For security reasons there were no names on the stern of RN vessels in the 18th century except between about 1780 and 1790 by orders of the admiralty, and then they were always painted, never carved. There is at least one exception on a contemporary model, Bellona, but this may have been added on the model later. The lettering was typically 12 inches high and at some point in this period as high "as could be got" on the counter.
Nice information, Allen. I pointed some lines of you above.
Thank you very much Christian, totally my mistake, I typed the wrong decade. Names on RN ships were allowed starting in 1771 until the Admiralty rescinded this in 1782 so it is only a ten or eleven year window where the names were commonly found. Were there exceptions, probably. This order from the Admiralty obviously changed again many years later, but I am not sure if was in the late 19th or 20th century. Perhaps common sense comes into play here. Flying false colors and such was supposed to have been used on occasion when the enemy could be seen. Having your ship's name on the stern would pretty much negate the idea of flying a false flag if the stern was in view.
I've looked at contemporary models in person and in photos in the Kreigstein, RMG, Thomson and Preble Hall collections as well as many photos in Franklin's book, Navy Board Ship Models and others and found only three contemporary ship models built prior to the 1771 orders that had their names painted on the stern. No others that I have seen had the name on the stern prior to 1771 nor after about 1782. I have not looked beyond the first decade of the 19th century so cannot tell you when the practice of painting the name of the stern started again. but it was for about a ten year stretch, not more. For the life of me I cannot find the source of the information I had some years ago but at one point the actual wording of the orders had been posted somewhere and was a new piece of information for many of us at that time. I have put names of the ships on the stern at times as well. This was brought up merely as a point of interest, nothing more.
