Out of that pay he had to provide his own uniforms and, if he was to fulfill the immemorial custom of the service by properly entertaining his subordinate officers, he had to spend lavishly on food and wine. currency, a low-ranking post-captain may have earned the equivalent of less than $30,000 a year. If we can trust inflation calculations of the British pound A low-ranking post-captain may have earned the equivalent of less than $30,00 a year, but he had to provide his own om the early 1800s as converted into contemporary U.S.
Commander Aubrey earned less than 250 pounds a year, and his subsequent promotion to post-captain would give him only a marginal increase to 255 pounds.
The Royal Navy’s pay truly was contemptible, and the uncertain prospect of prize money was the substitute. The pay is contemptible for a learned man – five pounds a month – and I am ashamed to admit it but there is the chance of prize money. But the pitch is revealing – Aubrey has a passion for prize money that we learn is exceeded only by his physical lusts and desire for glory. In Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander, Stephen Maturin, indifferent to wealth but desperately impoverished, accepts Commander “Lucky Jack” Aubrey’s invitation to become ship’s surgeon primarily to avoid starvation.
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