Training Ship Ensigns, United Kingdom

Last modified: 2005-03-19 by rob raeside
Keywords: training ships |
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Between 1856 and 1986 the hulls of obsolete wooden warships at permanent moorings in harbours and rivers around Britain, were used as training ships. They were originally established to provide further education and nautical training to boys who had left school, but were not old enough to enlist in the Royal Navy, or obtain employment in the Merchant Navy. Some charged a fee, some were subsidised by ship-owners, some were run by charitable societies for the benefit of paupers and orphans, and some were organised by local authorities as reformatories for juvenile delinquents. Many of them, and some similar establishments on shore, had distinctive ensigns. They included:

• Training Ships :
  
  • Arethusa
  • Conway
  • Cornwall
  • Exmouth (2)
  • Foudroyant
  • Indefatigable
  • Mars
  • Mercury
  • Northampton
  • Warspite
  • TS Wellesley. Blyth, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
  • Worcester (2)
• Seaman's Hospital :
  • Hamadryad
• Shore Establishments :
  • Pangbourne Nautical College
  • Royal Merchant Navy School
• Unidentified ensigns :
  • Watts Naval Training School, Elham, Norfolk.
• Navy League. TS Stork and Liscard Training School
• Other ensigns of unknown origin
• Training ships with no special ensign
• Prince of Wales Sea Training School Society

David Prothero, 25 August 2003

See also:

• United Kingdom
• Sea Cadet Corps, United Kingdom

Training Ship Arethusa

by Martin Grieve, 20 October 2003

Blue Ensign of Training Ship Arethusa.

Lord Shaftesbury (7th Earl) founded the National Refuge for Homeless and Destitute Children known as Shaftesbury Homes, and in 1866 persuaded the Admiralty to lend him a frigate, Chichester, so that some destitute children might be trained for employment at sea. Chichester was moored at Greenhithe on the south bank of the lower Thames. Additional accommodation was needed, and in 1874 another frigate, Arethusa, was acquired and moored astern of Chichester. The Admiralty are said to have issued a warrant in 1877 for both ships to fly a Blue Ensign though it is not clear whether it was for a plain or a defaced ensign, and if defaced, what badge was used. Arethusa was said, in 1927, to have flown a plain Blue Ensign and Union Jack as jack since 1874. The Captain Superintendent claimed that King's Regulations entitled him to do so as he was a retired naval officer in the Reserve, and his staff included reservists in excess of the minimum qualification. This was not correct as a warrant was required even if the qualifications for a Blue Ensign were met. Demand for merchant seamen fell as steam ships