British Naval Administration in the Age of Walpole DANIEL A. BAUGH PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Copyright © 1965 by Princeton University Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED L. C. CARD: 63-23399 Publication of this book has been aided by the Ford Foundation program to support publication, through university presses, of works in the humanities and social sciences. Printed in the United States of America by THE WILLIAM BYRD PRESS, INC. TO MY FATHER AND MOTHER THIS BOOK is about the ingredients of naval power in the eighteenth century: ships, bases, stores, victuals, seamen, and leadership. However, and here I shall borrow the words of John Hollond, who wrote on the royal navy more than three centuries ago, "I do not mean to run over in fruitless dis­ course how many ships his Majesty hath, what are their names, burdens in tons and tonnage, number of ordnance," nor will I discuss the dimensions of sails, rigging, and other equippage—"things fit in their places to be known, and yet better known by a digested list of them than other things fitter to be known." Like John Hollond, I am concerned with the "government" of the navy, with the administrative problems involved in furnishing the ingredients of naval power. A book on this subject cannot avoid reaching some conclu­ sions about the nature of Britain's naval strength. But this book is not about naval victory and defeat. Thus I have re­ sisted the temptation to explain the outcome of naval opera­ tions solely in terms of administrative factors, and the other factors—strategy, tactics, relative strength of the enemy—I have not studied. I hope the book will make a contribution to naval history by assisting those who may be prepared to study the whole range of factors that determine success or failure at sea, but my purpose is primarily to illuminate cer­ tain aspects of the nature and development of British govern­ ment. For in the eighteenth century the navy was one of the largest, most highly organized branches of the government; over the years it swallowed about half the public revenue. The book focusses on the second quarter of the eighteenth century, and particularly the war of 1739-1748, since war put administration to the test. For the most part, I believe, the administrative problems of that war were common to other eighteenth-century wars. However, although I have drawn most of my evidence from the 1739-1748 period, I have also found it necessary to reach back half a century or more to analyze the problems of naval administration and trace the development of solutions to them. Preface One can scarcely begin to study naval administration before the last decades of the eighteenth century without consulting the archives. Had I not had the opportunity to work in England for a long time this book could not have been writ­ ten, and I would like to thank those who were chiefly con­ cerned in giving me that opportunity: Professor Ε. E. Rich, Dr. Stanley Aston, Dr. G. Kitson Clark, Professor Kenneth M. Setton, and the late Professor Conyers Read. To the Fellows of St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, I am grateful for many kindnesses and encouragements during my residence there. I wish to thank the staffs of the Public Record Office, the Na­ tional Maritime Museum, the Admiralty Library, and the manuscript room of the British Museum. Acknowledgement is also made to these institutions for permission to reproduce documents and pictures in their possession. I am indebted to the Duke of Bedford and the Marquess of Cholmondeley for allowing me to use their family manuscripts; and to Mr. Ken­ neth Timings, Commander P. K. Kemp, and Miss Gladys Scott Thomson for their help in making materials readily available. I am especially grateful to the late Commander R. D. Merriman, who generously placed at my disposal a large portion of his Queen Anne's Navy before its publication. Also Mr. Christopher Lloyd thoughtfully sent me sections of his work on eighteenth-century naval medicine before publica­ tion. To the reader I would like here to apologize for errors I may have made in citing the manuscript sources, since my present distance from the archives has made proper verifica­ tion impossible. This book began as a doctoral dissertation, submitted to Cambridge University in 1961, and I am especially indebted to Mr. John Ehrman, my supervisor, for his unfailing guidance and careful criticism. My debt to Captain John Creswell is also very great—his expert scrutiny saved me from numerous errors. I am also indebted to my colleagues, Professors John W. Shy and David D. Bien, for their helpful comments on portions of the book. Naturally I am responsible for the flaws and mistakes that remain. My thanks go to Mrs. Jan Garrison and Mrs. Frances McCarthy for some emergency typing. My thanks also go to the staff of Princeton University Press: to Preface Mrs. Marjorie Putney for her assistance, to Mrs. Helen Van Zandt for her work on the design of the book, and to Mr. David Harrop for his patience and encouragement. Above all, I wish to thank my mother, who saved me hours of toil on the index, and my father, whose careful use of the language I shall always admire. My father not only read carefully the entire book, but also assisted on points requiring last-minute research in London and in gathering together the illustra­ tions. My debt to my wife cannot be fully expressed. She proofread the book twice, and—far more important—raised three small children while it was being written, without letting that business delay its progress. Princeton, New Jersey January 1965 DANIEL A. BAUGH