Introduction

We are given few glimpses of how crews were organised and disciplined in the early periods of naval history. Such matters were generally left to the seamen officers such as the master and the boatswain, while gentlemen such as the captains and lieutenants concerned themselves with other affairs. However Lord Wimbledon’s fleet orders of 1625 paid some attention to organisation:

That there should be ten, eight, six or four men to attend every piece of ordnance, as the master gunner should choose out and assign them to their several places of service.

That the mariners in every ship should be divided and separated into three or four parts or divisions, so as every one might know the place where he was to perform his duty for the avoiding of confusion. ¹