I just watched the movie "Master and Commander". I enjoyed it and it entertained my wife and I.

Anyways....

I was curious as to why there were so many young children on board. Was this done as a "work placement" for future naval explorers and fighters?, or as a way to "replace" older crew members that would pass on due to fighting or sickness?.

Can somebody enlighten me?..... and thanks  

Andreas  

I've tried watching this film 4 times now. 3 times on flights and once when we rented it. I just loose interest or get pulled away.

Im getting confused with pirates of the caribbean as well now. lol

Uhhhh, remember this is not civilized twentieth century life. Most of the people serving on ships were aprehended from bars or from the homes and families. There was no real age limit, if you were able bodied you could be dragged into service.. Therefore there were children serving on ships as seen in the movie.

EGGD got part of it on the nosey - kids were impressed into service if they were able-bodied. They could also be hired on to serve as powder monkeys (the people who fetched powder for the cannons), which could help alleviate some of their or their parents poverty.

It is an exageration to say that most crew members were empressed against their will. This is a great myth and it was only used as a last resort to fill in crews. Most crew were recruited conventionally using bounties, promise of prizes and such, not to mention the pay itself being not bad for the time.

As for children they were never pressed men but rather taken as favours by old crew members and family friends of senior officers. They maybe orphans or simply sons of sailors. They usually were apprenticed to the tradesmen (sail maker, surgeon, carpenter, purser, steward etc) on board and thus it was a definite step up in life for them. During action they served as powder monkeys but this was not a full time job. Officer trainees (Midshipman) usually joind around age 10, again as a favour/by arrangement with an individual ship's captain.

Finally most ships had some wives on board and they naturally some times had children.

Fairly common for the time Period YooYoo.

In fact the British Army only got rid of drummer boys of the same age during the ZULU wars of the late 19th century.

Thanks for all your replies.

It was just a question that baffled me.

Cheers !!

Andreas  

I was curious as to why there were so many young children on board.

Child labour was common throughout the world, indeed still is. Children were a primary source of labour in the UK (indeed, the entire West) for centuries. However retched life was on board for these children, it often paled in comparison to the children working in mines and factories.

The other thing to consider is that at 14 you where considered grown up and time to move into an apprencieship or other trade.


These days that age is 18

If you read the books on which the movie is based (which are EXCELLENT by the way), Patrick O'Brian explains quite well how the system worked - younger midshipmen (cadet officers) could join the Navy very young, especially if they were the sons of serving Naval Officers - getting a posting on a ship was a big deal, and often required powerful patronage.

That's true about the myths, in fact those on RN ships were usually better off in sorts of ways to those on civvy street, regular food, regular pay, medical attention, and if your ship nabbed a prize vessel or two, you could stay secure for a long time.

What a great film it is too, I looked at the reviews on imbd and as expected, many did not like it or 'get' it, wasn't enough CGI made 'action', too many characters, not all neatly explained, etc.
GOOD! Far too much lame stuff around geared to a narrow (and Hollywood seems to think rather retarded) demographic.

Oh Dear God...I wanted the damn thing to sink...
I turned it off about about an hour and a half.

For some strange reason I thought it was going to be like Pirates of the Caribbean (you know, entertaining?). It was more like Perfect Storm--on a Galleon.

GDB...the best part about that movie....


Russel Crowe was taking on the French  




Guys that was joke....don't flame me.

The kids were there to learn how to become "good" officers. I would kind of compare it to today's ROTC programs for the military branches, just to a lesser extent.

-SOAC