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Volume 3 | Issue 2 - Youth
Article by Tom Moult. Edited by Paul Miller. Additional Research by Hamish Rogers.
This issues theme of ‘Youth’ is an apt opportunity to examine one of the most horrific and dangerous occupations that the youth of the late-eighteenth and early nineteenth-century were engaged in. This was of course ‘the great age of sail,’ of the Jolly Jack Tars, Nelson and Trafalgar.
The term ‘powder-monkey’ refers to (in most instances) the young boys employed in the Royal Navy warships. Their job – as their name suggests – was to continually supply the gun-crews with the gunpowder that was kept deep in the magazine. The highly combustible nature of gunpowder, combined with the chaos and carnage of broadside action during battle , meant the supplies were kept deep below the waterline, in a sealed chamber known as the magazine. Once the powder monkeys had reached this room, they were presented with a powder cartridge with which they would return to their assigned gun for the crews to load and fire. Therefore, the very performance of the ship, its output of fire-power and ultimately its effectiveness in defeating the enemy was dependant on the ability of the powder monkeys to supply gunpowder quickly and efficiently.
What made their job so horrific however was the terrible nature of Napoleonic-era naval combat. During action, as broadsides were fired into the ship’s hull, splinters of oak several inches thick would inflict obscene injuries. Gun carriages would be dismounted, crushing and maiming their crews. Guns could even misfire, sending a hail of scolding iron in all directions. The sights, smells and sounds of the injuries would have been absolutely appalling.
Yet, the powder-monkeys had a duty to continue supplying the cartridges throughout this chaotic scene; during battle, some would be killed or wounded; others would have had their assigned guns put out of action. As a result, the powder-monkeys were not always exclusively ‘boys’ – many of them indeed would be boys and mere children. Some would have been older, perhaps teenagers and young adults. In some rarer instances, women would perform the task, perhaps wives accompanying their husbands, or surgeons’ assistants swapping the operating table for the gun deck.
As guns were disabled throughout the carnage of battle, powder-monkeys were often assigned to a different gun-crew to which they started with. First-rate ships of the line usually had at least a hundred guns, evidently meaning there would have to be a good many powder monkeys. Ultimately, as the battle became more and more intense, it is quite reasonable to assume that any individual not otherwise engaged would deliver the cartridges; so not always young men or boys. After all, the ability for British crews to fire faster and more accurately than the crews of their opponents proved decisive in more than one engagement. This principle therefore effectively rendered the number of guns in an action between two ships redundant; it was not the number of guns, but how quickly the guns could be fired, thus disabling the enemy, that decided the outcome. It is remarkable to think that the responsibility of the rate of fire fell largely upon the powder-monkeys, many of whom were just mere boys.
As with many of the gun crews and other sailors on board, the powder monkeys were often victims of the dreaded Impressment, or ‘Press Gang.’ Their age and small size made them easy prey for the gangs of sailors roaming sea ports during times of shortage on board ship. Once within the grip of the Royal Navy, they were unlikely to see their homes again, as was the case with most pressed sailors. As they were forced to adopt the new life they had been dropped into, it soon dawned upon them that they were at the bottom of the social hierarchy of Napoleonic fighting ships, and moreover, had one of the most dangerous jobs on board.
The powder monkeys as with all of the sailors and soldiers during this period of conflict played their part in bringing about victory. The defeat of the Franco-Spanish Combined Fleet under the command of Villeneuve, on October 21st 1805 destroyed any viable chance Napoleon had of invading Britain. Moreover, it also gave Britain a considerably stronger grasp of the command of the seas, paving the way for the Corsican tyrants’ final defeat in 1815. The role these young men and boys played is often overlooked by more visible historical figures like Nelson, but without the powder-monkeys, the guns wouldn’t have fired and victories would not have been achieved.
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