Royal Navy ranks 1850s/60s.

[Top-of-the-hill]

   Thank you!

[pogo99]

After reading cpercival’s Reply he could be right about about the Mizzen Top and captains cox’n roles.Doing a bit more research it looks like during that time a Senior Able Seaman,as there was no Leading Rate rank at the time could hold these roles. Best guess for promotion would be between Mizzen Top and Yeoman.Also worth remembering that he could of been promoted as a local promotion,meaning just for that ship or doing a particular job,then reverting back to his normal rank when that voyage or ship duty was finished,this still happens today!Do you have any history of other ships he was on before or after Renown?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy_ranks,_rates,_and_uniforms_of_the_18th_and_19th_centuries

[Top-of-the-hill]

   I have his own parchment copy of his service record and also a download from the National Archive. I have worked out the basics of his time in the RN, partly from the website I mentioned earlier, but I am sure I could find some details to ask!
   His first ship was the Juno, which was quite an exciting trip to Australia, 1853-57, but the rest of his time was fairly unexciting, as far as I can tell. I know quite a lot about the Juno, but perhaps I could ask this. He was paid off the Juno in Portsmouth on 9th Dec 1857, and United Services Gazette reported that the men from the Eastern ports took passage on the Pygmy for ships fitting out in those ports. As a man of Kent, William would have gone (to Sheerness?). Service record says he entered on Renown 10th Dec. - was this just bookkeeping, or would he have signed up before leaving Portsmouth?
   Sorry about the essay! These are the sort of details that niggle.

[cpercival]

The transit from Juno to Renown depends on the nature of his engagement.  If he was a regular engaged for so many years he went where he was told.  The expression 'paid off' is a historic term for the end of a ship's commission and still is in use today. It once meant exactly that.  By the time we are talking about it did not necessarily mean that the crew got paid and then left with the possible option of signing on for another voyage on a different ship.  In all likelihood he was drafted from Juno to Renown and took passage as directed.

C

[Top-of-the-hill]

   Thank you, that makes sense. He was signed on for 10 years at that stage.