Brian, thank you for your very comprehensive reply. Yes, I was concentrating on 'book entries' where the man (or boy, rather) was not present, but there is no reason to suppose that the other irregulatories would not have continued. I was thinking that perhaps some officers would draw the line at drawing pay for someone not present, but then again, established practice was probably more important than the legalities. Perhaps a more likely reason would be that after 1794 during the war, a captain would prefer to use the reduced number of places available to him for volunteers who were actually ready to learn their profession. And with the incentive of prize money during the war there would have been no shortage of those.
I'm interested in your suggestion that the navy might have become more democratic during the wars. I seems to me that although there was a big influx of officers from the middle classes (to use the modern term), in some ways the navy perhaps became less democratic. The social standing of the navy had increased towards the end of the 18th century, aided no doubt by Prince William Henry's entry in the American War of Independence, and evidently in the fleet at the battle of Trafalgar the proportion of 'right honourables' amongst quarterdeck 'young gentlemen' was greater than it had been at the battle of Quiberon Bay almost fifty years before. Michael Lewis refers to a 'temporary democratization', and apparently Dillon, in his narrative, complained of the increase in officers from unsuitable backgrounds. However, despite some being promoted through merit, it seems to have been still overwhelmingly those with aristocratic and parliamentary connections who achieved rapid promotion. As you say, the Admiralty had not succeeded in controlling numbers, and with the over-supply of officers, interest counted more than ever. I think it was 1807 when St Vincent is reported to have said:
Quote:
The Navy is so overrun by the younger branches of nobility, and the sons of Members of Parliament, and they so swallow up all the patronage, and so choke the channel to promotion, that the son of an old Officer, however meritorious both their services may have been, has little or no chance of getting on.”
Presumably those without either aristocratic connections or service connections had still less chance of getting on?
One of the things that interests me about Trafalgar is the undertones and possible frictions between captains of different backgrounds. Anna, perhaps that could be one theme for your talk on Nelson's captains?