"Customs and traditions of the Royal Navy There are many customs and traditions associated with the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, many of these traditions have carried on to other Commonwealth navies, such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. These include formal customs including separate crests associated with ships, ensigns and fleet reviews. There are also several less formal customs and traditions including Naval slang commonly referred to as Jack Speak and the traditional games of Uckers and Euchre. Winston Churchill probably never dismissed the customs of the Royal Navy as ""nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash"". Commissioned"
"and the lash was used to punish even trivial offences—and not used sparingly. For instance, two redcoats received 1,000 lashes each for robbery during the Saratoga campaign, while another received 800 lashes for striking a superior officer. Flogging was a common punishment in the Royal Navy and came to be associated with the stereotypical hardiness of sailors. Despite the harsh discipline, a distinct lack of self-discipline pervaded all ranks of the British forces. Soldiers had an intense passion for gambling, reaching such excesses that troops would often wager their own uniforms. Many drank heavily, and this was not exclusive to"
"his life at the 'Home for Sailors'. A portrait of him exists in the private collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The Royal Navy banned cats and other pet animals from all ships on the ocean in 1975 on hygiene grounds; however, cats are still common on many private ships. One notable example is ""Toolbox"" (a feral kitten born in a toolbox), the senior ship's cat, official warrant officer and ""Captain's Assistant"" aboard the modern ""Kalmar Nyckel"". A celebrity in her own right, she is the subject of two books. Also, American sailor Robin Lee Graham was the"
"senses and stirs cravings that become habits, no matter where you find yourself being taken."" Jonathan Yardley of the ""Washington Post"" felt that O'Brian was taking his readers for granted in this novel, which was ""written for cultists rather than to bring new readers aboard."" Yardley dids commend O'Brian's style, ""characteristically wry, understated fashion, a style that has much to do with his popularity."" The Royal Navy had a system of rising through the ranks once a man made Post Captain. As he moved up the list of seniority, if he lived, he would become a Rear Admiral, with a"
"the Royal Society. In 1838 he was promoted to GCB in the Coronation Honours. Sidney Smith (Royal Navy officer) Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith, GCB, GCTE, KmstkSO, FRS (21 June 1764 – 26 May 1840) was a British naval officer. Serving in the American and French revolutionary wars, he later rose to the rank of admiral. Napoleon Bonaparte, reminiscing later in his life, said of him: ""That man made me miss my destiny"". Sidney Smith, as he always called himself, was born into a military and naval family with connections to the Pitt family. He was born at Westminster, the"
"battleship HMS ""Rodney"" from 1941 before becoming rear-admiral in charge of the Normandy beaches during the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944. He was mentioned in despatches twice during World War II. He retired in 1947. In retirement he lived in Bury St Edmunds and became Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Martin's parish church in Fornham St. Martin in Suffolk. He married Isla Nesta Blackwood. James Rivett-Carnac (Royal Navy officer) Vice-Admiral James William Rivett-Carnac CB CBE DSC DL (12 February 1891 – 9 October 1970) was a Royal Navy officer who became Commander-in-Chief"
"stress his evangelical dedication to the labour cause, while noting his administrative weaknesses. Clegg Fox and Thompson described him as a demagogue and agitator grasping for fleeting popularity. He was born in Bristol. He started work in a brickyard at eight years of age and was a ""Risley"" boy for two years. At 12 years of age, he served for six months on a fishing smack, was afterwards apprenticed to a bootmaker and then joined the Royal Navy. He was invalided out of the navy and made several voyages in merchant ships. He then settled at the London Docks, and"
"James, as free. Although born free, Wedderburn was raised in a harsh environment, as his mother was often flogged due to her ""violent and rebellious temper"". She was eventually re-sold away from her son, who was then raised by his maternal grandmother, a woman known as ""Talkee Amy"". To escape the insecurity and abuse of the plantation, Wedderburn signed on with the Royal Navy at the age of 16. On the ships, food and living conditions were horrific, and it was during this time that Wedderburn became increasingly aghast at the violent punishments used by the British both on their"
"end of the working day, became part of the official regulations of the Royal Navy in 1756 and lasted for more than two centuries. This gives a water-to-rum ratio of 4:1. Some writers have claimed that Vernon also added citrus juice to prevent spoilage and that it was found to prevent scurvy. This is not the case and is based on a misreading of Vernon's order in which, having instructed his captains to dilute the sailors's daily allowance of rum with water, he says that those members of the crew ""which ... are good husbandmen may from the saving of"
"that were pressed into the Navy were not given any clothing, forced to use what clothes they had on their backs until accumulating several months of pay when they could then buy clothing. Pirates of the early eighteenth century and prior wore much the same clothing as any sailors. Clothing, like any useful tangible good, when captured as booty, would be distributed out. Calico Jack Rackham was known for his ""flamboyant dress."" Sir Richard Hawkins, the famous Elizabethan privateer advocated wearing armor in battle while at sea. Records indicate that there were not nearly enough pieces of armor for all"
"was defined by a mix of two hierarchies, an official hierarchy of ranks and a conventionally recognized social divide between gentlemen and non-gentlemen. 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, all of whom were officers and gentlemen. The higher ranked warrant officers on board, the Sailing Master, Purser, Surgeon and Chaplain held a warrant from the Navy Board but not an actual commission from the crown. Warrant officers had rights to mess and berth in the wardroom and were normally considered gentlemen;"
"his admiral at Trafalgar, Cuthbert Collingwood, as ""a man of no talent as a sea officer"" and ""a stupid man"". Rotheram gained a reputation as a difficult officer to serve with, and he rapidly alienated his fellow officers and the sailors who served under him. Ultimately this character trait resulted in his removal from service and overlooking for promotion in 1808 after being court martialled for inappropriate behaviour towards junior officers. The rest of his life was spent requesting the Admiralty, often in an aggressive manner, for both further service and the rewards he felt were his due. Rotheram was"
"establishments. According to legend and folklore, Royal Navy matelots on long sea voyages were regularly denied female company, and would keep a skate (fish species) in their hammock or bunkside, as the mouth of the skate was supposedly used as a substitute vagina. Sailors ashore in Royal Navy uniform seeking the services of Portsmouth's prostitutes would often be refused service and met with a """"I ain't no skate bait, mate!"""" rebuttal. The continued misuse of the ""Skate"" nickname – from its Southampton context – is often criticised and mocked by Portsmouth supporters, as ""Skate"" is still a nickname used by"
"Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM, OSC (14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860), styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a British naval flag officer of the Royal Navy, mercenary and radical politician. He was a daring and successful captain of the Napoleonic Wars, leading Napoleon to nickname him ""Le Loup des Mers"" ('The Sea Wolf'). He was successful in virtually all his naval actions. He was dismissed from the Royal Navy in 1814 following a controversial conviction for fraud on the Stock Exchange. He helped"
"naval manpower. On some privateers, non-military ships which harassed British merchant vessels, more than half of the crew was black. Life in the cramped quarters of the ships created a more egalitarian camaraderie, as well as mutual respect based on performance. However, many enslaved American blacks defected to the British Navy after the British promised them freedom in return for their service. In a letter to Commodore Perry, who had complained about being given black crew members, Commodore Chauncy wrote that he had fifty black sailors on his ship, called them ""excellent seamen"" and said, ""I have yet to learn"
"Sidney Smith (Royal Navy officer) Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith, GCB, GCTE, KmstkSO, FRS (21 June 1764 – 26 May 1840) was a British naval officer. Serving in the American and French revolutionary wars, he later rose to the rank of admiral. Napoleon Bonaparte, reminiscing later in his life, said of him: ""That man made me miss my destiny"". Sidney Smith, as he always called himself, was born into a military and naval family with connections to the Pitt family. He was born at Westminster, the second son of Captain John Smith of the Guards and his wife Mary Wilkinson,"
"up to the Royal Navy. They soon discovered that they worked for less, did not drink to excess, and were easier to command. Conditions aboard ship appalled Lee Cheong, for instance, when he visited his father's quarters: ""The smell ... I remember the smell and the incredibly cramped conditions. I remember going down below, rows and rows of bunks, knapsacks and all sorts of junk stuffed in every nook and cranny ... lots and lots of people milling around. I couldn’t think of anything worse than those sorts of conditions."" With the advent of steam in the 1860s, the recruitment"
"Herbert Richmond Admiral Sir Herbert William Richmond (15 September 1871 – 15 December 1946) was a prominent Royal Navy officer, described as ""perhaps the most brilliant naval officer of his generation."" He was also a top naval historian, known as the ""British Mahan"", the leader of the British Royal Navy's intellectual revolution that stressed continuing education especially in naval history as essential to the formation of naval strategy. After serving as a ""gadfly"" to the British Admiralty, his constructive criticisms causing him to be ""denied the role in the formation of policy and the reformations of naval education which his"
"naval history, including ""River of Golden Sand"" (1936), ""Best Stories of the Navy"" (1941) and ""Vantage at Sea: England's Emergence as An Oceanic Power"" (1958). Thomas Woodrooffe Thomas Woodrooffe (1899–1978) was a British naval officer, broadcaster and writer. In the Royal Navy he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander. After his retirement he became a commentator for BBC Radio. He was one of its main commentators during the 1930s, covering amongst many other events the opening ceremony of the 1936 Summer Olympics and Neville Chamberlain's return from Munich in 1938. He is best remembered though for two gaffes. In 1937"
"most could have gone in a troopship; and also that the ship has being run by the Governor {Liverpool) as ""His Exc’s pet patriotic hobby."" The Chief Medical Officer was William Collins on her first voyage and James Elliott on her second and third voyages. In 1915 Collins ""raised hackles by denying nurses their officer status and deluding himself that he could command the ship’s commander, the master"" (Captain McLean). In 1917 British Major Gretton was critical of the staff and said “he (Liverpool) puts his friends on the ship when they want soft jobs”. The ship’s nickname is “Liverpool’s"
"wore the scarlet uniforms of the British infantry, became known as the ""Red Marines"", often given the semi-derogatory nickname ""Lobsters"" by sailors. A fourth division of the Royal Marines, headquartered at Woolwich, was formed in 1805. During the Napoleonic Wars the Royal Marines participated in every on board the Royal Navy's ships and also took part in multiple amphibious actions. Marines had a dual function aboard ships of the Royal Navy in this period; routinely, they ensured the security of the ship's officers and supported their maintenance of discipline in the ship's crew, and in battle, they engaged the enemy's"
"untrue ... the vulgarity of enormous headlines and the enormity of one's own name did not lessen the shame."" Northcliffe's brother, Lord Rothermere, expressed frustration with the war correspondents: ""They don't know the truth, they don't speak the truth, and we know that they don't."" Stephen Badsey, a historian who specialises in World War I, has noted that their situation was not easy as they ""found themselves as minor players trapped in a complicated hierarchical structure dominated by politicians, generals and newspaper owners"". Beach Thomas received particular opprobrium. Paul Fussell, the historian, describes him as ""notoriously fatuous"" during the war"
"naval officers for a full understanding of naval strategy. Herbert Richmond Admiral Sir Herbert William Richmond (15 September 1871 – 15 December 1946) was a prominent Royal Navy officer, described as ""perhaps the most brilliant naval officer of his generation."" He was also a top naval historian, known as the ""British Mahan"", the leader of the British Royal Navy's intellectual revolution that stressed continuing education especially in naval history as essential to the formation of naval strategy. After serving as a ""gadfly"" to the British Admiralty, his constructive criticisms causing him to be ""denied the role in the formation of"
"of the Royal Navy, as well as ashore in their many land engagements. The fouled anchor, incorporated into the emblem in 1747, is the badge of the Lord High Admiral and shows that the Corps is part of the Naval Service. The regimental quick march of the Corps is ""A Life on the Ocean Wave"", while the slow march is the march of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, awarded to the Corps by Admiral of the Fleet Earl Mountbatten of Burma on the occasion of the Corps's tercentenary in 1964. Lord Mountbatten was Life Colonel Commandant of the Royal Marines until his"
"'Mad Charlie' because of his eccentric behaviour and enthusiasms, and 'Dirty Charlie' from his habit of wearing the most unsuitable and ill-fitting clothes while insisting that his officers were correctly dressed at all times. Charles Napier (Royal Navy officer) Admiral Sir Charles John Napier KCB GOTE RN (6 March 1786 – 6 November 1860) was a British naval officer whose sixty years in the Royal Navy included service in the War of 1812, the Napoleonic Wars, Syrian War and the Crimean War (with the Russians), and a period commanding the Portuguese navy in the Liberal Wars. An innovator concerned with"
"at the Ilford Galleries in London. He took the opportunity to praise the Washington Naval Conference and its successor, and to criticise the size of the Treaty battleship. On the retired list of the Royal Navy, he was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral (retd.) on 31 July 1934. In early 1939, Dewar's memoirs were published. In ""The Navy from Within"", he recounted his life story, while at the same time criticising severely the manner in which the Royal Navy trained its officers, blaming defects in said training for the naval failure at Gallipoli. However, his account was criticised as"
"and in one navy training camp, , the Royal Naval Electrical College at Fareham in Hampshire, there was a mock funeral procession complete with black coffin and accompanying drummers and piper. The move was not popular with the ratings despite an extra can of beer being added to the daily rations in compensation. A special stamp was issued, available from Portsmouth General Post Office, with the slogan ""Last Issue of Rum to the Royal Navy 31 July 1970"". Black Tot Day was subsequently followed in two other Commonwealth navies (the Royal Australian Navy having already discontinued the rum ration, in"
"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 among 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. The Royal Navy actively employed children and minors within their ranks, and indeed joining the Royal Navy as a boy was an often an unwritten prerequisite for a path towards an officer commission. Positions for minors began with the generic term ""ship's boy"""
"John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, (25 January 1841 – 10 July 1920), commonly known as Jacky or Jackie Fisher, was a British admiral known for his efforts at naval reform. He had a huge influence on the Royal Navy in a career spanning more than 60 years, starting in a navy of wooden sailing ships armed with muzzle-loading cannon and ending in one of steel-hulled battlecruisers, submarines and the first aircraft carriers. The argumentative, energetic, reform-minded Fisher is often considered the second most important figure in British naval history, after Lord Nelson. Fisher is"
"deducted for the Chatham Chest, the chaplain and surgeon. Six months' pay was withheld to discourage desertion. That this was insufficient incentive is revealed in a report on proposed changes to the RN Admiral Nelson wrote in 1803; he noted that since 1793 more than 42,000 sailors had deserted. Roughly half of all RN crews were pressganged and these not only received lower wages than volunteers but were shackled while the vessel was docked and were never permitted to go ashore until released from service. Although the Royal Navy suffered from many morale issues, it answered the question of prize"
"to running the gauntlet. For summary punishment of Royal Navy ""boys"", a lighter model was made, the reduced cat, also known as boy's cat, boy's pussy or just pussy, that had only five tails of smooth whip cord. If formally convicted by a court martial, however, even boys would suffer the punishment of the adult cat. While adult sailors received their lashes on the back, they were administered to boys on the bare posterior, usually while ""kissing the gunner's daughter"" (bending over a gun barrel), just as boys' lighter ""daily"" chastisement was usually over their (often naked) rear-end (mainly with"
"period. Peter Stothard, editor of ""The Times"" between 1992 and 2002, describes him as ""a quietly successful countryside columnist and literary gent who became a calamitous ""Daily Mail"" war correspondent"" and believes that he may have been the inspiration for the character of William Boot in Evelyn Waugh's ""Scoop"". John Simpson, a war correspondent, describes him as ""charming but unlovable"" and thinks that the troops despised Beach Thomas more than they did the other British war correspondents, even though all those journalists were playing a similar disinformation role. They considered his writing to be a trivialisation of the realities of"
"Commands of the Royal Navy and British Army and with the British aristocracy, with all of whom he maintained secret private correspondences to which his immediate superiors were not privy. His friendship with Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan facilitated the integration of deployments that ensured allied victory in the Crimean War. He was a close friend of Sir James Graham, the First Lord of the Admiralty, with whose approval he criticized the policies of his commanding officer, Vice-Admiral James Dundas, in several direct communications addressed to the British public in ""The Times"" newspaper, as a consequence of which he subsequently"