Reflections on the Role of Cabin Boys and the Birth of Hospital Ships in the Napoleonic Navy

The Napoleonic Navy, heir to the Royal Navy, relied on the Naval School of Medicine in Brest and on structures still marked by the traditions of the Ancien Régime. The mousses—young boys aged 11 to 16—were embarked to learn seamanship and train for naval service. In 1776, nearly 16,000 were serving across the fleet. On a 74-gun ship, about seventy were assigned to multiple tasks: cleaning, maneuvering, carrying powder cartridges, and assisting the medical staff. Three of them helped the chief surgeon, who was responsible for their clinical training. Losses were catastrophic: at Aboukir and Trafalgar, around 2,000 mousses were killed. Their massive disappearance, combined with budgetary restrictions, led to their gradual suppression. This educational gap later inspired the creation of the Naval Boys’ School in Brest in 1829, a direct legacy of Napoleonic reforms.
At the same time, Dominique-Jean Larrey developed, as early as 1792, the concept of a mobile ambulance, later adapted to the navy as naval ambulances or hospital ships. These floating units accompanied fleets to provide medical care for the wounded. Desgenettes organized the ship Le Causse, a floating hospital attached to the Brest fleet after the Egyptian campaign. As a precursor to later medical vessels such as the Navarin (1835) and the Duguay-Trouin (1846), Le Causse illustrates the transition from traditional shipboard medicine to the first modern hospital ships—essential instruments in the structuring of Napoleonic military medicine