This chapter provides insights into ‘manning’, the most vital element of the mid-eighteenth-century Navy from the point of view of the men responsible for taking the ships to sea. Every captain was involved in the problems of recruitment, either directly through sending off lieutenants to establish a rendezvous for recruiting inland, or through compelling inbound merchantmen to bring to in order to board them and press seamen. Failure meant having to maintain an efficient fighting unit without its full complement of men. The social cost of putting a Navy to sea aroused seething defiance during the mid-eighteenth century, which did not come to a head until the end of the century when reforms were finally introduced. A warning of the feelings which led to the mutinies of 1794 can be found in many letters during this period.

It is clear from the captains' letters that they accepted that there was no alternative to impressment as a means of manning their ships, but that once the men had been put on board humanitarian considerations came to the fore. The captains were concerned to keep the men as clean and dry as possible, and the logs reveal their constant preoccupation with the quality of food and drink taken and served on board. The Admiralty was prepared to try innovative means of ventilating the lower decks and many captains took part in anti-scorbutic trials.