JACKET BLURBS

THE NAVY IN TRANSITION
MICHAEL LEWIS

In 1814 the Navy had all the highlights of its history behind it. It was, in all its essentials, not only the Navy of Nelson, Collingwood, St. Vincent and Howe, but also that of Rodney, of Hawke, of Vernon, of Rooke and even of Blake. In 1864 it was well on the road to becoming the Navy of Fisher, of Jellicoe and of Cunningham: a force as forward-looking as its predecessor had been backward- looking. This book begins with the Old Navy at the peak of its most glorious hour and ends with the Navy in its birth-throes.

This fascinating story, which follows the officers and men of the Royal Navy through the period of the long peace up to and beyond the Crimean War is primarily a social history. Its facts, and the anecdotes which illuminate those facts, are drawn from contemporary documents, ranging from Navy Lists and Admiralty Orders to the journals and recollections of the men concerned; the illustrations of ships and men are contemporary too. Here in flesh and blood is the Navy in which, in the long peace, a man could wait forty years for promotion to lieutenant; the Navy which fought at Navarino, charted the world and put down the slave trade; the Navy which began by subsisting on weevilly hardtack and nauseous salt- horse but ended on self- raising flour, tasty pressed beef and tinned potatoes; the Navy, too, which cut its daily dose of rum by three- quarters, substituting civilised alternatives like tea, coffee and soft-drinks.

`In his previous books Professor Lewis has established himself as the foremost living historian of the British Navy'
The Times Literary Supplement

Contents

INTRODUCTORY: THE NAVY IN TRANSITION, 1814-186

PART ONE: SOCIAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL

1. Social Background
2. Geographical Distribution

PART TWO: "SERVICE"

3. The Evolution of the Modern Naval Officer
4. The Redundancy Problem of 1815
5. The Progress of the Slump, 1818-1848, considered by Ranks

PART THREE: THE LIMITS OF SERVICE

6. The Beginnings—Entry, Training and Education, 1814-1864
7. The End— Retirement, 1842-1864

PART FOUR: THE SHIP HIERARCHY, 1814-1864

8. The Captain and His Wardroom
9. The Midshipmen's Mess
10. The Lower Deck
11. Steam and the Engineer

PART FIVE: INDUCEMENTS

12. Pay and Allowances
13. Other Inducements: "Prize", "Freight" and Emigration

PART SIX: EVERYDAY THINGS IN THE NAVY

14. Hygiene, Ventilation and Uniform
15. Care of the Sick and Wounded
16. Food and Drink

SOURCES, etc.
INDEX

Illustrations

• The warship of 1814: H.M.S. Britannia
• Edward Pellew Viscount Exmouth (showing uniform of 1814)
• Admiral Sir Robert Stopford, aet. 72
• Sir Charles Napier in his prime
• The bombardment of Bomarsund, showing Sir Charles Napier
• Thomas, Lord Cochrane (later Dundonald) in his prime
• Thomas, Earl Dundonald in old age (showing uniform of 1864)
• A Mid on Half Pay
• The Waiting Room at the Admiralty
• The old Purser, c. 1800
• The new Purser and Captain's Clerk, c. 1840
• Wardroom dinner in 1856
• The Midshipmen's Mess, 1821
• Seamen, early 19th century
• The first seamen's uniform
• The warship of 1864: H.M.S. Warrior
• The first R.N. steamer: H.M.S. Monkey
• The first screw-steamer: S.S. Archimedes
• The contest between H.M.S. Rattler and H.M.S. Alecto
• The taking of the slaver Velos Passahera
• The slave-deck of the Albanoz
• The Royal Hospital, Greenwich, and the old three-decker, Dreadnought
• A Captain, a Lieutenant and a Rating in 1848
  

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