So to beef up the answer given by /u/Albacorewing a bit. The number of guns a man-of-war has was it's total number of guns, not the size of one broadside. So for example the HMS Victory had 100 guns for a single broadside of 50 guns. For my example I'm going to go with a smaller ship since I have the exact numbers but the principles will be the same. The 50-gun-ship (25 guns on each side) was being phased out of service during the Napoleonic Wars but at one time it had been one of the most popular ship sizes. Now it was being replaced by the slightly larger 64-gun as the mainstay.

My example is the HMS Indefatigable which was technically 46-guns but still grouped into the 50-gun class. The ship was officially manned by 344 men although the exact number would have fluctuated. Of those 344 men the vast majority were the average sailors, 190 men, and marines, 54 men counting 1 Marine Lieutenant. Another 29 were ships boys assigned as helpers for various officers and men. This left 71 men of higher ranks (plus that Marine officer mentioned above). 10 were midshipmen, young boys and teens in training to be officers (there also 4ish promising men from the sailors ranks called mates who were also in training). There was the captain, obviously, and 4 lieutenants numbered in order from their seniority, 1st through 4th. We are now left with 56 men. These are the Warrant Officers and Petty Officers. The former had to have a license for their job and had passed a number of tests to receive it (Master at the top, then in no particular order the Armorur, Boatswain, Carpenter, Surgeon and his assistant, Purser, Chaplain, and Gunner). The Petty Officiers were appointed from the men. So you could be appointed as a Petty Officer on one ship because you were selected as a Carpenter's Mate (A Petty Officer position), yet the next ship you go to might already have the required number of Carpenter's Mates so you are only designated as part of his crew (just a regular seaman although you are probably an Able Seaman, the highest seaman rank). Anything that required specialized skill was probably a Petty Officer, except for sailmakers for some reason.

Now in combat everyone had a role, from the oldest of the able seaman down to the youngest of the ships boys. The Captain was commanding and assisted by the 1st Lt, the Master, and two Mids. Nearby was 1 Quartermaster at the wheel and another at the con. Six sailors were up in the tops with muskets (2 per mast). The Surgeon and his Assistant along with the Loblolly Boy (a sailor in training to be a Surgeon's Assistant) and the Purser were forward below deck in the area that would be their "infirmary". The Carpenter and two of his crew (not his assistants) were in the wells to keep track of water levels and patch any holes that appeared below the waterline.

The Cooper, two Gunner's Mates, another Quartermaster, and 1 Midshipman are in the Fore Magazine to handle the shot going out to the guns. Ferrying these supplies down the hall to the powder monkeys are the Gunner's Yeoman (a yeoman was the person in charge of the stores so the gunner's yeoman was in charge of the gunner's stores), the cook, a marine, the boatswain's yeoman, and 2 sailors. Another two sailors and the sailmaker's mate handled the powder from that magazine. The aft magazine had a similar situation. A Gunner's Mate and a Sailor handed out the shot, the Purser's Steward and one of the Ship's Corporals ferried it down the hallway, and 1 Marine, 2 Sailors, the Gunroom Cook, and the Gunroom Steward dealt with the powder.

The Master-at-Arms (ships "police") and one of his Ship's Corporals were in the light room along with a boy acting as messenger to make sure there were no coward's since this was the only real place someone could hide. Five petty officers and 1 Sailor maned the traveling gun.

Every gun had 13 men on it but some of the men were tasked with other duties. But these men were to crew the pair of guns (one on either side of the ship). So they would crew the gun currently facing the enemy and also the gun behind them when the turned around. Every two gun teams was commanded by a Midshipman or a Mate (the sailor level midshipmen). And every pair of these was commanded by a Lieutenant. The 3rd Lt was in charge of the Main Deck and had guns 1-4, the 4th Lt had guns 5-8, and the 2nd Lt had guns 9-13. The 1st Lt was in charge of the 7 guns on the Quarterdeck when not advising the Captain, and the Boatswain was in charge of the 3 guns on the Forecastle. Remember that each of those gun numbers is a pair of guns so that 4th Lt is in charge of guns 5-8 on the port side and guns 5-8 on the starboard side.

Each team of 13 had a few of the Marines so that when they were called for no gun would be heavily depleted. Another man would be tasked as the fire brigade in case a fire broke out and another might be tasked with going aloft to deal with the sails if needed. The boarders were split into 4 Divisions, one for each Lieutenant. Each Boarding party had 2 Midshipmen (one of the one commanding gun teams) and two men from each gun. These two men were always the same role across every gun team. For example the Third Division had the 3rd man from the 2nd Part of the Crew (1st and 2nd part were technically assigned to one side or the other but I can't remember which was which), and the 4th man from the 1st part. The former were armed with pikes and the later with tomahawks. So if all the Boarders were called away for some reason to either board an opponent or repel the opposition boarders there would still be at most five men manning the gun including the gun captain. In a dire situation the Marines might be called away leaving them with three men per gun. If things were actually this bad though you were probably screwed anyway,

Sorry this is so long winded and a late reply. Let me know if you have any questions and I'l try to answer them.

Sources are the 50 Gun Ship by Rif Winfield and a Quarter Bill for the Indefatigable that I found somewhere online ~5 years ago.

Hi there,

I've pointed you to these sources before and I will do it again, although you've expressed here before that you don't want to consult them. I must say, speaking purely as myself and not as A Moderator, this attitude is extraordinarily frustrating because you're essentially saying that you want the sub to do your research for you.

Anyhow, some very accessible resources that would answer your question include:

• N.A.M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain, 660-1649: The first volume of Rodger's multi-volume naval history of Britain, this book covers seapower from the earliest days of "England" until the end of the second English Civil War. He includes passages on non-English British navies, though the research in that area is still incomplete and spotty. The series the first comprehensive naval history of England/Britain in nearly a century. Rodger divides his books into four types of chapters: ships; operations; administration; and social history. The books can successfully be read as a narrative straight through, or each chapter can be read sequentially; I have done both. Replete with references and with an excellent bibliography.

• N.A.M. Rodger, The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815: The second volume of Rodger's history covers operations, administration, ships, and social history through Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.

• N.A.M. Rodger, The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy: An earlier (than the two previous citations) and arguably more accessible introduction to the navy of the mid-18th century, while still providing substantial detail. Establishes Rodger's interest in organizations and organizational history as a way to drive the conversation about navies and their successes or failures.

• Patrick O'Brian, Men-of-War: Life in Nelson's Navy: A slim volume but replete with illustrations, this was intended as a companion to O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, about which more below. Useful to understand details of daily life, ship construction, rigging, etc.

• King, Hattendorf and Estes, A Sea Of Words: A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian: Meant as an atlas and glossary for the O'Brian novels, it's a useful companion for all sorts of naval reading.

• Royal Tars: The Lower Deck of the Royal Navy, 875-1850 by Brian Lavery. A social history of the lower deck (common crew/sailors) of English and British ships.

• Tunstall and Tracy, Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail: The Evolution of Fighting Tactics, 1650-1815: Meticulously written and illustrated, this is a deep dive into tactics in British, French, Dutch and Spanish navies. A bit dense for beginners, but rewarding.

• Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates; and British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates: These books cover ship design from the reign of James VI/I to the start of the Napoleonic wars, including the manning and gunnery requirements you're asking about here.

Of particular interest to you in the above resources might be the sections on Samuel Pepys, who was responsible for the original Establishment and classifications of ships based around their manning requirements, which had much more to do with the number of people per gun than anything else.