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The Board of Admiralty

The standing commission of noblemen, politicians and sea officers who jointly executed the office of Lord High Admiral and governed the operational Royal Navy, stationing ships, instructing commanders, ordering convoys and running naval discipline. It directed the naval war on the golden-age pirates without ever trying or pardoning one.

FromNot establishedTo1 April 1964Also writtenThe Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty; Lords Commissioners for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral; The Admiralty; The Admiralty Board; The Board

The Board of Admiralty was the standing commission that executed the office of Lord High Admiral. When it was not held by one man, letters patent named several Lords Commissioners to hold it jointly, the senior presiding as First Lord. The Board deployed ships, instructed commanders, placed guardships at ports and on trade routes, ordered convoys, and ran discipline in the Royal Navy by court martial.1

Three things it was not

It was not the High Court of Admiralty, a court of law that tried pirates and prize causes. The Navy Board was a different body, civil, responsible for dockyards, stores and supply. And the Admiralty was not always a board: the commission alternated with spells when a single Lord High Admiral held the office in person, so "the Admiralty" in a paper of these years may mean a commission of five to seven men, or one prince.2

In commission and out

J. C. Sainty's list of office-holders records the office of Lord High Admiral as held by individuals in 1660 to 1673, 1702 to 1709 and 1827 to 1828, and in commission at other times. No statute created the Board; each commission stood on its own letters patent.3

The commissions of the 1690s ran to between five and seven members, peers and politicians with a minority of sea officers among them. That of 20 January 1690 named the Earl of Pembroke, the Earl of Carbery, Sir Thomas Lee, Sir John Lowther and the naval officer Sir John Chicheley. Edward Russell, later Earl of Orford, headed the board from 1694 to 1699. Prince George of Denmark, consort of Queen Anne, became Lord High Admiral on 20 May 1702 and held it alone until his death in 1708. From about 1709 it stayed in commission for the rest of the period this archive covers.4

The pirate war

Against the pirates the Board's power was operational rather than judicial. It settled where the King's ships went, and so whether a haven or a cruising ground was watched, blockaded or hunted. It tried nobody. Pirates were tried not by naval court martial but under special commission: the Act for the more effectual suppression of piracy of 11 and 12 William III allowed piracy to be tried in any of the King's islands, plantations and colonies under commissions passed under the Great Seal of England or the Seal of the Admiralty and directed to admirals, judges of vice-admiralties and commanders of the King's ships, before a court of seven persons at the least, proceeding according to the civil law and the rules of the Admiralty. From 29 September 1700 those commissioners had the sole power of trying such offences in the American colonies governed by proprietors or under charters, and the Act was still the working instrument in 1720, when Sir Nicholas Lawes tried Rackham's company at Jamaica under a commission grounded on it.5

The force was thin. About thirteen King's ships were in American waters in 1716, roughly eight in the West Indies, against an estimated fifteen hundred to two thousand active pirates; the figure rose to about sixteen by 1718 and stood near fourteen in 1720. Those counts come from one modern synthesis and are orders of magnitude rather than returns. The method that suited them was stationing well armed ships at key ports and on trade routes.

In November 1718 a naval party under Lieutenant Robert Maynard, from hired sloops, killed Edward Thache at Ocracoke Inlet. On 10 February 1722 Captain Chaloner Ogle in HMS Swallow came up with Bartholomew Roberts off Cape Lopez and killed him aboard the Royal Fortune; the survivors filled the dock at the Cape Coast Castle trial. Pardon sat in other hands: Woodes Rogers carried it to New Providence in 1718 as governor.6

Afterwards

The Board absorbed the abolished Navy Board's civil functions in 1832. It ceased to exist on 1 April 1964, becoming the Admiralty Board of the Defence Council, and the office of Lord High Admiral was vested in the sovereign.

The name of the man in the chair is missing. Who held the First Lordship across the peak anti-piracy years of about 1716 to 1725 is not established from the office-holders list, and the ship counts for American waters rest on one modern synthesis; the Board's own in-letters, out-letters and minutes in the Admiralty records at Kew would settle both. The Navy Board's abolition date follows modern accounts, with the patents still to be read against them; the piracy statute itself carries no commencement date of 16 November 1699.

What the evidence does not settle

First Lord of the Admiralty

  • First Lord of the Admiralty for 1716 to 1725 unidentified

The 1628 first commission

  • Date and terms of the 1628 first commission not establishedUnverified
  • Whether the first commission named six commissioners

Naval officers on vice admiralty commissions

  • Whether naval officers sat on colonial piracy commissions unsettled

Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.

Sources for this record

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

  1. The Board of Admiralty was the standing commission of Lords Commissioners, named in royal letters patent and headed by a First Lord, that executed the office of Lord High Admiral and governed the operational Royal Navy whenever that office was in commission. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Calendared office-holder list: J. C. Sainty, Lord High Admiral and Commissioners of the Admiralty 1660 to 1870, Office-Holders in Modern Britain vol. 4 (British History Online)
  2. The Board of Admiralty was an executive body, not a court. The powers and functions of the Admiralty were vested in the office of Lord High Admiral, which was held by individuals in 1660 to 1673, 1702 to 1709 and 1827 to 1828 and at other times placed in commission, appointments being made by letters patent under the great seal and tenure being during pleasure. The judicial side stood apart: the Act for the more effectual suppression of piracy of 1698 to 1699 provided for trials under commissions issued under the Great Seal of England or the Seal of the Admiralty of England and directed to admirals, vice-admirals, rear-admirals, judges of vice-admiralties and commanders of the King's ships of war. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Scholarly work of record and statute: J. C. Sainty, ed., Office-Holders in Modern Britain, volume 4, Admiralty Officials 1660 to 1870 (London, 1975), "Lord High Admiral and Commissioners of the Admiralty 1660-1870", pp. 18 to 31, read at British History Online: "The powers and functions of the Admiralty were vested in the office of Lord High Admiral throughout the period except for the years 1684-9 when they were exercised directly by the crown. The office was held by individuals during the years 1660-73, 1702-9 and 1827-8; at other times it was placed in commission. Appointments were made by letters patent under the great seal." And Statutes of the Realm, volume 7, 1695 to 1701, "William III, 1698-9: An Act for the more effectuall Suppressions of Piracy" (Chapter VII; pp. 590 to 594), read at British History Online, for trials "to be appointed for that Purpose by the Kings Commission or Commissions under the Great Seale of England or the Seale of the Admiralty of England directed to all or any of the Admiralls Vice-Admiralls Reer-Admiralls Judges of Vice-Admiralties or Commanders of any of His Majesties Ships of Warr". Neither document carries the foundation of the Navy Board in 1546 or its abolition in 1832.
  3. The office of Lord High Admiral alternated between single holders and commissions, being held by individuals in 1660 to 1673, 1702 to 1709 and 1827 to 1828, and resting on successive letters patent rather than on any founding statute. Unverified Reported, not yet checked against the record. Calendared office-holder list: J. C. Sainty, Lord High Admiral and Commissioners of the Admiralty 1660 to 1870, Office-Holders in Modern Britain vol. 4 (British History Online)
  4. Prince George of Denmark, consort of Queen Anne, held the office as sole Lord High Admiral from 20 May 1702 until his death in 1708, and from about 1709 the office returned permanently to commission for the remainder of the golden age. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Calendared office-holder list: J. C. Sainty, Lord High Admiral and Commissioners of the Admiralty 1660-1870, Office-Holders in Modern Britain vol. 4 (British History Online)
  5. Pirates were tried not by naval court martial but under special commission. The Act for the more effectuall Suppressions of Piracy (11 and 12 William III) allowed piracies, felonies and robberies at sea to be tried in any of the King's islands, plantations, colonies, dominions, forts or factories "to be appointed for that Purpose by the Kings Commission or Commissions under the Great Seale of England or the Seale of the Admiralty of England", before a court "of Seaven Persons at the least", who were to hear and determine "according to the Civill Law and the Methods and Rules of the Admiralty" and might give sentence of death; only known merchants, factors or planters, or sea officers, could sit and vote. The Act was to be in force for seven years, and from 29 September 1700 its commissioners had the sole power of trying such offences in the American colonies governed by proprietors or under charters. It was still the working instrument twenty years later: Sir Nicholas Lawes tried Rackham's company at Jamaica in November 1720 under a commission "grounded on the Statute of the 11th and 12th of King William", which he reports had by then been made perpetual by an Act of the previous session. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Statute and official correspondence: Statutes of the Realm, volume 7, 1695 to 1701, "William III, 1698-9: An Act for the more effectuall Suppressions of Piracy. [Chapter VII. Rot. Parl. 11 Gul. III. p. 2. n. 5.]", pp. 590 to 594, read at British History Online; quotations from sections I, III, IV, XIII and XIV. And Governor Sir Nicholas Lawes to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Jamaica, 13 November 1720, Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, volume 32, no. 288, C.O. 137, 13. No. 45, read at British History Online. The printed Act carries no commencement date of 16 November 1699, so that date is not verified here; the Act's own operative date is 29 September 1700 for the proprietary and charter colonies. The characterisation of the Board of Admiralty's own role, and the statement about naval courts martial, are not carried by either document.
  6. Naval force directed through the Admiralty killed Edward Teach at Ocracoke Inlet in November 1718, under Lieutenant Robert Maynard, and Bartholomew Roberts off Cape Lopez on 10 February 1722, when Captain Chaloner Ogle in HMS Swallow took the Royal Fortune. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Modern secondary synthesis: Against the Black Flag: Anti Piracy Operations 1715-1723 (Adventures in Historyland, 5 July 2017)