Fox Lieutenant Cecil (2 results)
- Softcover
Seller: Best Books, St. Leonards on sea, United KingdomBest Books
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Very good
£ 10.00
£ 28.95 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. Reprint of the 1905 edition, 311 pages.
More imagesPublished by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1905
- Hardcover
Seller: Jacket and Cloth, Chippenham, United KingdomJacket and Cloth
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Poor
£ 460.00
£ 22.00 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Hardcover. Condition: Poor. No DJ. Published: 1905. Not signed by author. H.M.S Ganges Boatswain de Ste. Croix's Shotley foundation manual with complete training schedules. PROVENANCE: From the personal records of either Jno. De Ste. Croix Boatswain H. M. S. Ganges, 1905 or a new recruit under the tutelage of Ste. Croix. DESCRIP…TION: Publisher's original gilt stamped cloth. Fifty nine plates (some colour, some fold out). Laid on handwritten plates to front free endpaper and rear paste down showing training schedules for recruits. Front paste down states previous owners names or possibly the recruit instructor 'Jno de Ste Croix Boatswain H.M.S. Ganges 1905' Language: English Book Condition: Poor. Wear to corners, edges and spine ends. Tear to length of front spine edge cloth. Rubbed cloth with some marks. Tightly bound with intact endpapers and strong hinges. All plates present as prescribed. Soiling to most page margins from usage. DJ Condition: No DJ. Pages 311. Size: 19 cm by 12. 5 cm. PROVENANCE BACKGROUND: The training regime on H. M. S. Ganges at Shotley was a brutal but systematic ideology designed to break civilian boys and rebuild them as standardised naval ratings. Recruits underwent the ritualistic Kitting Up, which involved the total erasure of their civilian identity through hair-shearing and the issuance of stamped naval uniforms. The curriculum was a rigorous 12-month Policy Manual of technical and physical mastery, balancing academic classroom work with high-stakes practical seaman skills like Boat Pulling, Gunnery, and Signals. Central to this Master Practitioner education was the mandatory requirement of Swimming and the psychological test of climbing the 143ft mast. This environment of uncompromising discipline, enforced by Boatswains like Jno de Ste Croix, transformed 150,000 recruits into the backbone of the Royal Navys global fleet, establishing the Ganges Boy as a symbol of extreme technical and moral endurance. John de Ste. Croix (1866-1934) was a high-status naval professional and Master Practitioner within the Royal Navys elite instructional tier during the transition to modern naval warfare. The September 1905 Navy List and the National Archives (ADM 196/143/409) verifies his rank as Boatswain, a Commissioned Warrant Officer, with a seniority date of 14 August 1902. His appointment to H. M. S. Ganges in 1905 placed him at the centre of the ships pivotal move from its old wooden moorings at Harwich to the foundational shore establishment at Shotley. From the handwritten schedules found within his manual, we can infer de Ste. Croix served as a Technical Architect for Second Class recruits, overseeing the rituals of naval life such as Kitting Up and Swimming. He was among the first generation of officers to establish the legendary Shotley discipline, with his manual acting as the Operational Policy for the first divisions of Ganges Boys.
