Nel
The youngest crew member on the HMS Victory Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 was age 10. I don't they regarded children and teenagers as we do today. I have been on board the HMS Victory docked at the Portsmouth Navy Shipyard, England and I don't think I would like to have served on her.
You can still enlist in the US Navy at 17 with parents permission and I think as young as 14 in the British Navy. By the way I served with a 15 year old in the Navy Hurricane Hunters in the 1950's, he had lied about his age to enlist and was never found out.
Clay Gullatt
AGCS USN Ret
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