18th Century Navies

[lwhitehead]

Hi in creating a early 18th Century Hard Fantasy world set during the Golden Age of Piracy that's 1720 to 1730 timeframe a Human only world, so I need info on 18th Century Navies, 

 

Unforms which Sea going powers started using them?

 

Flint Gunlocks on Cannons when did the Nations started using them?

Ship Pilot Wheel's when did each Sea going Nation generally started to use them?,

 

LW

[Mission]

I don't know the answers, but I'm almost certain each of these things has been discussed here in the past. Use the search function, restricting your search to the appropriate forum. Most of them are probably in Captain Twill. (You may find the gunlock answer in Cacabel's Lock, Stock & Barrel forum.)

[Fox]

The French Navy started experimenting with some uniformity for foremastmen in the 1690s, and adopted uniforms for officers in the early 18th (I forget the exact year, but pre-1720. The Royal Navy had uniformed slop clothing for sale to its foremastmen from at least 1663, but it was not required for seamen to buy or wear it. Officers in the RN didn't get a uniform until 1747, though there is slim evidence of some officers on the Gibraltar station adopting an unofficial uniform of a red coat with black tape in the 1720s.

I don't know exactly when flintlock mechanisms were added to ships' guns, but it was after the 1730s

The earliest evidence of a wheel on an English ship is 1713. Some French ships may have had them slightly earlier.

[Brit.Privateer]

On 5/15/2017 at 5:49 PM, Fox said:

The French Navy started experimenting with some uniformity for foremastmen in the 1690s,...

Where did you read about that? While French maritime outfits are not the main focus of my maritime clothing work, I tried my best to compare what little is available about the French to the English in regards to Maritime Clothing. It's too bad that there is so little translated into English.

[Fox]

Um, good question.

There was a long thread about it on the old Pirate Brethren board in which some artists' impressions from a French book were posted. As I recall nobody was able to ascertain how extensive the attempt was - whether it was actually a uniform or whether it was more like the RN slops. Either way, it was all info found on the net.

 

[Fox]

IIRC, this was one of the images: 

[Brit.Privateer]

I've seen those images before. Even went digging a couple times to find the book they originally came from. Book was too rare to obtain here in the U.S., even through interlibrary loan.  It unfortunately meant I couldn't use it for my research. The condition of studies in maritime clothing for English mariners is in bad enough condition (a reason I worked on it). As far as I can tell, even with the language barrier, the study of French maritime clothing is in a worse state. Someday, maybe, someone else will do graduate work on the subject and dig up period sources and provide notes.