experience, that what was called an ordinary seaman
could hardly find employment at present, either in the King's or
in the merchants' service.' The increase of the fleet in March
must have seemed a godsend to thousands of men-of-war's men. If
there was any holding back on their part, it was due, no doubt,
to an expectation--which the sequel showed to be well founded--that
a bounty would be given to men joining the navy.

The muster-book of a man-of-war is the official list of her crew.
It contains the name of every officer and man in the complement.
Primarily it was an account-book, as it contains entries of the
payments made to each person whose name appears in it. At the
beginning of the nineteenth century it was usual to make out
a fresh muster-book every two months, though that period was
not always exactly adhered to. Each new book was a copy of the
preceding one, with the addition of the names of persons who had
joined the ship since the closing of the latter. Until the ship
was paid off and thus put out of commission--or, in the case of a
very long commission, until 'new books' were ordered to be opened
so as to escape the inconveniences due to the repetition of large
numbers of entries--the name of every man that had belonged to her
remained on the list, his disposal--if no longer in the ship--being
noted in the proper column. One column was headed 'Whence, and
whether prest or not?' In this was noted his former ship, or the
fact of his being entered direct from the shore, which answered
to the question 'Whence?' There is reason to believe that the
muster-book being, as above said, primarily an account-book, the
words 'whether prest or not' were originally placed at the head
of the column so that it might be noted against each man entered
whether he had been paid 'prest-money' or not. However this may
be, the column at the beginning of the nineteenth century was
used for a record of the circumstances of the man's entering the
ship, whether he had been transferred from another, had joined
as a volunteer from the shore, or had been impressed.

I have examined the muster-book of every ship mentioned in the
Admiralty letter to the Board of Ordnance above referred to,
and also of the ships mentioned in _The_Naval_Chronicle_ as
fitting out in the early part of 1803. There are altogether
thirty-three ships; but two of them, the _Utrecht_ and the
_Gelykheid_, were used as temporary receiving ships for newly
raised