Royal Navy ranks, rates, and uniforms of the 18th and 19th centuries were the original effort of the Royal Navy to create standardized rank and insignia system for use both at shore and at sea.
History
Prior to the 1740s, Royal Navy officers and sailors had no established uniforms, although many of the officer class typically wore upper-class clothing with wigs to denote their social status. Coats were often dark blue to reduce fading caused by the rain and spray, with gold embroidery on the cuffs and standing collar to signify the officer's wealth and status. The early Royal Navy also had only three clearly established shipboard ranks: captain, lieutenant, and master. This simplicity of rank had its origins in the Middle Ages, where a military company embarked on ship (led by a captain and a lieutenant) operated independently from the handling of the vessel, which was overseen by the ship's master.
Over time, the nautical command structure merged these two separate command chains into a single entity with captain and lieutenant as commissioned officer ranks while sailing master (often shortened to simply "master") was seen as a type of warrant officer specializing in navigation and ship handling. In 1758, the rank of midshipman was introduced, which was a type of officer candidate position. The rank of "master and commander" (completely separate from the rank of master) first appeared in the 1760s and was originally a temporary appointment, rather than a substantive rank, whereby a lieutenant was appointed to command a vessels without a captain's commission (and the associated seniority and privileges). By the 1790s, the "master and commander" was routinely shortened to simply "commander" and was functionally a permanent rank. The practice of appointing lieutenants to command smaller vessels continued, however, and the term "lieutenant commanding" eventually evolved into the rank of "lieutenant commander."
Lord Anson first issued uniform regulations for naval officers in April 1748; this was in response to the naval officer corps wishing for an established uniform pertaining to their service. Officer uniforms were at first divided into a "best uniform", consisting of an embroidered blue coat with white facings worn unbuttoned with white breeches and stockings, as well as a "working rig" which was a simpler, less embroidered uniform for day-to-day use.
In 1767, the terms "dress" and "undress" uniform had been adopted and, by 1795, epaulettes were officially introduced. The epaulette style uniforms and insignia endured slight modifications and expansions until a final version appeared in 1846. In 1856, Royal Navy officer insignia shifted to the use of rank sleeve stripes – a pattern which has endured to the present day.
Ranks and positions Naval ranks and positions of the 18th and 19th-century Royal Navy were an intermixed assortment of formal rank titles, positional titles, as well as informal titles used onboard oceangoing ships. Uniforms played a major role in shipboard hierarchy since those positions allocated a formal uniform by navy regulations were generally considered of higher standing, even if not by rank.
Shipboard hierarchy
In the 18th century Royal Navy, rank and position on board ship was defined by a mix of two hierarchies, an official hierarchy of ranks and a conventionally recognized social divide between gentlemen and non-gentlemen. Royal Navy ships were led by commissioned officers of the wardroom, which consisted of the captain, his lieutenants, as well as embarked Royal Marine officers, all of whom were officers and gentlemen. The higher ranked warrant officers on board, the Sailing Master, Purser, Surgeon and Chaplain held a warrant from the Navy Board but not an actual commission from the Crown. Warrant officers had rights to mess and berth in the wardroom and were normally considered gentlemen; however, the Sailing Master was often a former sailor who had "come through the ranks" therefore might have been viewed as a social unequal. All commissioned and warrant officers wore a type of uniform, although official Navy regulations clarified an officer uniform in 1787 while it was not until 1807 that masters, along with pursers, received their own regulated uniform.
Next came the ship's three "standing officers", the Carpenter, Gunner and Boatswain (Bo'sun), who along with the master were permanently assigned to a vessel for maintenance, repair, and upkeep. Standing officers were considered the most highly skilled seaman on board, and messed and berthed with the crew. As such, they held a status separate from the other officers and were not granted the privileges of a commissioned or warrant officer if they were captured.
"Cockpit mate" was a colloquial term for petty officers who were considered gentlemen and officers under instruction and messed and berthed apart from the ordinary sailors in the cockpit. This included both midshipmen, who were considered gentlemen and officers under instruction, and master's mates, who derived their status from their role as apprentices to the sailing master. A midshipman outranked most other petty officers and lesser warrant officers, such as the Master-at-arms. Boys aspiring for a commission were often called young gentlemen instead of their substantive rating to distinguish their higher social standing from the ordinary sailors. Occasionally, a midshipman would be posted aboard a ship in a lower rating such as able seaman but would eat and sleep with his social equals in the cockpit (all Midshipman would be 'rated able' at some point in their service – it was a requirement for them to have been so before they could stand as a Mate, another requirement for promotion to Lieutenant).
The remainder of the ship's company, who lived and berthed in the common crew quarters, were the petty officers and seamen. Petty officers were seamen who had been "rated" to fill a particular specialist trade on board ship. This rating set the petty officers apart from the common seaman by virtue of technical skill and slightly higher education. No special uniform was allocated for petty officers, although some Royal Navy ships allowed such persons to don a simple blue frock coat to denote their status.
Seamen were further divided into two grades, these being ordinary seaman and able seaman. Seamen were normally assigned to a watch, which maintained its hierarchy consisting of a watch captain in charge of a particular area of the ship. Grouped among the watches were also the landsmen, considered the absolute lowest rank in the Royal Navy and assigned to personnel, usually from press gangs, who held little to no naval experience.
Enlisted seamen and marines discharged due to disability or advanced age could be admitted to the Royal Hospital, Greenwich. From 1805 until 1869, Greenwich pensioners were issued with a distinctive uniform comprising a blue frock coat with brass buttons, white waistcoat and pantaloons, black shoes, and a tricorn hat similar to those issued to their army counterparts at Chelsea.
Minors in the Royal Navy
Until the child labour laws of the late 19th century, poor children started work as soon as they were able. Child labour was considered both necessary and desirable; being good for the child's development and providing additional income to struggling families. From the ages of five or six, farmers' children would assist with the sowing and gathering crops while a chimney sweep's climbing boy might be as young as three or four. The view that child labour was both morally and legally acceptable was prevalent not just in Britain but throughout the world's most advanced nations.
The Royal Navy was not exceptional in its employment of young boys, who were rated in three classes: A Boy Third Class was under 15 and was usually employed as an officer's servant, a Boy Second class was between 16 and 18 and undertook normal seaman's duties. Boy First Class was a rating reserved for those training to become officers; usually young gentlemen from well-to-do families. This was a popular and recognised route, offering an opportunity to accumulate knowledge and sea time, prior to becoming a midshipman. Service as a ship's boy was recorded as sea-service; officers' servants could obtain credit towards the mandatory six years of sea time needed before attempting the lieutenant's exam. It was not uncommon for these boys to be signed on in name only while they remained on land at school, high-ranking officers supplying fictitious seatime in exchange for some reward or favour.
The number of second and third class boys allowed on each ship was dictated by the Admiralty and could be as many as 13 and 19 respectively for first rate ships while a large frigate might have 10 third class and six second class. The youngest were not supposed be less than 13, or 11 if they were the son of an officer, but this rule was often broken. The Marine Society, founded in 1756 by Jonas Hanway, was a charity that encouraged poor and destitute young boys to seek a better life in the navy. The society provided food, clothing and bedding, and an education which included basic seaman skills. At its peak, in the 1790s, it was providing 500 to 600 boys a year for the Royal Navy.
Once a boy, further advancement could be obtained through various specialties. A cabin boy assisted with the ship's kitchen, as well as other duties, while a powder monkey helped in the ship's armoury. After the Age of Sail ended, the position of ship's boy became an actual Royal Navy rank known as "boy seaman".