Very true Melani,

Commanding Officers of RN ships did, and still do, eat alone. The Wardroom (Officers Mess) is the only compartment of an RN ship that the Captain cannot just walk into, he must be invited, or he must ask permission. While I was "in", the latter, out of courtesy was extended to Senior and Junior Rates Messes, for any Officer entering a Mess who was not on duty. The only time a cap is worn in the ship is when you are on duty - a hang over from my time in the RN is that it still irks me when I see people wearing hats in-doors and at the table.

The midshipman (lowliest "rank" in the navy) thing regarding meals was something that Nelson was well known for, he encouraged it and his "band of brothers" continued it. Nelson's advice was to get the midshipmen out of the ship as often as possible, in order that they could experience things other than life in a purely naval enviroment. It was also a way of informally determining how the midshipmen were faring onboard professionally and personally. The midshipmen's mess onboard an RN ship was called the Gunroom. Mid-to-late sixties some RN ships (Assault ships, Aircraft Carriers, some DLG's) still maintained that tradition, in the remainder of the fleet the mid's were members of the Wardroom.

The Royal Navy, of the time in which the film is set, differed from the Army in that Commissions could not be bought, an officer had to prove his competance, training first as a midshipman, then he had to pass an examination in seamanship and navigation to progress to the rank of Lieutenant. After that promotion was down to a mixture of merit, influence, luck, sickness and the violence of the sea or the enemy.