Naval Muster Lists and Pay Books
The
bulk of this piece was first seen as ‘Royal Navy records’ in Your Family Tree magazine: published in April 2004. As far as I
was concerned this was a slightly unfortunate title, as in fact, it
overwhelmingly dealt with warship musters and pay books of the types in use by
the mid 18th century. Please note the forms of these changed in the
19th century in the decades after the Napoleonic Wars. With far more
experience working on these later documents than I did when I originally wrote
the article, I have inherently changed my mind. Rather than becoming simpler,
in many ways these 19th century records can be far more complicated.
This is down not only to the system of lists introduced, but also to the way
that they were used. For instance, large numbers of stokers routinely went from
ship to ship on supernumerary lists, not only making tracing their actual
movements difficult, but also making description book entries few and far
between.
Also,
having to keep to a strict wordage in the original article, there are a few
points additionally that I should like to have made properly, but could not.
The first is that while primarily used for tracing the careers of
representatives of the ‘people’, these records can also be used for sea
officers: both commissioned and warranted. So, if other sources have failed,
for one reason or another, comings and goings can be proved. But, unlike for
those rated, ages and places of birth were not recorded for sea officers. This,
for instance, can make positive identification of warrant officers with common
names distinctly problematical. (In a past commission I was asked to find a
gunner named John Brown, who was still serving in 1819. I found four active
from a listing of warrant officers; two of whom I managed to rule out through
certificates of service; one that I could not find before receiving his warrant,
so could not identify where he came from; and one that I could take no further
as the relevant pay and muster books were missing.) Anyway, the following will
give some idea of what is within these fascinating records...
In
order to get anything other than the most basic out of these records an
understanding of why they were kept is necessary. Operating warships was and
remains an extremely expensive business and seemingly strict accounting has
been an essential requirement in State record keeping for centuries. Ships’
musters and pay books formed part of this, being the accounts for pay and victuals for men-o-war and were the personal responsibility
of captains and pursers variously. These took on numerous patterns that to the
unversed appear to contain identical information, especially since at the end
of their working lives some were bound together for filing purposes. There can
be subtle differences in the data though, which may, or may not, be of interest
to genealogists. It should be borne in mind when dealing with these documents
that men-o-war were seen as single administrative
entities.
MUSTERS
As
the name suggests these were records showing who were borne
on the books of a vessel as her complement, that is the ship’s company and the
marines; as well as others officially onboard, that is supernumeraries either
for wages and victuals, or those only for victuals. Explaining the perhaps
confusing statements just made, the make up of the
complement was officially sanctioned by the Navy Board. If, for any reason,
extra members of a ship’s company were required, they were only allowed by
specific order from a suitable officer senior to the captain: ergo
supernumeraries for wages and victuals. As ships’ stores had to be strictly
accounted for to the relevant boards ashore others onboard being fed needed to
be taken into consideration: as supernumeraries for victuals only. These could
be anything from admirals and their retinues, through troops in transit,
passengers (including diplomats), officials such as customs officers and
pilots, new recruits, to shipwrecked sailors and even prisoners of war. (It
should also be noted that often there could be many others also on board,
principally wives of some officers and children although they do not show in
these records.)
Except
with one complication (in ‘split books’ that are explained in the pay book
section below) all officers, men and boys in the complement were assigned an
individual ship’s book number that was not changed or re-used within the
commission of the vessel. Having identified an individual’s number, searching
consequent musters and pay books for more entries generally becomes a routine matter. Musters were weekly
and in the columns assigned one of various notations will be shown for each
individual. If borne and actually mustered that week’s ‘letter’ appears; those
borne but absent for a legitimate reason (with exceptions) show as having been
‘chequed’ with a tick; and those missing are noted
with a ‘prick’ (that is a dot). Some of those ‘chequed’
required additional information - for individuals on leave ‘Lv’,
others lent to another warship ‘Lt’ and for those sick on shore ‘S’ or ‘Ss’.
Apart
from this there was other useful and interesting information in the columns
spread across these forms (not all of which will be dealt with here). These
entries can be highly misleading to the unwary though. After
the ship’s book number column is one headed ‘Entry & Year’. This
denotes the date and year when each individual was taken onto this ship’s
books, although not necessarily actually on board for a number of reasons
depending on status. The next column ‘Appearance’ should normally resolve this,
giving the date when he had actually arrived aboard: at least as far as the
purser's accounts were concerned. (It should also be noted that there are again
complications in split books.) ‘Whence & Whether Prest
or Not’ can present all sorts of difficulties. Theoretically this should show
exactly in what circumstances seamen came onboard. ‘P’ or
‘V’ indicates that he had been pressed or was a volunteer. This in itself is
not absolutely reliable. Contrary to popular belief, men pressed were most
commonly taken on inbound merchantmen and it is known that in this situation
some ‘volunteered’ under duress: thereby gaining a recruitment bounty as some
recompense. Usually names were appended to such entries, that of merchantmen,
geographical locations ashore and the tender initially taken to. These can be
far from clear though. Incidentally, officers, their servants and most ‘lobsterbacks’
(as marines came to be known through their scarlet uniforms) can be regarded as
purely volunteers. For men transferred from other men-o-war’s complements
ships’ names should be entered. Men arrived on board through many other
situations though. These could be anything from supernumeraries from other
ships, men returned from being sick on shore (not necessarily in naval
hospitals), substitutes, conscripts, returned prisoners of war, enemy prisoner
volunteers (escaping the hellish conditions on prison hulks), debtors
discharged from prisons specifically for naval service and occasionally but not
apparently often, parish vagrants. And, on even worse rates of pay than ‘Jolly
Jack’, it was not unknown for lobsterbacks to become
seamen. In all these cases past ships’ book numbers should be shown, although
without pay books it is not possible to identify from whence these individuals
came. ‘Age’ is the next column and it is important to stress that, even when
filled in, this was the age of first joining the vessel. Normally such
information for sea officers, their servants, marines and supernumeraries for
victuals only were not noted. ‘Place and Country of Birth’ is self explanatory,
although not always complied with. ‘No. & Letter of Ticket’ relates to
payment of individuals discharged before the day pay was made aboard. ‘Men’s
Names’ for genealogical purposes again needs no comment other than for those
with the same names, where ‘1st’, ‘2nd’ etc. were added.
‘Qualities’ denoted ranks, rates and in the case of civilian supernumeraries
status of some sort. Rank structure in the days of sail was in itself an
immensely complex subject and substantially different to modern systems. For
those without appointments (by commission or warrant) and excluding the marines
(or even soldiers when marines were not available operationally) men were rated
on coming aboard and subsequently. The rates as applied at the lower part of
this spectrum can indicate whether a forebear had previously been at sea, or
not, which is something genealogists should want to know. If an individual was
immediately rated able seaman then he had been judged a competent sailor in an
environment where practical skill was both required and respected. There can be
further indications of past experience elsewhere, especially if rated higher
within a few months, say as a quartermaster’s mate. Moving on, the next column
headed ‘D, DD or R’ denotes reasons why men were no longer aboard. ‘D’ stood
for discharged; ‘DD’ discharged dead; and ‘R’ run (deserted). Occasionally
there were other entries, such as ‘Ds’ - discharged to sick quarters. ‘Time of
Discharge & Year’ is largely self-explanatory. ‘Whither or for What Reason’
often gives amplifying information, especially for officers. Sometimes a ship’s
name was deemed enough. The rest of the columns deal with
monetary affairs. ‘Straggling’ is the first of these. Rewards were paid
to those turning in stragglers or deserters. These defaulters then had to pay
for this out of their pay. (The reality of disciplinary matters was often
substantially different from public perception.) ‘Neglect’ over stores or
equipment was the next column, to be paid for by the guilty. ‘Slop Clothes’
shows people’s accounts with the purser for clothes (only commissioned officers
and midshipmen wore uniforms from 1748). ‘Venereals’
were charged to men known to have contracted venereal disease for their
supposed treatment. ‘Trusses’ were also charged for. Working aloft, seamen were
commonly ruptured. For those unfortunate to be discharged into a hospital
ashore their clothes were taken off them and they were supplied with nightshirt
type garments. Apparently for the prevention of spreading disease, not to
forget hampering desertion, such men were charged for ‘Cloathes
in Sick Quarters’. Again men had to pay for their hammocks, mattresses and
blankets, under the heading ‘Beds’. Pursers also ran accounts for ‘Tobacco’.
Finally, perhaps surprisingly, from mid eighteenth century onwards provision
had been made for remitting wages to mariners’ relatives ashore and was
accounted for accordingly.
PAY
BOOKS
Originally
payment to crews had been made on completion of seasonal commissions with the
normal settling of accounts. But, from the early eighteenth century commissions
lengthened greatly to years and payments were
occasionally made to ships’ companies: approximately annually if they were
lucky. So, for accounting purposes, these books became ‘split’ as the account
holders (in this case captains and pursers) were not paid until the books had
been agreed - at the end of the commission. Also, it should be noted that one
month was counted as 28 days (a lunar month) in these records.
The
figures in the ‘Full Pay’ therefore reflect the above. All the charges shown in
the musters also appear in the pay books, sometimes with amplifying
information. But, before the ‘Neat Pay’ could be worked out, there were more
outgoings. Two charges were made monthly to all. The first was one shilling for
the Chatham Chest, a naval charitable institution. Only half of this went to
the chest though, fourpence went to pay the chaplain
and the other tuppence to the surgeon. The second
outlay was six pennies for the upkeep of the Greenwich Hospital (that few ever
managed to enter). Officers had a further threepence
in the pound levy for their widows’ pension fund.
Two
further entries need some explanation. ‘When Paid’ was only used when
individuals were not paid with the rest of the ship’s company (which is shown
at the end of the relevant books); and ‘To Whom Paid’ related to various
sophisticated paper means of payment other than men receiving cash in their
hands.
Go to tracing the ‘people’ and ratings
Go to example of pay records showing allotments (for warrant officers and the people) 1802
Go to R.N. casualty reporting page
Go to tracing commissioned officers
Go to tracing warrant officers