What would the HMS Hermes have had on board as far as payroll?

[MichaelB]

This may be a dumb question but what would the HMS Hermes Sloop of War that was sunk off Fort Boywer, AL, beteen 9/12 and 9/15 in 1814, have had aboard to support payroll for the following:

HMS Hermes(Sunk)
HMS Caron
HMS Anaconda
HMS Childers
225 Royal Marines.
400 Spanish and Creek Indian Troops.

Would gold and silver been carried for payroll or would some type of paper system have been used? If coinage, would each ship carry their own needs or would the lead ship carry everything? If coinage, what would a fleet of this size be expected to carry?

Regards,

MichaelB

 

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[ivan salis]

yes they had a "write off" ships slops book where seaman "signed"against their pay they had coming and accounts were "squared" away at payoff------payoff was supposed to be every month----however it could be and was often "delayed" for various reasons so when payoff finally came it was most likely a tidy sum---owing to the fact that it was several months pay really and because of the large numbers of people to be paid (according to the list you provided) thats alot of money that had to be carried even if their not being paid too much each ---- even back then gold was a rare and costly item just as it is now and like now most folks don't have and can not afford to have much of it---silver was the "everyday" life blood of england and while there may have been some gold on board ---the bulk of the money carried would have been silver if it was carried for payroll reasons --for ease of transactions reasons---one "master" ship was the often the pay master vessel for a whole group and funds were shipped over to the lesser vessels of the fleets for payoff as needed---how much was actually aboard the "master" vessel is dependant on several factors ---like when was she last stocked with "cash " ---how many payoffs if any had been made since she was "stocked up"----what wages for others than the fleet she was with did she carry and for what time frame---(was it for just 2 months or a years payroll---and how many? 100 or 1000 ? ) many of these questions can be answered at the british martime archives---which can be accessed on line---now dig in----Ivan