PRIZE MONEY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25396, 28 December 1945, Page 6

PRIZE MONEY

HISTORICAL RELIC ROYAL NAVY TRADITION New Zealand sailors will certainly participate in the distribution of prize money paid out to the Royal Navy as the result of its captures and sinkings of enemy ships during the war. However, it is impossible as yet oven to estimate the amount whieh individual officers and ratings will receive. it is widely but erroneously believed that only those men who served in ships which had successful actions with tho enemy will benefit from tho prize fund. If this were true, then only those New Zealanders who were in the Achilles at tho River Plate, the Leander when it destroyed an Italian raider in the Indian* Ocean, two corvettes which ended the career of a Japanese submarine off Guadalcanar, and who in smaller numbers were in various Royal Navy ships in different actions elsewhere, could expect to receive anything from the fund. However, the days have gone when prize money went only to the men who served in the ship or ships which took a prize. Nowadays all members of the Service receive their share of the fund formed from all the [irix.es taken, whether the ship was sunk, scuttled or captured, and whether it was warship, merchant ship or even a barge with armed personnel on hoard. After the last war tho eventual bounty paid to all personnel of the Navy was at the rate of £5 a head for every man on every enemy ship that was sunk or captured. The payment to the individual sailor did not amount to very much, although senior officers profited substantially.

Old Regulations Tho actual payment of prize money is an historical relic almost as old as the Royal .Navv itself. Regulations governing it crop up in almost every reign. For instance, under Henry VJJL, it was ordered that in all eases of prize tho King's share would 1)0 ono-half of the money, all the ships over 200 tons, and all the guns and "apparel." This regulation was still operative in Elizabeth's reign, although later sho made many a private bargain with adventurous seamen, to the mutual profit of both parties. Thus Drake. _ Cavendish, Raleigh. Sir John Hawkins, Sir John Champernowne and Sir Thomas Seymour, and scores of more obscure but very mercenary figures benefited enormously from the rich streams of precious metal and rare jewels which poured from the holds of Spanish and French ships that were taken at sea or in harbour. Pillage for the Sailor In TGI9, under Cromwell's Government, an Act was passed which gave one-half of all prize to the captors and tho otner half to the Treasurer of the Admiralty, with which to raise a fund for charitable purposes, rewards, etc. An Act of Charles 11., in 1661, laid down that a strict account was to be furnished before anything was removed from a prize of war, except for pillage. Pillage was a recognised perquisite of the common sailor, but lie was sternly restricted in his field by an ordinance which limited it to anything found above the gundeck. And even then "arms, tackle, furniture and stores" were excepted from tiiat which the sailor could regard as his traditional right. Pillage was finally abolished by an Act of William and Mary. Under it everything in a ship had to be condemned as a prize and then distributed, one-third going to the captors, onethird to the Treasurer of the Navy and one-third to the use of Their Majesties. Great Fortunes Made

During the reign of Queen Anno an even more important Act laid it down that the whole of tho prize fund was to be vested in the Crown, which then transferred its share by Royal Warrant to the captors. The Act established tho exact ratio of shares, from the admiral of the squadron down to the "swabber, ordinary trumpeters, barber, seamen, volunteers by letter and marine soldiers."

During the reign of the Georges, in the French and Spanish wars, prize money was not only a valuable inducement for persuading Englishmen to go to sea, but also resulted to the tremendous advantage of many officers and men. For instance, in _ Lord Anson's voyage of circumnavigation prize to the value of more than £1,000.000 was taken. Anson's share would be about £125.000. Later he gained a further £62,991 from tho rounding up of a French convoy after the battle of Cape Finisterre. Grants by Royal Warrant

Another considerable individual haul was that received by Admiral Sir Charles Saunders, when Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean: When the frigate Active and the sloop Favourite took the Spanish treasure-slap Hermione on May 21, 1762. the value of the prize amounted to £519,705, and the admiral's share was £64,9613. All the lieutenants of the two ships received £13,000 each and every seaman and marine got £485. The prize fund is still vested entirely in the Crown and can only be granted to the Navy by Royal Warrant. Acts passed by William IV. and Victoria both restated this principle, and the Prize Act of 1864, which is still in force, expressly lays down that officers and crews of H.M. ships may only take such prize as is granted to them by the Crown.