Admiral's Pay

[James]

During the time Nelson was an Admiral, how much was an Admiral in the Royal Navy paid?

James

[Peter]

Admiral and Commander in Chief of Fleet per day £5
An Admiral per day £3-10-0
A Vice Admiral per day £2-10-0
A Rear Admiral per day £1-15-0

Reference: Navy List 1805

[PMarione]

Besides their pay, they had various supplements like servants, table money, stationary...

Some also has sinecures like Generalcy of the Marines.

@+P

[James]

Are the sums listed for 365 days? I don't understand!

James

[PMarione]

At the time the RN used lunar months ie 13 months of 28 days for all pay matters.
So you have to multiply the daily pay by 364.

Admiral C-in-C: £5 x 364 = £1820/year
Admiral: £3-10-0 x 364 = £1092-3640-0 = £1274/year
etc.

This was a very confortable revenue. A Lt had 5s per day ie £91 per year, 20 times less.

Another very important source of revenue for flag officers was prize money: they shared a part of all the prizes taken under their command. They could make a real fortune on stations like the West Indies.

When not employed, officers received half-pay:
Admiral and Commander in Chief of Fleet per day £3
An Admiral per day £2
A Vice Admiral per day £1-10-0
A Rear Admiral per day £1-2-6

Another curiosity about RN and time was that the day on board started at midday not midnight so you can have dates discrepancies if you read a British report and a French or Spanish one.

@+P

[James]

Thanks for the help!

James

[James]

What was the pay of a Commodore during this pertod?

James

[PMarione]

Commodore was a post not a rank.
There were two classes of Commodores:
1st class were allowed a fleet captain
2nd class were simply in charge of a squadron

If I remember well, 1st class had the pay of a rear admiral and 2nd class their pay of post captain (to be confirmed).

[James]

Ok! Since Commodore wasn't a rank but a post how much did the post pay?
Which ranks were actual ranks and which were posts?

James

[ionia]

From "Regulations and Instructions Relating to His Majesty's Service at Sea" 1806:

"A Commodore is to carry a Broad Pendant and if he be appointed to command in Chief or the Ship which carries his Broad Pendant be commanded by another Captain, he shall have the rank with the pay and all the allowances of a Rear Admiral commanding in Chief. If he be not appointed to command in Chief, he shall have the rank and pay, but shall not have compensation for the servants, of a Rear Admiral. If he commands the ship which carries his Broad Pendant he shall have such additional pay as the Admiralty may direct".

These regulations are on line at Google Books and they provide a wealth of essential information for understanding how the RN worked:

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=iQAHAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA11&dq=regulations+his+majesty%27s+service+at+sea+1808&as_brr=1#PPP7,M1
_________________
Ionia

[PMarione]

Thanks Ionia for that great link.
The 1734 and 1790 versions are on this website: http://www.ageofnelson.org/Document12.html

The ranks were
Lieutenant
Master and Commander (later simply Commander)
Captain
Rear Admiral
Vice Admiral
Admiral
Admiral of the Fleet (only 1 and most often very old)

Rear, Vice and Admirals were of 3 flags: blue, white, red (Admiral of the Red only after 1805)

When in command of a ship an officer was addressed as Captain even if he was only a Lieutenant or a Commander.
By courtesy Commanders were often referred as Captain too.
Many Lieutenants were promoted as Retired Commander when in end of active career.

Promotion was more or less by seniority up to Captain then strictly by seniority. The hierarchy was by seniority: an officer taking precedence over any junior one even if they had been promoted on the same day (thence the importance of the Navy List).

Commodore was a post in the sense that the officer reversed to Captain when his command ended.