Where powder monkeys came from

Were powder monkeys seized from piers and harbours?

They were more often recruited through orphanages or entered with seafaring relatives, and could receive food, pay, and training.

Child recruits were not routinely snatched from the waterfront. Orphanages were an important source, and naval service could offer an orphan a trade, regular food, pay, and rules of protection. A boy could progress into skilled naval work and, in some cases, become a midshipman and an officer. Some boys also joined alongside a sailor father. These arrangements belonged to a harsh period with many orphaned children, so the existence of rules and opportunities does not establish that naval childhood was harmless.