Generally, prize money is a monetary prize that is given to the winner of a competition. An example of Money. ... A prize is an award given to a person or a group of people to recognise and reward actions or achievements. ...

Naval Prize Money

In the Royal Navy, prize money is the money paid out to the crew of a ship as a reward for a capture. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services being the oldest of its three branches. ... A crew comprises a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. ... Italian ship-rigged vessel Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976 A ship is a large, sea-going watercraft, sometimes with multiple decks. ... A bounty is often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. ...

In the 16th and 17th centuries, captured ships were legally Crown property. In order to reward and encourage sailors' zeal at no cost to the Crown, it became customary to pass on all or part of a captured ship's value to the capturing captain for distribution to his crew. (Similarly, all belligerents of the period issued Letters of Marque and Reprisal to civilian privateers, authorizing them to make war on enemy shipping; as payment, the privateer sold off the captured booty.) A letter of marque and reprisal was an official warrant or commission from a national government authorizing the designated agent to search, seize, or destroy specified assets or personnel belonging to a party which had committed some offense under the laws of nations against the assets or citizens of the... This article is about the concept in naval history. ...

This practice was formalized via the Cruizers and Convoys Act of 1708. An Admiralty Prize Court was established to evaluate claims and condemn prizes, and the scheme of division of the money was specified. This system, with minor changes, lasted throughout the colonial, Revolutionary, and Napoleonic wars.

If the prize was an enemy merchantman, the prize money came from the sale of both ship and cargo. If it was a warship, and repairable, usually the Crown bought it at a fair price; additionally, the Crown added "head money" of 5 pounds per enemy sailor aboard the captured warship. Prizes were keenly sought, for the value of a captured ship was often such that a crew could make a year's pay for a few hours' fighting. Hence boarding and hand-to-hand fighting remained common long after naval cannons developed the ability to sink the enemy from afar.

All ships in sight of a capture shared in the prize money, as their presence was thought to encourage the enemy to surrendur without fighting until sunk.

Distribution of Prize Money

The following scheme for distribution of prize money was used for much of the Napoleonic wars, the heyday of prize warfare. Allocation was by eighths. Two eighths of the prize money went to the captain, generally propelling him upwards in political and financial circles. One eighth of the money went to the admiral who signed the ship's written orders (except that if the orders came directly from the Admiralty in London this eighth also went to the captain). One eighth was divided among the wardroom officers (the lieutenants, sailing master, surgeon, and captain of marines if any). One eighth was divided among the principal warrant officers, lieutenant of marines, chaplain and flag secretary if any. One eighth was divided among the junior warrant and petty officers, their mates, sergeants of marines, and midshipmen. The final two eighths were divided among the crew, with able and specialist seamen receiving larger shares than ordinary seamen, landsmen, and boys. Combatants Allies: • Great Britain/United Kingdom, • Prussia, • Austria, • Sweden, • Russia • France • Denmark-Norway • Poland Casualties Full list Full list The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars fought during Napoleon Bonapartes rule over France. ...

As complex as this scheme was, it was replaced by one of even greater complexity in the "reforms" of 1808!

See also

Thomas Cochrane, Earl of Dundonald, a dashing and successful frigate captain of the Napoleonic era. His exploits formed the basis of much swashbuckling fiction of the 20th century. Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald (14 December 1775–October 31, 1860) was a politician and naval adventurer. ...

Frederick Marryat, an officer of the period who wrote of his experiences. Captain Frederick Marryat (July 10, 1792 – August 9, 1848) was an English novelist, a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story. ...

Horatio Hornblower, a fictional officer and captain of the period. Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, originally the protagonist of a series of novels by C. S. Forester, and later the subject of films and television programs. ...

Aubrey-Maturin novels, a series of naval adventure novels by Patrick O'Brien, and source for the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. The Aubrey–Maturin series, also known as the Aubreyad, is a sequence of 20 historical novels by Patrick OBrian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ships surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also a physician... Patrick OBrien is an economic historian. ... Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, with Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin. ...

External Links

Nelson's Navy - Prize Money

The Gunroom, a discussion site on the Aubrey-Maturin novels with many historical links and resources.