Tycho,
The marines had varied duties on board ship, but one of their principal duties was to prevent mutiny by the ship's crew, against their officers, they being a disciplined corps - and the seamen of that period generally not being! (It is generally thought by many, for example, that if Bligh had had marines on the famous Bounty voyage, the mutiny might well not have happened. But then the breadfruit expedition was ill thought-out in other areas as well... ) However, as we know, this didn't always work and mutinies did occur! Significantly, on board ship the marines were usually berthed between the men and the officers and they also provided a twenty-four hour guard outside the captain or Admiral's cabin.
Anther principal duty was of course was to provide a fighting force both on board ship and in land engagements, where there expertise was recognised, especially in the latter. They also guarded particularly important parts of the ship, such as that where the rum was stored for obvious reasons and the arms chests. In action they were to prevent the majority of the men from escaping below through the hatches or to parts of the ship where they had no place to be. A powder monkey, for example, was only permitted to pass through his 'badge of office', the cylindrical box in which he carried the charges for the guns and which he brought from the magazine.
With regard to marines in action on board ship, this was laid down and they were to be drawn up on the fo'cs'le and quarterdeck or poop, and I believe there was to be one marine stationed at each gun. At Trafalgar, on her approach to the combined fleet, eight marines and their captain were killed by a double headed shot, I believe on the poop, before Nelson ordered their dispersal around the ship so as not to be a target, although it is doubtful if they were specifically picked out because of the distance. I believe marines were stationed in the tops on some ships, by some captains.
Nelson himself, however, didn't like the practice for two reasons. It could be a fire hazard to the sails and rigging, and thus the ship herself, and he also thought the picking off of individual officers not the way to fight a battle and which may not sway the course of it in any case. Of course it is ironic that he himself died from a sharpshooters ball.
The Royal Marines will forever honour Sergeant Secker for his action in helping to carry the mortally-wounded Nelson down to the orlop, but I think that he just happened to be 'in the right place at the right time.'
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