1762. The English cabinet gives the order that results in The sack of Havana.
"Ow, the Loot! Bloomin' Loot!"
Looting is an ancient military tradition. Of course most modern armies - at least those of major powers - frown upon the practice. So while some informal plundering does still occur, there is nothing like the organized distribution of goodies which once was a normal consequence of victory. Navies, which had less of an opportunity for plunder than armies, formalized the distribution of "prize" to a remarkable degree. As David Dixon Porter, America's second admiral put it "Armies loot, navies take prize."
One of the most impressive hauls ever made was a result of the British capture of Havana during the Seven Years' War.
In early 1762 the British government decided to seize Havana from Spain. To accomplish this feat a fleet of 26 ships-of-the-line, 15 frigates, a number of smaller warships, and 150 merchantmen, was fitted out, manned by 27,000 seamen and troops, under the command of Lord Albemarle. The expedition sailed from England in March. D-Day was on June 6th, and the landings achieved complete surprise. By June 20th, Albemarle had invested the city. The siege lasted 40 days, as the outnumbered defenders put up a lively resistance. As always, disease inflicted greater losses than did combat. However, having mastery of the seas, the British were able to bring in volunteer reinforcements from the colonies in North America and Jamaica. Finally, on August 13th the city surrendered. Now came the good part.
The amount of booty was enormous - even including a dozen ships-of-the-line. All the booty was all meticulously calculated and then divided up among the participants according to a complex formula. The results of "divvying up the loot" can be seen below.
Prize Awarded
Naval Personnel Army Personnel
Admiral-in-Chief £122,697 General-in-Chief £122,697
Commodores 24,539 Lieutenants-Generals 24,539
Captains 1,600 Major Generals 6,816
Lieutenants 234 Field Officers 564
Warrant Officers 118 Captains 184
Petty Officers 17 5s Subalterns 116
Common Seamen 3 14s 9d Sergeants 8 18s 8d
Boys 1 5s 3d Corporals 6 16s 6d
Other Ranks 4 1s 8d
Trying to estimate how much all this loot was actually worth is rather difficult, though not impossible. On paper, in 2001 the pound is worth about 30 times what it was worth back in 1762. So a common seaman's take would be about a hundred pounds in modern money. But that's barely $150, mere chump change. In fact, none of the purported systems of converting money from earlier times to that of the present - including the Consumer Price Index - works very well, due to changes in the cost, quality, and type of goods we buy, as well as changing standards of living and occupation.
Consider it another way.
In the mid-eighteenth century a private in the British Army was paid a bit more than £18 a year ("A shilling a day, bloomin' good pay."), though various deductions were made from this for uniform allowances and such, which actually left him with £7, 7s, and 7d. Still, £18 is just a little short of the £20 and one penny that Charles Dickens seems to have considered adequate to support a small family with lower middle class pretensions.
Officers of course, did a lot better. Depending upon rank, their shares of the booty were often greater by several degrees of magnitude than their regular salaries. So both enlisted men and officers had considerable incentive to go on campaign.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2020, 09:45:12 AM by besilarius »
"These things must be done delicately-- or you hurt the spell." - The Wicked Witch of the West.
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