Prize money in Nelson's Royal Navy

[Todjaeger]

Hello all,

I have a question for those interested in and with knowledge of the Royal Navy in Nelson's time.

I'm seeking information and/or links to information on awards of prize and head money to British ships and crews. Despite some fairly extensive searching online I've had little luck in locating what I'm looking for.

I'm aware of the following link showing some rather famous (and large) prize awards. http://www.hms.org.uk/nelsonsnavyprize.htm

What I'm interested in is what a more "normal" prize award might resemble. The two examples I currently have are an estimate of approximately £1,000 for a coastal lugger and cargo off the coast of Brest in 1805-1806, or approximately £4,000 for an armed schooner setup as a privateer in Jamaica. Examples of what the value for captured merchantman or warships would be appreciated, as would the size and value of different cargos.

Alternately, if anyone has information on what the typical number of prizes taken and/or prize money awarded to frigate captains for the different stations in a given year, that would also be appreciated.

-Cheers

 

[Tasman]

Hello all,

I have a question for those interested in and with knowledge of the Royal Navy in Nelson's time.

I'm seeking information and/or links to information on awards of prize and head money to British ships and crews. Despite some fairly extensive searching online I've had little luck in locating what I'm looking for.

I'm aware of the following link showing some rather famous (and large) prize awards. http://www.hms.org.uk/nelsonsnavyprize.htm

What I'm interested in is what a more "normal" prize award might resemble. The two examples I currently have are an estimate of approximately £1,000 for a coastal lugger and cargo off the coast of Brest in 1805-1806, or approximately £4,000 for an armed schooner setup as a privateer in Jamaica. Examples of what the value for captured merchantman or warships would be appreciated, as would the size and value of different cargos.

Alternately, if anyone has information on what the typical number of prizes taken and/or prize money awarded to frigate captains for the different stations in a given year, that would also be appreciated.

-Cheers

Todjaeger, what would ₤1000 in Nelson’s time be worth in today’s money?

Cheers

 

[Todjaeger]

Todjaeger, what would ₤1000 in Nelson’s time be worth in today’s money?

Cheers

I'll have to check some of the conversion tables I have. So far I don't really have a good one for that period. I have read that some of the luckier captains and flag officers who made over £200,000 would've been worth over £1,000,000 today. On the other hand, some of the very wealthy landed-gentry were listed as having an income (annually) of £10,000 a year from estates (rent, crops, etc) and investments in Funds worth a total value of ~£200,000. During the Napoleonic (sp?) times, the average pay of a merchant seaman would be about £3 monthly, while a RN seaman was paid £1 13s per lunar month, so just under 2/3rds that of civilian seamen. Also at the same time an annual income of £15 - £30 was considered reasonable for a craftsmen in a village, while a sum of £5 would've provided for someone living (existing?) in an area like the rookeries of St. Giles in London for months.

Once I have a better comparison I'll post it.

Incidentally I also have now located the prize money awarded when HMS Shannon captured the USS Chesapeake. The award was a total of £19,183 with the captain's share being 2/8ths of that, though 1/3rd of his share would be given to whichever admiral he was attached to.

-Cheers

 

[Todjaeger]

Todjaeger, what would ₤1000 in Nelson’s time be worth in today’s money?

Cheers

Okay, according to a calculator I've found, £1,000 in 1805 would be worth ~ £57,732 in 2006. That is the value given in terms of purchasing price from this site http://measuringworth.com/calculators/ppoweruk/

Personally I think it seems a little low, particularly given that the annual pay for a frigate captain (6th rate) in 1815 was about £255 after taxes, and that works out to about £15,217 annually in 2006 dollars. Still, it offers me better numbers than anything else I've found. Also, the captain's share for a prize of £1,000 works out to £250 or a years pay.

-Cheers

 

[Super Nimrod]

Your numbers for the salary of a 6th rate captain are to within 10% to those in my own books, so look okay. Its interesting that back then a Post-captain's pay in a first or second rate was something like 25 times greater than that of an ordinary seaman. I bet many modern Captains wish such a differential still existed !

I don't have details of any 'ordinary' prizes though. As they were condemned at a prize court I have no doubt that the info is in one of the UK national archives somewhere.

 

[Todjaeger]

Your numbers for the salary of a 6th rate captain are to within 10% to those in my own books, so look okay. Its interesting that back then a Post-captain's pay in a first or second rate was something like 25 times greater than that of an ordinary seaman. I bet many modern Captains wish such a differential still existed !

I don't have details of any 'ordinary' prizes though. As they were condemned at a prize court I have no doubt that the info is in one of the UK national archives somewhere.

I had come across one of the UK archives online that was likely to have the information, or at least some of it. Unfortunately only the index was available online. For the actual information itself, I would need to go to the archive and request it in person. I might be able to do that when I go overseas in a couple of years, but that isn't currently an option.

For the numbers I have, the pay for a captain of a 1st or 2nd rate ship (after taxes and deductions) in the 1815 time frame work out to around £721 16s 2d or so, while Able Seamen were paid £1 13s 6d per lunar month or £21 9s annually after deductions.

From my understanding, the rates for various army units during the same timeframe were higher, with the justification being that naval units could also earn prize and head money for the capture or destruction of enemy ships and crews.

-Cheers