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Trevor,

Very nice discourse.  I understand, from O'Brian of course, that some
commissioned officers could come up through the "hawse hole,"
especially early in the life of the British Navy.  So that
non-gentleman could become gentlemen by that route.  Comments?

Fred Hebard

On Dec 9, 2003, at 6:41 PM, Trevor J. Kenchington wrote:

> Jan Kalivoda asked:
>
>> please, can you explain the passage repeated below in more detail? I
>> am sorry, but don't understand your interesting statements and I wish
>> to understand them. Thank you.
>
>
>>> Midshipmen, incidentally, were not one rung up from seamen but (in
>>> some
>>> ways) one rung down from Lieutenants. In theory, they stood lower in
>>> the
>>> on-board hierarchy but simultaneously they were seen as Sea
>>> Officers-in-training and treated accordingly. So were those
>>> ex-Midshipmen who had passed a Lieutenants and were serving as
>>> Master's
>>> Mates while awaiting an appointment to commissioned rank, while those
>>> seamen who had risen to Master's Mates on their way to a Master's
>>> warrant were not.
>
>
> A full explanation would need to be book length and the best way to
> provide that is to refer those interested to the definitive study: "The
> Wooden World" by N.A.M. Rodger.

   

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