PRIZE MONEY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26041, 3 January 1946, Page 9

PRIZE MONEY

HISTORICAL RELIC ROYAL NAVY TRADITION New Zealand sailors will certainly participate in the distribution of prizemoney paid out to the Royal Navy as the result of its captures and sinkings of enemy ships during the war. It is impossible as yet, however (states the New Zealand Herald), even to estimate the amount which 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 the enemy will benefit from the prize fund. If this were true, then only those New Zealanders who were in the Achilles at the 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 Guadalcanal", and who in smaller numbers were in various Royal Navy ships in different actions elsewhere. could expect to receive anything from the fund. The days have gone, however, 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 prizes taken, whether the ship was sunk, scuttled or captured, and whether it was warship, merchant ship or even a barge with armed personnel on board. After the last war the 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 The actual payment of prize-money is an historical relic almost as old as the Royal Navy itself. Regulations governing it crop up in almost every reign. For instance, under Henry VIII, it was ordered that in all cases of prize the King's share would be one-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 made many a private bargain with ad-* venturous 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 pored from the holds of Spanish and French ships that were taken at sea or in harbour. In 1649, under Cromwell's Government, an Act was passed which gave one-half of all prize to the captors and the other half to the Treasurer of the Admiralty, with which to raise a fund fqr 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 he was sternly restricted in his field by an ordinance which limited it to anything found above the gundcck. And even then “arms, tackle, furniture, and stores” were excepted from that 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 Anne an even more important Act laid it down that the whole of the prize fund was to be vested in the Crown, which then transferred its share by Royal Warrant to the captors. The Act established the 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 offirers 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 the rounding up of a French convoy after the battle of Cape Finisterre. 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-ship Hermione on May 21, 1762. the value of the prize amounted to £519.705, and the admiral’s share was £64,963. All the lieutenants of the two ships received £13,000 each, and every seaman and marine got £435. The prize fund is still vested entirely in the Crown, and can only be granted to liie navy by Royal Warrant. Acts passed by William IV and Victoria both restated this principle, and the Prize Act of 1364. 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.