national colours

In the immediate time after capture, the "winning" side puts aboard a "prize crew."  This is a junior lieutenant, and a midshipman or two, and some of the senior skilled mates (boatswain, gunner, carpenter, etc.) along with a draft of reliable sailors and a column of Marines.  This might only be 30-40 to man a 1st or 2nd rate, and to sail the vessel back to their own waters.

They would not have resources to repaint during that time.  They would probably have a National Ensign to fly (they'd keep the captured ones as a trophy).  But, under a combat-reduced rig, flying Colors would not be a first priority.

Once "home" the enemy crew was turned over to the authorities--often with only a prison hulk to look forward to.  The ship would be given over to a Prize Court.  Said Court would then commission a Prize Agent, who would conduct a survey of the vessel. 

The Court would set the value of the Prize, and see to the disbursement of the Prize moneys to the appropriate parties.  The Surveyor's report would then determine whether the ship was useable in Naval service, or only suitable for salvage.

If taken into naval service, such Commandments and Orders in that Port would then apply.  If that included painting, then painting would be done.  usually, the budget was spent on replacing the cannon and shot and the like to Fleet standards.

After that, it was down to the whim of the new Captain of the ship, within the rules set by the Squadron Commander or Admiral to which the ship would be assigned.

So, if that Commodore wanted foremasts painted red, then, red they would be.  A new captain often had enough to worry about getting a brand new crew used to a brand new ship to worry about  whether a given shade of paint had been used.

Even as late as 1805, at Trafalgar, there were no true 'national' standard paint schemes for ships.  Nelson had instituted Squadron and Fleet rules, to help unify the appearance of the RN ships.  The combined French and Spanish squadrons were in every color scheme imaginable.  Including all-black, and all red.

Great history lesson CapnMac thanks for posting!

Depending on the exact era, paint colors/schemes were not as standard as today.  Captain and shipyard had a lot of say in what it looked like.  So a "fleet" could well have ships with different liveries anyway.  So the ships were generally not repainted or have their appearance changed very much.  The more recent the era, the more standardization from the Admiralty or whatever organization ran naval affairs.

thank you very much for your help!
i decided to paint it (the 80 gunner) in my escort squad colours,wich is a pretty general british colour scheme in yellow,black and red. i dont know if i really should make a new thread about this. but uhm....im making a diorama,with a city wich i imagine has grown around the trading of luxury goods. my thought from the beginning was a defensive squadron of ships sailing towards the city,but i decided to include a merchant ship bringing supplies and the warships beeing the escorts. is it possible that the weight of supplies in the merchant can slow it down enoguh to have a equal speed at easy sail with the courses fold as the warships at full sail? im ordering my models from rod langton and the merchants can't use the full sail setting,since apparantly the setting is diferent from a warship.

CoreTech

thank you very much for your help!
i decided to paint it (the 80 gunner) in my escort squad colours,wich is a pretty general british colour scheme in yellow,black and red. i dont know if i really should make a new thread about this. but uhm....im making a diorama,with a city wich i imagine has grown around the trading of luxury goods. my thought from the beginning was a defensive squadron of ships sailing towards the city,but i decided to include a merchant ship bringing supplies and the warships beeing the escorts. is it possible that the weight of supplies in the merchant can slow it down enoguh to have a equal speed at easy sail with the courses fold as the warships at full sail? im ordering my models from rod langton and the merchants can't use the full sail setting,since apparantly the setting is diferent from a warship.

It sounds like you are talking very early- middle ages, like the Hansa period maybe?  In those days there were no national liveries (the hansa was not a government organization anyway).  Paint was expensive, most ships just oiled the hull and had flags, painted shields and a minimal amount of painted decoration- again at the discretion of the master and ship owner.

i maybe should've stated the era,sorry for that,i am in the napoleonic ages now. were there really as big ships as 80 gunners back then? all i know is that they had cogs wich weren't that big. now that im really thinking about it it actually sounds like the middle ages yes...when the age of discovery began...well i guess i have painted up my own picture of the world back then that isn't completely correct but that i like.

The combined French and Spanish squadrons were in every color scheme imaginable.  Including all-black, and all red.

Can you remind me which ship at Trafalgar was all-red please?   All-black was Santa-Ana iirc.

Thanks

J

I'm wanting to remember it was another of the Spanish ships--but, I'm relying only on memory, my references are in a storage container 185 miles from me right now <sigh>

That's a pity, but thanks anyway.