Royal Navy 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. The uniforms and insignia first created in the mid 1700s, lasting until the mid 1850s, have since become immortalized in such classic Naval literature works as the Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey novels.
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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. 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 position. 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 temporarily issued to Lieutenants in command of vessels, but without a Captain's commission. By the 1790s, the rank of Master and Commander was routinely shortened to simply "Commander".
Uniform regulations for Naval officers were first issued by Lord Anson in 1748, this was in response to the Naval officer corps wishing for an established uniform pertaining to their service.[1] 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.
In 1775, during the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Navy was established; many ranks, rates, positions, and uniforms were duplicated nearly exactly from the British system.
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 on board ocean going 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.
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. The higher ranked Warrant Officers on board, meaning those who held a warrant from a Navy board but not an actual commission from the crown also had wardroom rights as well as assigned uniforms. Next came the ship's "Standing Officers", that is to say those personnel who were permanently assigned to a vessel for the purposes of maintenance, repair, and upkeep. Standing officers (of which there were three main positions) did not have wardroom rights but wore uniforms and had access rights to the Quarterdeck.
Cockpit officers, or "Cockpit mates" were personnel who did not hold a royal or warrant commission but where considered of important enough standing inboard to be messed and berthed in their own area of the ship and be allocated a simpler version of a uniform. This included the Midshipman, who existed in a very grey zone of seniority as officer candidates yet sometimes treat little better than common seaman.
The remainder of the ship's company, who lived and berthed in the common crew quarters, were the Petty Officers and Seaman. Petty officers were seaman 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 located for Petty Officers, however, although some Royal Navy ships allowed such persons to don a simple blue frock coat to denote their status.
Seaman were divided into two grades, these being Ordinary Seaman and Able Seaman. Seaman were normally assigned to a watch, which maintained its own hierarchy consisting of a Watch Captain in charge of a particular area of the ship. Grouped amongst 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.
A final position on board ship was that of ship's boy, sometimes referred to as cabin boy. Normally between the ages of 8 to 12, ship's boys performed a variety of functions such as servants to officers, mess attendants, or as a powder monkey.
| Position | Status | Appointing Agency | Messing & Berthing | Uniform | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commodore | Commissioned officer | Admiralty | Great Cabin | Blue frock coat with gold laced buttons.[N 1] |
Special grade for Captains in charge of multiple vessels[N 2] | |
| Captain | Vessel Commanding Officer | |||||
| Commander | Blue frock coat white waist coat.[N 3] |
Non-rated Ship Captain. Full title "Master and Commander" |
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| Lieutenant | Wardroom | Division Officer/Watch Officer | ||||
| Acting Lieutenant | Warrant officer | Ship's Captain | No established uniform - recipients would wear the uniform of the last grade held | Later known as Sub-Lieutenant[N 4] | ||
| Master | Navy Board | Blue frock coat with gold Navy buttons |
Highest ranked Warrant officer on board |
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| Purser | Victualling Board | Ship's Accountant, responsible for supplies | ||||
| Surgeon | Sick and Hurt Board | Ship's Medical Officer | ||||
| Chaplain | Church of England | Only present on larger vessels | ||||
| Midshipman | Cockpit officer | Various methods for appointment | Cockpit | Blue frock coat, white button collar patch |
Officer Candidate position | |
| Midshipman's Mate | Cockpit mate | Blue frock coat with white trim |
Special grade reserved for Master's mates who had passed the examination for Lieutenant | |||
| Master's mate | Could also be rated as "Second Master" | |||||
| Surgeon's mate | Sick and Hurt Board[N 5] | Ship's medic on smaller vessels | ||||
| Clerk | Civilian | Typically hired by Captain | Civilian clothing | Clerical duties on board ship | ||
| School Teacher | Only present on larger ships. Primary duty to instruct Midshipman in academic matters | |||||
| Cook | Crew's Messing and Berthing |
Normally an older retired or injured seaman | ||||
| Gunner | Standing officer | Shipboard appointment by Captain | Blue frock coat with Navy buttons |
In charge of all ship's armaments | ||
| Boatswain | Most experienced deck seaman aboard | |||||
| Carpenter | Shipboard issued crew clothing |
Head of the Carpenter's Team | ||||
| Armourer | Petty officer | Senior Petty officers | ||||
| Ropemaker | ||||||
| Caulker | ||||||
| Master-at-arms | ||||||
| Sailmaker | Mid-grade Petty officer | |||||
| Yeoman | Two on board: Yeoman of the Sheets & Yeoman of the Powder Room |
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| Coxswain | Deck hand specialist Petty officer | |||||
| Quartermaster | Helmsman on board the ship serving watch at the ship's wheel |
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| Cooper | Worked directly for the Ship's Purser | |||||
| Ship's Corporal | Assistant to the Master-at-Arms | |||||
| Watch Captains | Experienced Seaman in charge of a watch team |
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| Armourer's Mate | Junior Petty officer | |||||
| Gunner's Mate | ||||||
| Boatswain's Mate | ||||||
| Caulker's Mate | ||||||
| Carpenter's Mate | ||||||
| Sailmaker's Mate | ||||||
| Quartermaster's Mate | ||||||
| Gunsmith | Seaman | Seaman specialists | ||||
| Quarter Gunner | ||||||
| Carpenter's Crew | ||||||
| Able seaman | Seaman with more than three years experience |
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| Ordinary seaman | Seaman with at least one year experience | |||||
| Landsman | Seaman with less than one year experience | |||||
| Boy | Servant | Lowest possible position on board, normally held by boys 12 years or younger. |
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Promotion and advancement within the 18th and 19th century Royal navy varied depending on the status of the sailor in question. At the lower levels, most inexperienced sailors began in the rank of Landsman - those joining ships at a very young age were typically entered in the Navy as Cabin Boys or Officer Servants.
After a year at sea, Landsmen were normally advanced to Ordinary seaman. Three more years, with appropriate ability displayed, would see a sailor advanced to Able Seaman. For the "common seaman", this level is normally where the career path ended and many sailors spent their entire Royal navy careers as Able Seaman on various vessels.
Advancement into the Petty officer positions required some level of technical skill. Petty officer appointments were typically made by a Ship's Captain - sailors could also be "rated on the books" as a Petty officer when a ship was in-port searching for a crew[N 6] Honesty was implied, as a sailor falsely claiming experience in order to rate a billet on board ship would be quickly discovered once at sea.
Senior Petty officers could also be rated as a Standing Officer, of which only three such positions normally existed (Boatswain, Carpenter, and Gunner). Standing officers remained with a vessel during lay-up and maintenance, and also were known to be highly valued due to their skill and experience.
Warrant officers were given their positions by various certification boards and had nearly the same rights and respect as commissioned officers, including access to the quarterdeck and wardroom. Advancement into the commissioned officer grades required a Royal appointment, following a certification by the Lieutenant's examination board. Board eligibility was most often achieved by serving as a Midshipman, although the career path of a Master or Master's mate also permitted this opportunity.
Once commissioned, Lieutenants would be rated on board based on seniority, such as "1st Lieutenant", "2nd Lieutenant", "3rd Lieutenant", etc. with the 1st Lieutenant filling the modern day role of Executive Officer and second-in-command. Lieutenants, like ordinary sailors, were required to be signed on to various vessels due to manpower needs. If a Lieutenant could not find a billet, the officer was said to be on "half pay" until a sea billet could be obtained.
The title of Commander was a temporary position for Lieutenants placed in charge of smaller vessels. Successful Commanders (who were known by courtesy on board their own ship's as "Captain") could aspire for promotion to Captain which was known as "making post". Such Post Captains were then assigned to rated vessels in the rating system of the Royal Navy. Once a Captain, advancement to Admiral was strictly determined by seniority - if a Captain served long enough for more senior officers to retire, resign, or die, he would eventually become an Admiral. One distinguishing element amongst Captain was, however, determined by the rating of the vessel they commanded. A 6th rate Captain, for instance, was generally junior to a Captain of a 1st rate (although Captains of 1st rate commands were generally overshadowed by the presence of flag officers). The 3rd rate command, known generally as the "74 gun vessels", were usually where the bulk of senior Captain billets lay with the most successful and experienced Captains at the helm.
Royal navy vessels operated on a number of parallel hierarchies in addition to formal ranks and positions, paramount of which was the vessel's watch organization.[2] Watches were stood 24 hours a day and divided into "watch sections" each of which was led by an "Officer of the Watch", typically a Lieutenant, Midshipman, or Master's Mate (the Captain and Master did not stand watch but were on call 24 hours a day)
The heart of the watch were the watch teams, each led by a Petty Officer known as a Captain (separate entirely from the vessel's commanding officer). There were six watch teams on most Royal Navy vessels, divided into three "deck" teams and three "aloft" teams. The aloft teams were manned by sailors known as "topmen" and were considered the most experienced men aboard. In all, the six watch teams were as follows:
Aloft: Fore topman, Main topmen, Mizzen topmen
Deck: Forecastle men, Waisters, Aftergaurd
The navigation and steering of the vessel from the quarterdeck was handled by a special watch team of Quartermasters. Furthermore, the ship's Boatswain and his mates were interspersed amongst the various watch teams to ensure good order and discipline. The remainder of the ships' company, who did not stand a regular watch, included the ship's carpenter's crew and the gunnery teams (in charge of the maintenance of the ship's guns). Any other person on board who did not stand watch was collective referred to as an "Idler" but was still subject to muster when the "All hands on Deck" was called by the Boatswain.
In addition to the standard watch organization of a Royal Navy vessel, additional organizational hierarchies included the division, headed by a Lieutenant or Midshipman, mainly for the purposes of mustering as well as messing and berthing; divisions were typically present only on the larger rated vessels.
The term "Action Stations" was a battle condition in which a Royal Navy vessel manned all of its guns with gun crews, stood up damage control and emergency medical teams, and called the ship's senior officers to the Quarterdeck in order to direct the ship in battle. A sailors Action Station was independent of their Watch Station or Division, although in many cases groups of sailors manning the same Action Station were assigned from the same Division or Watch Section.
A unique readiness condition of some Royal Navy vessels was known as "In Ordinary". Such vessels were usually permanently moored with masts and sails removed, and manned only by a skeleton crew. In Ordinary Vessels did not maintain full watch sections and were normally maintained as receiving ships, shore barges, or prison ships.
The first uniforms of the Royal Navy were issued to commissioned officers only and consisted of a blue uniform coat, normally worn with breaches and white stockings. In the early days of such uniforms, some officers also wore wigs, but this practice appears to quickly disappeared due to the impracticality of wearing wigs at sea. By the 1750s, the important warrant rank of Master had been issued a standard uniform as had the rank of Midshipman. The higher ranked Petty officers, such as the Boatswain and Gunner had been allocated blue uniforms as well.
The standard means of determining rank in these early days of Royal Navy uniforms was the arrangement of buttons and well as gold facing on the buttons and cuffbands. As a general rule, the more buttons and gold facing a person wore, the higher was their rank and position.
The next major change in Royal Navy uniforms occurred in the 1760s when Naval Lieutenants were designated special uniforms consisting of an open faced blue jacket with white waistcoats. Captains wore a similar jacket, yet often closed with gold laced buttons. By the 1770s, most warrant and standing petty officers had been issued some type of uniform as well. Enlisted sailors had no established uniform, but were often issued standardized clothing by the ship on which they served to create a uniform appearance amongst seaman.
The most significant uniform regulation of the late 1700s was the creation of Navy officer epaulets. Over the next fifty years, epaulets were the primary means of determining officer rank insignia, while the remainder of the warrant officers and petty officers wore various blue coats with pipping and buttons to determine their various positions.
Sleeve stripes were introduced into the Royal Navy in 1856, thus ending the era of the shoulder epaulets as the primary means of insignia.
Flag rank advancement in the 18th and 19th century Royal Navy was determined entirely by seniority. Initial promotion to flag rank from the rank of Captain occurred when a vacancy appeared on the Admiral's seniority list due to the death or retirement of a flag officer. The Captain in question would then be automatically promoted to Rear Admiral and assigned to the first of three colored squadrons, these being the Blue, White, and Red Squadron.
As further vacancies occurred, the British flag officer would be posted to the same rank in higher squadrons. For instance, a Rear Admiral of the Blue Squadron would be promoted to become Rear Admiral of the White, and then Rear Admiral of the Red Squadron. When reaching the highest position of the rank (Rear Admiral of the Red), the flag officer would next be promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral, and begin again at the lowest colored squadron (Vice Admiral of the Blue). The process would continue again, until the Vice Admiral of the Red was promoted to Admiral of the Blue. The highest possible rank was Admiral of the Red Squadron, which was synonymous with Admiral of the Fleet (originally this rank wore the same insignia as a regular Admiral, a special insignia was first created in 1843).
Situations did occur where flag officers would "jump" to a higher rank in a different squadron, without serving their time in each rank of each squadron. Such was the case with William Bligh, who was promoted directly from Rear Admiral to Vice Admiral of the Blue without ever having served as a Rear Admiral of the Red or White Squadron. On the opposite, it was not possible for a higher ranked Admiral in a lower squadron (i.e. Vice Admiral of the Blue) to be demoted to a lower rank yet in a higher rated squadron (i.e. Rear Admiral of the Red).
Some flag officers were not assigned to a squadron, and thus were referred to simply by the generic title "Admiral". Formally known as "Admiral without distinction of a squadron", the common term for such officers was "Yellow Admiral". Still another title was Port Admiral which was the title for the senior Naval officer of a British port.