HMS Lion.  The boys of the training ship Lion undergo instruction in seamanship. The braces are ropes belonging to the yards of a ship, two to each yard - one attached to each of its extremities- rove through the lateral strain brought upon the yard by the wind acting on the sails. By easing off the braces on one side and easing off on the other, a yard may be braced "sharp up" enabling the ship to lie as close to the wind as possible. The yards of the Lion are seen here braced up on the port tack. The main yard - the lowest and largest spar across the main mast - differs from the other yards in having a double set of braces, one pair leading forward and one pair aft, the former (preventer braces), are used for "bracing up", but the lads of the Lion are seen hauling taut the weather main brace as a support to the yard.

HMS Lion c.1897

Original Page photo  image from quality magazine published in 1896 image  size 10" x 8" approx , plus title and specifications. price £20 plus £3 post for UK £10 overseas, recorded airmail  order number AN2/65 order magazine photo  here

The Lion and Implacable belong to the Devonport training establishment for the conversion of naval recruits into bluejackets.  They lie moored together in the Hamoze off Torpoint, half way between the entrance to the waterway and Saltash Bridge, stern to stern and connected by light gangways which make the whole one big floating establishment.  The Lion is the ship shown here, with all her masts and spars, which have been left in her for use in drill aloft.  She belongs to the later era of wooden ships, having been built in the 1840s, when our naval architects of the old school had reached their best efforts with the result that few finer men-of-war were ever afloat than the majestic vessel which bears the essentially British name of Lion.  She has filled her present role as a boy's training ship for a quarter of a century since 1871, when she was added to the establishment in the Hamoze, then carried on in the Implacable.  Of the Lion's mate, the Implacable, there is yet more to tell.  She is a vessel with a history of her own, being, as a fact, the only existing man-of-war, except the Victory, that fought at Trafalgar.  She was originally a French ship, known as the Duguay Trouin, launched at Rochefort in 1800.  After various adventures, including several running fights with various British men-of-war at sea, in which the Duguay-Trouin escaped capture, she joined the French fleet before Trafalgar, and took part in the great battle.  She was one of the few French ships that escaped after it, only, however, to be taken a few days after the battle by a British squadron.  Renamed the Implacable, and added to the British fleet, she did good service for many years, among other things capturing a Russian man-of-war, the Sewolod, in 1808, down to some time after Queen Victoria came to the throne.  The Implacable has been a training ship since 1855.

Original Page photo  image from quality magazine published in 1896 image  size 10" x 8" approx , plus title and specifications. price £20 plus £3 post for UK £10 overseas, recorded airmail  order number ANV02082 order magazine photo  here

The two groups comprise the Officers and Warrant Officers, and the Instructors - Petty Officers - who are in charge of the education in discipline, seamanship and gunnery of the future bluejackets, who are now under training as boys in the Lion.  Commander Thomas Young Greet, formerly Commander of the Empress of India, when second flagship of the Channel Squadron, and of her successor the Magnificent, an officer of thirty years service, holds the responsible office of the command and care of the sailor lads on board the Lion.  Both our groups are taken on the quarter-deck, just forward of the break of the poop.  Two lieutenants, a chaplain, a staff surgeon and a staff paymaster, one surgeon, an assistant paymaster, with three gunners, four boatswains, one carpenter, and on head schoolmaster, comprise the commission and warrant officers of the Lion.

The Flash Cutter's Crew of the Lion

Preparing the ship's dinner.

The band of the Lion.

Kits laid out for inspection.

Schoolmasters of the Lion.

Washing Clothes on HMS Lion.

On board the Lion everything is carried out and done exactly as on board a man-of-war in commission. Every detail of a seaman's duty afloat is carefully and thoroughly taught the boys, who learn and practice in their daily routine to do everything for themselves exactly as they will have to it when they leave the ship and have been drafted to serve on board the battleships and cruisers of our seagoing Fleet in commission.  We see some instances of what they learn here; to wash their own clothes, to keep them in smart and serviceable order and repair, and to lay them out for their officers' inspection in the service way at periodical times, exactly as it might be in the Channel or Mediterranean fleets.  They learn, too, among other things, to cut up and prepare a ship's dinner for themselves.  As regardds smartness and athletic form, the Flash cutter's crew of the Lion at the ship's annual sports this year, beat the cutter's crews of the other two training ships of the Western establishment, the Impregnable and the Ganges.  The other photographs show the special ship's band of the Lion - and a first rate set of musicians they are, a Plymouth folk know well - under the Chief Bandmaster, Mr H E Lidiard; and the Schoolmasters with Mr J C Tucker, the Head Schoolmaster, who teach the boys the three Rs, and, for those who volunteer to learn, subjects of a much more advanced nature.

These were the sailor lads who formed the company of the training ship Lion at Devonport during the 1890's. The old wooden two-decker lay moored with the Implacable astern of and attached to her, off Torpoint, nearly half-way up the Hamoze. This Lion whose striking gilded figure-head representing the British lion rampant, told the ships name as you approached her. She was built at Pembroke Dockyard and launched 29th July 1847 as an 80 gun ship, carrying a company of 750 men. She began her training ship duty in 1871. The Implacable, which lay stern to stern with the Lion and formed part of her, was at this time the only existing ship in the world apart from the Victory, which was present at the Battle of Trafalgar. She was then the French Duguay Trouin which was captured after Trafalgar while flying from the battle. The British Navy renamed the prize Implacable.

The establishment which was officially known as the Lion was really two old battleships of the line, the Implacable and the Lion, the combined vessels constituted the training school for boys at Devonport. The training brig Liberty was attached as tender. The picture shows the young boys under instruction. It was from these sources that the Navy drew its future seamen and at this time there was no shortage of young boys eager to begin their training and fill any vacancies in the Royal Navy.