1772, such was its perceived importance in the life of the nation, it was incorporated in an Act of Parliament. Admiral Nelson became a stalwart supporter and trustee of the charity, such that by the time of the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) at least 15% of British manpower was being supplied, trained and equipped by the Marine Society. The relative professionalism of these men, the great British naval hero readily acknowledged, played a part in his victories. Hostilities cease, Education starts But the end of hostilities meant that naval recruitment was no longer the nation's first priority, although Admiral Boscawen was later to write: "No scheme for manning the navy, within my knowledge, has ever had the success as the Marine Society’s." Hanway now formulated plans for transferring boys to the merchant service on their discharge from naval ships and from then on, the Society was equally involved with both Royal and Merchant navies. Early reports from commanding officers had indicated that the number of desertions might be reduced if boys equipped by the Society were given a period of training before being sent to sea. Initially the Society hired a schoolmaster and bandmaster to teach some of the boys and in 1786 purchased a merchant ship the Beatty, which was converted to a training ship and renamed Marine Society. The Society thus became the first organisation in the world to pioneer nautical training for boys in its special school ship which was moored in the Thames between Deptford and Greenwich. This example was followed in the nineteenth century by many other organisations in ports round the British Isles. From 1799 until 1918 The Admiralty provided a succession of training ships, the last two of which were renamed Warspite; starting with HMS Warspite (1807) in 1846, and later HMS Conqueror renamed in 1877. In 1922 the Society commissioned HMS Hermione as the third Warspite. However the outbreak of the second world war forced the Society to evacuate the ship owing to the probability of air attack. From 1756 to 1940 the Society recruited over 110,000 men and boys for the Royal Navy, the British East India Company and Merchant service. Records show that from 1756 to 1815 the charity provided some twelve percent of naval manpower, all the more valuable to the nation since each one was a volunteer. In February 1945 the vice-president of the Society, Frederick Mead, retired