Band of brothers: boy seamen in the Royal Navy 1800-1956 – Phillipson, David Flitsaanbieding

A revealing history of the boy seaman rating in the Royal Navy, beginning with its evolution from the 18th-century Officer’s Servant through to its abolition in 1956. It tells of an astonishing Victorian naval tradition which continued into modern times. HMS Ganges, a byword on the lower deck of the Royal Navy for vigorous – not to say harsh – discipline, was the hardest of the boy seaman training establishments.