For a number of years, and you may still hear stories the time England ruled the seas. England became the world’s leading sea power from 1763 to early 1900’s. In many ways it was a long time, but how did the country emerge as the leading country on the sea? There are a variety of answers to the question for it is a combination of factors. One author who offers guidance is Tim Clayton who wrote TARS published by Hodder & Stoughton, 2007, London.

One of the factors is up until the 1750’s French is the international language of the seas – maps were in French and the English captains learnt French.

There was inventions or better design of sailing ships for the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy similar to much of Britain was a combination of upper income or socially upward were the captains and did the strategic planning; while the common folk did all the other things needed to make the ship run, including use of cannon. As the ships became larger, they had more fire power.

In the end of the 7 years war with France in 1760’s, the English used their bigger ships to blockade the French ports. Putting your ships in the harbor of another country is a relatively easy thing to do; keeping them there for the blockade to be effective is a different matter. The English had a supply system which was better than any other country. The efficiency of the naval supply system and the quality of food had improved. Partly with the ability to do it themselves – they manufactured their own victuals; the Navy had flourmills and other mills to grind oats. The navy owned a slaughter house for meat and its brew master was top notch. The ships at the blockade could be reloaded with food and drink, so the men could stay out longer. In addition to the food being replenished so was the gunpowder which must have hurt moral of the French.

Another aspect to the Royal Navy was if the boats captured opposition ships, part of the value of the bounty would be distributed to all the members of the crew. This was part of the incentive to stop Spanish ships from taking gold and silver from Mexico and Peru to Spain.Not surprisingly the admiral and captains took a larger share, but everyone received a healthy bonus relative to their normal pay. One effect is in every port city there are pubs and brothels nearby, for the ladies and gentlemen to take the money from the sailors.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, whether it was 200 years ago or now the reasons why organizations develop remain similar. A combination of the innovations and updating the method in which the organization does business. Profit to ensure some risk is taken rather than resting on the past laurels and a vision to become the leader. There will be challenges along the way, for example after England ruled the waves – it received healthy investments in ship building and financing of the slave trade. There will always be some trade offs.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.