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The Transport Board was the British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
organisation responsible for the transport of supplies and military. It is also referred to as the Board of Transport and Transport Office.


History

It existed between 1690 and 1724, and again between 1794 and 1817 and was initially a subsidiary board of the
Navy Board The Navy Board (formerly known as the Council of the Marine or Council of the Marine Causes) was the commission responsible for the day-to-day civil administration of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832. The board was headquartered within the ...
. In 1818 its functions were merged into the
Board of Admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...
. It originated in the need to transport the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...
to
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
in 1689 to meet the Jacobite invasion of Ireland. The responsibility for the transportation was given to a board, later named the Commission for Transportation. In time the commission assumed responsibility for transportation to all areas, not just Ireland. In 1724 the commission was disbanded and other Admiralty boards and several departments of the
War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
assumed its functions. This arrangement did not work well.


1794 to 1817

The division of responsibilities and abuses that followed led to the creation of another Transport Board in 1794, which was one of three boards —
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
,
Victualling A victualler is traditionally a person who supplies food, beverages and other provisions for the crew of a vessel at sea. There are a number of other more particular uses of the term, such as: * The official supplier of food to the Royal Navy in ...
, and Transportation — that then ran the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
until 1817. The Transportation Board centralized and unified the function of military transportation overseas. The Army, therefore, had to arrange all movement by sea through the Transport Board. The establishment in 1794 of the board reflected experience gained in the
War of American Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. A strong supporter was Sir Charles Middleton (later Lord Barham), the former Controller of the Navy. The Transport Board assumed responsibility for the care of
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
on 22 December 1799 from the Sick and Hurt Commissioners, and in 1806 the Transport Board had taken over the business of the Sick and Hurt Board. In its Transport Service role, the board was responsible for “the hiring and appropriating of Ships and Vessels for the conveyance of Troops and Baggage, Victualling, Ordnance, Barrack, Commissariat, Naval and Military Stores of all kinds, Convicts and Stores to New South Wales and a variety of miscellaneous services such as the provision of Stores and a great variety of Articles for the Military Department in Canada and many Articles of Stores for the Cape of Good Hope and other Stations”. The board maintained resident agents at British ports and at those foreign ports that transports frequented. The board also employed agents who travelled with the transports. The transport agents represented the first quasi-professional specialization among commissioned officers.N. A. M. Rodger. (2005) ''The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815''. (W. W. Norton), p. 384. The transport agents were uniformed Navy officers under the employ of the Transport Board, but not being sea officers, were not subject to naval discipline. Their job was to control and organize merchant ships that the government had chartered. To assist them in their duties, agents had a staff consisting of a purser, boatswain, gunner, and carpenter, all appointed by warrant and on Navy pay. Hired vessels with a transport agent (always a Royal Navy Lieutenant but termed a Commander) aboard flew a blue ensign and a "plain blue common pendant" and could exercise authority over smaller transports that carried no Agent. In the case of a large convoys, one vessel would carry a "Principal Agent" (Commander or Captain RN) with a "Blue Broad Pendant" at the main-top-mast head. In the absence of a naval escort, the Principal Agent was in charge of the convoy.


1817 to 1862

In 1817, the Transport Board was abolished and its duties being divided between the Navy Board, which set up its own Transport Branch, and the Victualling Board, which took over the medical commissioner as well as setting up its own Transport Service. When the Navy and Victualling Boards were abolished in 1832 transport duties were assigned to the Victualling Department. Then in 1861 a select Committee of the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
that contained both Navy and Army officers, recommended unanimously the formation of a separate and distinct Transport Office under the sole control of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty "To carry out transport of every kind required by our government to any part of our coast and to all our colonies and possessions, including India". In 1862 the responsibility for the provision of transportation was divided and a separate Director of Transports appointed who headed a new Transport Department.


Timeline

''Note: Below is a timeline of responsibility for transportation for the Royal Navy.'' * Navy Board, Victualling Board (Board of Victualling Commissioners), 1683-1793 * Navy Board, Transport Board, 1794-1816 * Navy Board, Transport Branch, 1817-1832 * Board of Admiralty, Comptroller of Victualling and Transport Services, 1832-1861 * Board of Admiralty, Transport Department, 1862-1917


See also

*
Penal transportation Penal transportation or transportation was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony, for a specified term; later, specifically established penal colonies became thei ...
*
Navy Board The Navy Board (formerly known as the Council of the Marine or Council of the Marine Causes) was the commission responsible for the day-to-day civil administration of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832. The board was headquartered within the ...
*
Board of Admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...
*
Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...


References


External links


History and Functions of The Sea Transport Services
''Your Archives'',
The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...

Transport Board, In-Letters And Orders... – ADM/MT&ET
National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

"Naval Administration" CHAPTER IX
by Sir Vesey Hamilton, G.C.B. (1896)
ABUSES IN THE NAVY AND BARRACK DEPARTMENTS
HC Deb 15 February 1810 vol 15 cc426-34 {{Naval Service (British), state=collapsed Royal Navy 1690 establishments in England 1724 disestablishments in Great Britain 1794 establishments in Great Britain 1817 disestablishments in the United Kingdom