Figure 1.-- This is a detail from perhaps the most famous painting about the Royal Navy--"The Death of Nelson" by Benjamin West. It depicts "HMS Victory" at Trafalgar (1805). Notice the boy. I think he is a powder monkey. I am not entirely sure what he is carrying. Perhaps tht was a container for the gun powder charges. This is a small part of the large canvas. Nelson lies dying to the left.

Both boys and youth commonly served on Royal Navy ships up to the early 19th century. This varied over time. During the Napoleonic Wars the British Government hugely expanded the Royal Navy. Captains were desperate to fill out their crews. But even in less desperate times boys and youths served on the ships. We are not sure just how many boys would have been on a ship. This would have course varied with the size of the ship. We suspect that most ships had some boys on the crew. This included both enlisted men (ratings) and officers. The boys serving as enlisted men commonly filled a range of duties, including cabin boys and powder monkies. Cabin boys were essentially personal sevants for the captain and ranking officers. Powder monkies help load the ships gins. Their small size and nimbel fingers made them particularly useful in the cramped gun decks. There were also boys among the officers. Officers begun their naval carrers as midshipmen. often about 12-14 years of age. This continued through World war I. Prince George (the future George VI) served as a midshipmen before World War I. I think he was about 13-14 years old.

Created: 2:59 AM 4/28/2009
Last updated: 2:59 AM 4/28/2009