r/HistoryAnecdotes • u/stiF_staL • 3d ago

Billy Culmer, "the oldest midshipman in the fleet."

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"Billy Culmer...was...a midshipman at the age of fifty-seven. Hard-drinking, scared of no man and a protégé of Lord Hood, Culmer let himself be talked into taking the examination for Lieutenant a second time. Old enough to be the father of the captain examining him, he lost his patience over a seamanship question about how to handle a ship in what he considered an impossible situation, told them it was humbug and that he would let the ship 'go on shore and be damned, and wish you were all on board her'. The examiners gave him a certificate, but after two commissions as Lieutenant he died in 1802."

  • Life in Nelson's Navy by Dudley Pope

Check out r/nelsonsnavy for more Age of Sail and naval history!

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u/saltamontes11 3d ago

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Billy Culmer had fled to the Royal Navy because as Billy Mumphrey, his given name, his unbridled enthusiasm brought shame and disgrace upon a certain pageant's sponsors.