History Main / PluckyMiddie

* ''[[{{Aubrey-Maturin}} Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World]]'' featured plucky Midshipmen Blakeney and Calamy, who look to be about twelve and fourteen years old, respectively. During the climactic battle, Blakeney (the twelve year old) is actually in command of the ship at one point and leads a boarding party of adult sailors in a boarding action. Calamy is given the mission of freeing prisoners, gets a HeroicSacrifice moment, and is promoted to Lieutenant posthumously. (He died an acting third lieutenant, and his status at death would have been recorded as such on the ship's muster.)

[[AC:{{Comics}}]]

* The HonorHarrington series, being HoratioHornblower InSpace, often features Plucky Middies In Space. They are most notably present in the side novels, especially the ''Saganami Island'' ones. Honor is one herself in the prequel story "Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington".

* Subversion. In the Royal Navy a large proportion, probably the vast majority of the middies that were actually trusted with command were in their twenties or thirties and were simply naval cadets who hadn't passed their quals. Naturally. Eighteenth century naval commanders were not stupid, and while a teenager might be given command for a specific reason-say in a controlled training experiment, or because there was [[YouAreInCommandNow no one else]] or because the middie was [[{{Nepotism}} related to the captain]] or even because the PluckyMiddie was a [[{{Badass}} Very]] [[TeenGenius Exceptional]] [[KidHero Officer]]-it was likely more common for midshipman to be roughly the age of a typical subaltern throughout history.

* Subversion. In the Royal Navy a large proportion, probably the vast majority of the middies that were actually trusted with command were in their twenties or thirties and were simply naval cadets who hadn't passed their quals. Naturally. Eighteenth century naval commanders were not stupid, and while a teenager might be given command for a specific reason-say in a controlled training experiment, or because there was [[YouAreInCommandNow no one else]] or even because the PluckyMiddie was a [[{{Badass}} Very]] [[TeenGenius Exceptional]] [[KidHero Officer]]-it was likely more common for midshipman to be roughly the age of a typical subaltern throughout history.

* Subversion. In the Royal Navy a large proportion, probably the vast majority of the middies that were actually trusted with command were in their twenties or thirties and were simply naval cadets who hadn't passed their quals. Naturally. Eighteenth century naval commanders were not stupid, and while a teenager might be given command for a specific reason-say in a controlled training experiment, or because there was [[YouAreInCommandNow no one else]], or because he was [[{{Nepotism}} related to the captain]], or even because the PluckyMiddie was Very Exceptional Officer-it was likely more common for midshipman to be roughly the age of a typical subaltern throughout history.

* ''MisterMidshipmanEasy'' by Marryat

* {{Larry Niven}}'s ''[=~A Mote In God's Eye~=]'' features three plucky midshipmen [[AC:[[{{INSPACE}} IN SPACE!]]]]. They discover the evil conspiracy behind Motie society. And [[HeroicSacrifice die heroically]] trying to [[BringNewsBack escape with the information]].

* Tom the Cabin Boy from ''CaptianPugwash'' is the only member of the crew who actually does anything.

* There was a dark side which is seldom mentioned. This custom often ended up with youths being given a shocking amount of authority long before they were mature enough to handle it. While some PluckieMiddie s became good officers, it wasn't unknown for them to be sadistic tyrants.

* Subversion. In the Royal Navy a large proportion, probably the vast majority of the middies that were actually trusted with command were in their twenties or thirties and were simply naval cadets who hadn't passed their quals. Naturally. Eighteenth century naval commanders were not stupid, and while a teenager might be given command for a specific reason-say in a controlled training experiment, or because there was [[YouAreInCommand no one else]], or because he was [[{{Nepotism}} related to the captain]], or even because the PluckyMiddie was Very Exceptional Officer-it was likely more common for midshipman to be roughly the age of a typical subaltern throughout history.

* HoratioHornblower, as mentioned above, includes a few of these, though Horatio himself is unusually old to be a midshipman. In the third series, notably, the Hotspur has two midshipmen, Orrock, who plays this straight, and Hammond, an aversion, being rather incompetent.

* Used in the film of ''Captain Horatio Hornblower'' in which a plucky midshipman gives Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo the opportunity to be parental, [[spoiler: and dies tragically.]]

* Used in the film of ''Captain Horatio Hornblower'' in which a plucky midshipman gives Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo the opportunity to be parental, and dies tragically.

* Sci-fi example, [[TheWesley Wesley Crusher]] in ''StarTrekTNG''. In early seasons he was the PluckyMiddie InSPACE!

* [[((Leviathan}} Deryn Sharp]] loves [[SweetPollyOliver her]] ship very much. Unlike most middies, [[LivingShip her]] [[SpaceWhale ship]] [[OrganicTechnology might]] [[SapientShip love]] [[ABoyAndHisX her]] back.

[[AngelMoxie http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zF2iiNMdpug/0.jpg]]
[[''Do not'' mess with Blakeney.]]

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[[caption-width-right:225:''Do not'' mess with Blakeney.]]

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