The other day I discussed how high monitoring costs can explain the emergence of “aristocratic” systems of governance:

Aristocracy and Hostage Capital

Arjun Panickssery · Jan 8
There's a conventional narrative by which the pre-20th century aristocracy was the "old corruption" where civil and military positions were distributed inefficiently due to nepotism until the system was replaced by a professional civil service after more enlightened thinkers prevailed ...

An element of Douglas Allen's argument that I didn’t expand on was the British Navy. He has a separate paper called “The British Navy Rules” that goes into more detail on why he thinks institutional incentives made them successful from 1670 and 1827 (i.e. for most of the age of fighting sail).

In the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) the British had a 7-to-1 casualty difference in single-ship actions. During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793–1815) the British had a 5-to-1 [...]

---

First published:
March 28th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/YE4XsvSFJiZkWFtFE/explaining-british-naval-dominance-during-the-age-of-sail

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---

Images from the article:

Diagram showing windward and leeward ship positions in naval combat.

Detailed ship drawing showing quarter-deck and steering wheels of 18th-century frigate.

Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

“Explaining British Naval Dominance During the Age of Sail” by Arjun Panickssery 08:53 Share

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

Shownotes Transcript

“Explaining British Naval Dominance During the Age of Sail” by Arjun Panickssery