From both the action oftaking ormaking post(“occupying anestablishedmilitaryposition”) and the practice ofposting(“publiclyannouncing”) the names of such officers in theLondon Gazette.
post-captain (pluralpost-captains)
- (UKmilitary,informal,obsolete) Acaptain of the18th or19th-centuryRoyal Navy incommand of avessel, with his subsequentpromotions almost always determined byseniority rather thanmerit orability.
- 1836 March 17, 'Candor', "The Navy",Army and Navy Chronicle, Vol. II, No. 11,p. 173:
- The general principle which governs the navies of the old world is... when the Post is attained, then promotion is byinheritance... If aPost Captain in the English navy lives long enough, he is certain of being anAdmiral, though not before he is sixty years of age... Hence it is manifest that the public interest no more requires the new grade ofAdmiral to be added to the navy, than it does the bestowing of orders of nobility on all the diplomatic agents, who represent theUnited States at the different courts of Europe.
Post-captain was not a formal rank within the Royal Navy and, unlike many derivatives ofcaptain, was never used as a personal title.
