Course:History 344 Nasty Families/Professions/Navy

The Royal Navy grew considerably during the seventeenth century. From 1607 to 1695, the number of ships greater than 50 tons increased from forty to over 200, and the number of sailors increased from 7,800 to over 45,000. People at the time considered the navy to be an important symbol of the power of the state. As one pamphleteer wrote in 1615, "As concerning ships, it is that which every one knoweth and can say, they are our weapons, they are our ornaments, they are our strength, they are our pleasures, they are our defence, they are our profit; the subject by them is made rich, the Kingdom through them strong, the Prince in them mighty. " Both James I and Charles I were interested in the navy. Oliver Cromwell developed a "fleet... powerful enough to raise England to the first rank of European powers," but it suffered a humiliating defeat on the Hispaniola expedition.

Royal navy officers made decent wages, with captains earning anything from 4 pounds 14 shillings to 14 pounds a month. Lieutenants made from 3 pounds to 3 pounds ten shillings a month. The rank of lieutenant was designed "to breed young gentlemen for the sea service" so that they might eventually rise to the rank of captain. It was believed that if more captains were drawn from the gentry, more "gentlemen of worth and quality might be encouraged to go to sea." For the average sailor, life in the navy was generally dismal. They were supposed to be paid ten shillings a month in the early seventeenth century and fifteen in the later. However, wages were often held in arrears for long periods of time because the Crown lacked the funds to pay them. Starvation and disease were common aboard Royal Navy vessels. One officer in 1628 described his sailors' living conditions as "miserable beyond relation," while another said of his sailors, "they had as lief be hanged as dealt with as they are."

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