffered badly. The influence of the Admiralty civil service, the repository of institutional memory, which managed junior officers’ careers, was conservative and resistant to change. Changes in training both before and after the mutiny at Invergordon (September 1931) brought the officer corps up to date and set it on track for its outstanding performance in the next war, in particular recognising that leadership was not an innate class based ability, but had to be taught and developed. However, the navy had since the latter part of the nineteenth century changed the emphasis of officer’s career paths; specialist training was seen as the ‘route to the top’ and command was downgraded as a necessary part of an officer’s career development. It was only during the latter part of Second World War that having exercised command at sea was recognised as being an important part of an officer’s experience. The thesis also addresses the ‘RNVR myth’ that the Royal Navy was only able to prosecute the Second World War successfully because of an influx of well educated temporary officers and that they were the major driving force. This thesis has been largely based on primary sources, including personnel records which have not been studied before and have been examined in such a way as to allow statistical analysis.

Trauma is arguably the most comparative and least ambiguous of palaeopathological lesions. As such, it is an ideal vehicle for exploring the respective contributions and differences between historical and osteological approaches to health in the past. A direct comparison between historical and osteological assemblages is often impossible due to the lack of comparable data, or complicated by the very different perceptions, motivations and pre-occupations of past writers and present researchers. Nevertheless, where genuine opportunities exist to compare and contrast the alternative strands of evidence, it may lead to a much richer and more nuanced understanding of the past. This study uses trauma in the late 18^th- to early 19^th century British Royal Navy (R.N.) to explore the differences between the two disciplines, and through this process to come to a deeper understanding of the physical effects of a maritime lifestyle on the health of late 18th- to early 19th century R.N. seamen and marines. The 18^th- and early 19^th century R.N. is one of the best documented institutions of its day, with a large corpus of records accessible in the National Archives in Kew. Recent archaeological excavations in the burial grounds of the three R.N. hospitals of the 18^th century in Britain- the Royal Hospitals Haslar in Gosport, Stonehouse in Plymouth and Greenwich Hospital in South-East London- have made available over 300 skeletons of seamen and marines, who were treated but died in these institutions. This study explores the osteological evidence for fractures and joint trauma patterning in 300 of these skeletons. Eighteenth century accounts of the privations and dangers of sailing a fighting ship are well supported osteologically by the presence of 926 fractures and 14 joint dislocations. Osteological trauma patterning was compared with historical data collated from the Haslar and Plymouth Hospital musters (1792-1824) and Entry Books of Greenwich Hospital (1749-1765). The most probable aetiology of injuries was explored using insights from modern medical and forensic research, and 18^th century sea surgeons' journals. Falls accounted for a very high proportion of injuries in both datasets, as did crush injuries, and to a much lesser extent, battle trauma. Extremely high rates of nasal fractures, Bennett's fractures of the first metacarpal, and anterior rib fractures in the skeletal assemblages strongly suggest very high rates of casual interpersonal violence. Interestingly, these injuries were very seldom recorded in either sea surgeon or hospital records, possibly due to seamen's fear of punishment for transgressing official naval regulations against fighting. Several unusual fractures (such as Shepherd's fractures of the talus, and third metacarpal avulsion fractures) and bony modifications (such as shallow and unstable hip and shoulder joints, os acromiale and Eagle's syndrome) appear to be the consequences of engaging in a maritime lifestyle, often beginning in childhood or adolescence. Trauma is arguably the most comparative and least ambiguous of palaeopathological lesions. As such, it is an ideal vehicle for exploring the respective contributions and differences between historical and osteological approaches to health in the past. A direct comparison between historical and osteological assemblages is often impossible due to the lack of comparable data, or complicated by the very different perceptions, motivations and pre-occupations of past writers and present researchers. Nevertheless, where genuine opportunities exist to compare and contrast the alternative strands of evidence, it may lead to a much richer and more nuanced understanding of the past. This study uses trauma in the late 18th- to early 19th century British Royal Navy (R.N.) to explore the differences between the two disciplines, and through this process to come to a deeper understanding of the physical effects of a maritime lifestyle on the health of late 18th- to early 19th century R.N. seamen and marines. The 18th- and early 19th century R.N. is one of the best documented institutions of its day, with a large corpus of records accessible in the National Archives in Kew. Recent archaeological excavations in the burial grounds of the three R.N. hospitals of the 18th century in Britain- the Royal Hospitals Haslar in Gosport, Stonehouse in Plymouth and Greenwich Hospital in South-East London- have made available over 300 skeletons of seamen and marines, who were treated but died in these institutions. This study explores the osteological evidence for fractures and joint trauma patterning in 300 of these skeletons. Eighteenth century accounts of the privations and dangers of sailing a fighting ship are well supported osteologically by the presence of 926 fractures and 14 joint dislocations. Osteological trauma patterning was compared with historical data collated from the Haslar and Plymouth Hospital musters (1792-1824) and Entry Books of Greenwich Hospital (1749-1765). The most probable aetiology of injuries was explored using insights from modern medical and forensic research, and 18th century sea surgeons’ journals. Falls accounted for a very high proportion of injuries in both datasets, as did crush injuries, and to a much lesser extent, battle trauma. Extremely high rates of nasal fractures, Bennett’s fractures of the first metacarpal, and anterior rib fractures in the skeletal assemblages strongly suggest very high rates of casual interpersonal violence. Interestingly, these injuries were very seldom recorded in either sea surgeon or hospital records, possibly due to seamen’s fear of punishment for transgressing official naval regulations against fighting. Several unusual fractures (such as Shepherd’s fractures of the talus, and third metacarpal avulsion fractures) and bony modifications (such as shallow and unstable hip and shoulder joints, os acromiale and Eagle’s syndrome) appear to be the consequences of engaging in a maritime lifestyle, often beginning in childhood or adolescence.

The history of the Royal Navy during the war with France between 1793 and 1815 is well documented, but the part played by new technologies in maintaining the Royal Navy as an efficient fighting force and contributing to its ultimate success is much less well recognised. This thesis addresses this problem beginning with an examination of the demands made upon Portsmouth Dockyard, the largest of the Royal Dockyards, due to the growth in the size of the fleet. It studies the nature of the tasks carried out in the Dockyard and the ways in which its personnel undertook them. Following a review of emerging new technologies and considering those which were, or were not potentially relevant to the Dockyard's activities, the thesis examines the technological advances actually applied in the period, how they were related to the site, to each other and to the workforce. The main innovations resulted in a major increase in the throughput of the dry docks, due to new dock design and the imaginative use of steam-power. In the metalworking area too, steam-power, together with other new technologies, provided major benefits to the Navy as a whole, especially in the reprocessing of copper. In the woodworking area revolutionary new blockmaking machinery was at the forefront of advances in efficiency and increased output of blocks for the rigging of ships. These advances were primarily due to a small group of men led by Samuel Bentham and Simon Goodrich, who became first "Engineer of the Navy". For their innovative use of new technologies and their management skills, these men can justifiably claim their place in the history of the Navy and of technology. More importantly, the applications of technology in Portsmouth Dockyard made a significant contribution to the industrial revolution in Britain during the period.

It was a year of decisions that heralded the pre-dreadnought era, perhaps the least understood chapter of modern naval history. In March 1889, the Salisbury ministry officially endorsed what later became the Naval Defence Act, which in its final form authorised the largest shipbuilding programme of its kind in the nineteenth century. When it was finally completed five years later, the Royal Navy would have a new fleet based around 10 battleships, 42 cruisers and 18 torpedo gunboats, all of the latest design and at a cost of £21,500,000. Then, in December 1889, the Harrison administration sought legislative approval to adopt a forward offensive naval strategy, complete with a fleet of battleships and armoured cruisers in an unprecedented shift in American naval policy. This strategic rationale provided the intellectual framework to transform the United States into a modern seapower. The purpose of this comparative study is to revisit the decisions of 1889, with the benefit of underutilised archival sources and an innovative research methodology recently embraced by the naval historical community. Whereas prior accounts of these decisions generally assess their historical significance in terms of the naval construction that ensued in the pre-dreadnought era, this thesis focuses instead on the pervasive influence of strategic ideas and how strongly they affected the personalities, institutions and events that shaped the respective outcomes in both London and Washington. That strategic ideas shared among naval officers can be decisive in this regard is the underlying tenet behind the cultural approach to historical naval analysis, which is introduced here to highlight the impact of organisational cultures upon the strategic and force structure choices of military organisations.

The identification of metabolic diseases is a crucial aspect of osteoarchaeological analysis and of paleopathological studies. This study is specifically concerned with the study of scurvy and its bony manifestation. This investigation considers the recognition of the bony lesions of scurvy in adult skeletons that originate from English archaeological contexts dating to the Post Medieval period. In order to identify scorbutic bony lesions, assemblages were analysed that derived from the Georgian period Navy that were known to suffer from endemic scurvy, namely Haslar hospital near Portsmouth and Stonehouse hospital in Plymouth. These assemblages were complemented by two Non-Naval skeletal collections of a broadly contemporaneous time period, one of which was a prison assemblage from Oxford Castle in Oxford and the other was from Darwen, Lancashire and consisted of a Primitive Methodist cemetery. For the purpose of this study, an extensive literature review was carried out and a specially modified scurvy recording form was created. In total three hundred and fifty-eight skeletons were analysed using the scurvy recording form on which a total of twenty-one potential scorbutic indicators were scored. The data was then subject to statistical analysis and a set of primary and secondary scorbutic indicators was established. The primary scorbutic lesions were femur, sphenoid, posterior maxilla, scapula, endocranial and mandible. Nine secondary lesions were also established and these were lesions of the foot, humerus, ulna, radius, hand, clavicle, innominate, fibula and the ectocranial surface of the skull. In total, 66.7% of the Haslar assemblage was found to have suffered from scurvy, followed by Plymouth with 20.6%, Darwen with 16.4% and Oxford Castle with 7.9%. It was found that scurvy could be identified in adult skeletal material through the recognition of a number of lesions that could not be attributed to any other disease process. The results indicated that scurvy was present in all of the skeletal collections studied but was more common in the Naval assemblages. This is an important development in the detection of scurvy in the archaeological record and is crucial in the reconstruction of past diets and metabolic disease patterns.