Boat Forum / Building / August 2003

J. Richard Steffy, Wooden Shipbuilding and the Interpetation of
Shipwrecks, Texas A&M University Press, 1994.

[ SNIP ]

I offered one example - the bomb vessel series from 1692 - in another post
in this thread. Keith helpfully corrected me on contemporary wages,
suggesting that skilled labour at the time (shipwrights etc) was probably
closer to 25 pounds per individual per annum.

The construction cost estimates that I cited for those bomb vessels were
2828 pounds total - of that, 1919 pounds were for the timber, planks,
trenails, pitch, tar, mast, sundry material and workmanship, masts and
yards, and 909 pounds were for furnishing with rigging and ground tackle
sails and sea stores for the boatswain's and carpenter's store, and eight
months provision of sea stores.

This Navy Board estimate does not include ordnance stores.

Again, without including ordnance stores, Chris Ware states that the total
cost of purchased/converted bombs in the period 1690-95 was 13,315 pounds
(this for eight vessels), and 31,872 pounds for fourteen purpose-built
bombs. For purposes of comparison, he mentions that with this total
expenditure (45,187 pounds) one could have purchased two Third Rates
(without sea and ordnance stores).

Costs of the INFERNAL class of bombs (late 1750's) ranged from 3355 to 3758
pounds. These are building costs only. In fact, a average of another 400
pounds was expended per vessel of this class to fit them for service (i.e.
fitting the mortar beds), and the cost would still not include the ordnance.

As another complementary set of figures, from the same source, we find that
the costs of fitting out a 1690's bomb with mortars and ordnance stores was:

ca. 3480 pounds for a 13in mortar and all materials and officers to attended
(wages for Ordnance staff)
60 pounds for the mortar @ 12s per ton
140 pounds for two carriages
700 pounds for five hundred 12 1/4 inch bombs (the HE ammo)
175 pounds for 125 carcasses (incendiary ammo)
ca. 14 pounds for 750 fuzes
480 pounds for a 100 ton tender

Of course, one then still has to add wages for officers and seamen who
manned the vessel. As this helps also give an idea of the costs of a ship,
I'll note that Michael Lewis ("The Navy of Britain") mentions that in the
13th and 14th centuries the average seaman received 9 shillings a month.
These wages dropped considerably in the following few centuries. In the mid
1600's the wages for a seaman were 14-15 shillings per month, but
considering inflation, things had actually gotten worse. Of course, at close
to ten pounds per annum, in the 17th century, the average sailor was doing
better than most. After the Spithead mutiny in 1797, pay was roughly a
shilling per day (assuming you actually got paid).

If you look at Web sources like
http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/current/howmuch.html, I think you'll find
that there is a great deal of information about wages and costs at various
times.

AHS

A quick dig through 'The History of Ships', Peter Kemp, ISBN
1-84013-504-2 gives:

Prince Royal 1610, 114x43ft, 1330 tons, 55 guns:
Overall building cost was 20,000 pounds
of which 441 went on carving and 868 7s on painting/guilding

Sovereign of the Seas 1637 (size not mentioned)
Overall building cost 65,586 pounds 16s 9.5d (including guns)
of which 6,691 pounds on carving & decoration.