Post-captain

An exception to this rule was that a very junior post-captain could be posted to command an admiral's flagship, which was almost always a large ship of the line.

The admiral would usually do this to keep his most junior captain under close observation and subject to his direct supervision.

The junior would serve as the flag captain and retain responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the vessel.

After 1795, when they were first introduced on Royal Navy uniforms, the number and position of epaulettes distinguished between commanders and post-captains of various seniorities.

A post-captain with less than three years' seniority wore a single epaulette on the right shoulder and a post-captain with three or more years seniority wore an epaulette on each shoulder.