Some History

Before the guillotine made French people equal, and before the abolition of capital punishment altogether made them equal and also not dead, tradition dictated that commoners be hanged and nobles beheaded. Two crimes however warranted a special kind of execution, being heresy with the condemned burnt at the stake and in this case regicide, which specifically demanded quartering for some reason.  

François Ravaillac was the product of the French Wars of Religion, a series of conflicts during the Protestant Reformation that tore France apart, only ending when the leader of the Calvinist Huguenots Henri III de Bourbon, king of Navarre and issued from a cadet branch of the royal dynasty of France, succeeded to Henri III de Valois, king of France.

The condition of his coronation was for him to convert to Catholicism, which he did, being quoted as saying “Paris is well worth a mass”. Ravaillac was born in a staunchly catholic family, being raised by his two uncles, both canons in the local cathedral, to bear a fervent hatred of Huguenots. His unstable mind led him to quit a well-off situation working as a clerk to try and join a monastic order, of which he was kicked out after only a few weeks. Now penniless and aimless, he started experiencing visions and confessed multiple times over the years of having committed “homicide through intent”, growing more and more resentful of the king whom he saw as the Antichrist ready to wage war on his people and move the Holy See from Rome to Paris.  

After stealing a knife from an inn, he eventually graduated to “homicide through actual homicide” after stalking the royal carriage all the way to one of the traffic jams Paris is famous for, giving him the opportunity to stab the king twice in the chest when it stopped.

After being held in protective custody in a private hotel, then transferred to the Conciergerie prison and tortured/tried for ten days, Ravaillac was sentenced to death on the 27th of May 1610. His regicide was ruled to be the act of a lone religious fanatic without any accomplice. The same day, he was taken to the place de Grêve in front of Paris’ town hall, where public executions had traditionally been held for at least 300 years. All according to his execution warrant, Ravaillac’s chest, arms, thighs, and calves were pulled apart with tongs; his right hand which had held the knife was cut off and thrown onto burning sulfur; his wounds were covered in molten lead, boiling oil, pitch, wax, and sulfur; finally, his limbs were attached to four horses, pulling them from their sockets – allegedly with some help from an axe – completing the quartering proper.

Unfortunately for him and in a striking karmic twist, some insult was added to Ravaillac’s supplice, as his legacy was to cement Henri IV’s own as the Good King Henry. The king’s martyr at the hand of a madman garnered sympathy and dispelled his previous image of a Bourbon usurper with Catholics and of relapse with Protestants, working wonders to unify the two under the new monarchy. Henri’s progeny would not only rule France for another 182 years without interruption, but Spain, Luxembourg, and other holdings in Italy.

The Midshipman

The path could be very long and thorny at times and many hurdles had to be overcome. One of these hurdles was finding a supporter. This supporter had to help a young man to get an apprenticeship on a ship. In the beginning, it didn’t matter what kind of skills he had, how he applied, or if he had passed an aptitude test. They only needed someone who was authorized to fill such an apprenticeship and they could take whoever they wanted. This led to the so-called protection system. This meant that you could get advantages in every possible way as long as you returned the favor. And so it could be that a rich man who found that his son should go to sea gave the captain a large sum of money, and then took the boy in.

This, unfortunately, led to the fact that many supposed talents found their way onto a ship, while true talents first tried their hand on a trading ship. But there was also the so-called Kings letter. This was a specific letter issued by the admiralty that forced the captain to take the boy in. But this happened very rarely.

A Portrait of a Midshipman, by Sir Martin Archer Shee (1769-1850)

If a young gentleman found an apprenticeship, he was between 11 (later it was raised to 12) and 16 years old. There he started as Captain’s Servant – from 1794 it became the Volunteer first class. But not without his parents or a guardian paying for him. Servants were a source of income for the Captain. For example, the young man had to pay an annual fee, an extra allowance, and pocket money, and his parents had to pay for his uniform, etc. In addition, there was a supply subsidy which had to be paid for 30 to 40 pounds for boys under 15 years and 70 to 100 for boys from 15 years on. 2- 3 years after learning the basics a servant was allowed to call himself a midshipman after confirmation of the captain.

Midshipman Blockhead, Fitting out Mastr Willm Blockhead HM Ship Hellfire West India Station, by Captain Frederick Marryat, 1820

After 1678 it was necessary for a midshipman to take an exam to become a lieutenant. This meant that a good education was necessary. A lieutenancy in this context required a minimum service of six years on an HM ship (at least two of those years as a midshipman).

The Academy

Influenced by the three great naval academies in France, the Naval College at Portsmouth was finally opened in 1733. It was intended to provide young men with a sound basic education and thus make Servant service superfluous. Unfortunately, this met with only moderate success. The academy also taught: writing, arithmetic, drawing, navigation, gunnery, fortification, other useful parts of mathematics, French, dancing, fencing, and the exercise of firelocks. However, many of them relied on the old system and the academy only took in 40 students per year, although there was capacity for more. It closed its doors again in 1837. In the second half of the 18th century, the second college opened in Gosport, and since 1873 it was referred to as the Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

The Royal Navy College in Greenwich

On board, the older officers and the captain took over the teaching. If the ship was large enough, there was also a schoolmaster from 1702. If there was not a chaplain, he took over the general education while the nautical instruction remained with the officers.

The exams

As already mentioned, a midshipman had to pass an exam to continue as a lieutenant. This meant that he had to have been at sea for at least 6 years. Unfortunately, there were cases where a boy was entered into the ship’s logbooks at baby age to give him a better career and early payment. Of course, it was forbidden but many of them were related and knew what was going on. Nothing was done about it. The exam itself was taken in London, later also in other large home ports and overseas on the orders of an admiral present there, but if he was not there the gentlemen had to wait until the admiral was present again. Because only he was allowed to choose three captains who took the examination. At this time the applicant had to be at least 20, from 1806 on 19 was enough. In 1790 a catalog of 30 questions was compiled, but here too, nepotism was a factor, because if the uncle, cousin, or old family friend was sitting there, then it was often a very simple, almost ridiculous question.

Midshipmen studying for their Lieutenant’s examination aboard HMS Pallas. Sketch by Lt. Gabriel Bray, 1774

It is astonishing that useful officers came out of the system. But since every failure is down to the officer (usually a lieutenant who had at least one midshipman under his protection) and the captain, they wanted their protégés to learn something useful. Therefore they were given tasks early on, such as hoisting signals and commanding a boat and the older ones even got the command of a small prize. This usually meant a lot of practice and knowledge.

Besides the boys, deserving sailors could earn themselves the post of a Midshipman, so that it was possible to have children at the age of 11, and adult men in their 40s. This was also possible if the midshipman did not pass the exam or there was no job for him. Because not everyone who passed the exam was promoted to lieutenant. Then he had not passed the gentleman’s examination and was therefore only a passed midshipman waiting for a job. From 1804 this was called sublieutenant.

Life on board

The boys were accommodated in the very narrow midshipmen berth. The oldest midshipman was in command of his comrades in the Berth, which often led to mobbing and group formation. The very young were mothered a little by the Gunner and his wife – the only one legally on board.

‘Master B finding things not exactly what he expected, the midshipman arrives on board ship; study for an illustration to ‘The Life of a Midshipman’ by Captain Frederick Marryat, 1820

The boys were punished by other officers but never by the crew. Most of the time they were mastheaded, tied in the shrouds, or put over the cannon to be spanked with a cane. The food was the same as the crew, but sometimes the captain, when eating with his lieutenants, would give the excess food to the boys. All in all this time was not very easy, but at the same time, it was a great adventure. Many had only good things to report when they came across a good captain with capable officers.