The Express.
London, England, 1864-09-12 00:00:00

THE ROYAL NAVAL RESERVE.

The Royal Naval Reserve has now been long
enough in existence to permit of a satisfactory
judgment being formed as to the value of the insti-
tution as a means of strengthening the Royal Navy
in cases of sudden emergency. The Reserve has
been scarcely four years in existence, and it has now
nerolled, disciplined, and available, a force sufficient
to man two powerful fleets with men who are the
very pick and choice of our mercantile marine, and
this, be it remembered, wholly irrespective of,
and in addition to, the regular naval fume of the
country.

The number and rapid succession of important
events which of late years have forced themselves
on public notice may, perhaps, have caused the
nation to forget the circumstances under which the
Naval Reserve was first called into exuiteuce, or may
have prevented that close observation of its growth
and progress to which its great national importance
entitled it. It will be remembered that at the
close of the Crimean war the injudicious discharge
of the continuous service men left our Navy
in a very helpless condition. The men so dis-
charged had, from their long service in men-of-war,
become unsuited for trading ships, and, conse-
quently, soon melted away into other than nautical
occupations, or in some instances found refuge in
the workhouse, whilst the sailors iu the merchant
service, disgusted and demoralised by the treat-
ment these poor fellows had received, tabooed the
royal service altogether, and so it came to peas that
her Majesty's ships could only be manned after long
delay, with very great difficulty, and with a class
of men who were by no means the most eligible that
could be found for the purpose. In this dilemma
the Royal,Commission and the Parliamentary Com-
mittee commenced their labours. The well-known
expedients of the high bounty and the street bands
were first tried with but iediffereut success, and were
immediately followed by the wise and now completely
successful creation of the Royal Naval Reserve. To
Mr. Ferrer, of the Board of Trade, and Captain
Brown, late registrar-general of merchant seamen,
must be given the credit of the original suggestion ;
whilst to the present right hou. Secretary for the
Colonies we owe that system to which we are indebted
fora powerful and efficient organisation. Tue Royal
Naval Reserve is now a great national feet, and
quite as important an element in our national de-
fence as is the volunteer army of which we are so
justly proud.

When we consider the inducements that are
offered to our merchant seamen to join the reserve,
and remember that our mercantile marine keeps
nearly 300,000 men constantly employed, the
number actually enrolled, nearly 18,000, way seem
rather smaller than we were entitled to expect.
But it must be remembered that the force Las had
from the commencement to contend with three
serious obstacles—first, the natural shyness of a
man-of-war which is inherent in the merchant sea- '
men ; second, the jealousy of the royal service and
the coolness with which the project was taken up
by the authorities of the Admiralty; and, thirdly,
the almost absunlly strict list of qualifications which
were demanded before a man was permitted to
enter. The shyness of the seamen, as will be seen
from the annual numbers, disappeared after the
first year. In 1860, 2,879 men were enrolled ; in
1861, the numbers jumped to 5,350 ; in 1862,6,86
were enrolled, and then the strict testa and qualifi-
cations began to tell, and the number of eligible
nom to be nearly exhausted. In 1863, the
numbers enrolled were 2,234 ; and this year,
up to the present mouth, only 744, making
in all nearly 18,000 out of the entire 300,000 before
mentioned. But these comparatively scanty num-
bers are by no meant, to be attributed to any disin-
clination on the part of our merchant seamen to
enter the reserve. Ou the contrary, their appre-
ciation of its advantages become more general every
day ; but the fact is that the ridiculous stringency
of the list of qualifications keeps out hundreds,
perhaps thousands, whom the Registrar-General
of Seamen is obliged to reject in consequence of
their not coming up, in some one point or other, to
the required standard. For example, to be eligible
for admissions wan must have served as A. B. for a
certain number of years in asquare-rigged vessel—as
if some of our best seamen were not made in smacks
and schooners. Be must be of a certain smwre,
although it is an axiom amongst experienced com-
manders, that tall, heavy men are by no means the
best suited for the navy ; he must submit to the
most rigid medical inspection, he must pass an
examination in seamanship, azd he must enter
into au agreement to attend regularly at divine
service, no matter what may be the distance between
the church and the ship in which he undergoes
his annual drill. The wonder is that with so
many conditions to be complied with, so large a
number as 18.000 men should have been enrolled,
and the more we should prize a body of now care-
fully disciplined men, who have passed so many
tests as to character and fitness.
Another circumstance which has interfered with
the enrolment has been the coldness with which
the project has all along been treated by the Admi-
ralty. A gallant sea lord, now deceased, was so
certain that it would be a failure that be said, "If
you ever get 5,000 men I'll eat them ;" but behead
to see three times that number enrolled. The
officers, too, of the Reserve feel that there is a want
of cordiality and frank acceptance in the manner in
which they are dealt with at Whitehall. Those
who have reached the highest rank in the
reserve% and who are iu command of ships, had
set their hearts on being permitted to carry the
blue ensign, and were proportionately elated when
Lord Clarence Paget announced in the Bowe of
Commons that the much desired boon had been
conoeded. It may be imagined, therefore, that
their chagrin was equally great, when the
Order in Council came out, and the concession
prui ad to be surrounded with restrictions which in
nine ewe out 01 ten made it a dead letter. An

[TWOPENCE

enumeration of those restrictions will show in how
very few instances the Royal Naval Reserve officer
can hope to see his much prized blue ensign
fluttering at his mast-head. It cannot be
hoisted except in a ship carryiug 32-pounders,
which must moreover be fired at a mark
a certain number of times during each voyage. As
most of the reserve officers who could claim the
blue ensign are in command of mail steamers, it
can easily be imagined how difficult would be com-
pliance with this condition. Heaving-to, two or
three hours during a voyage, for target practice,
would not much accelerate the transit of her Ma-
jesty's mails, nor would such frequent booming of
the great guns be overagreeable to the invalids who
so often are the principal passengers in such ves•
eels. The blue ensign cannot be hoisted either unless
by an honorary commander or by a lieutenant, and
the former be must have passed the age of 60 years
and have retired from active service. Another eril •
way in which these restrictions work is in stopping
promotion in the merchant service. Our ship-
owners of first-class vessels, as well as their captains,
have a fancy for the blue ensign, and are thus in
many instances prevented from promoting deserv-
ing chief officers to command of ships solely because
the latter would not by the Admiralty regu-
lations be permitted to hoist that symbol of Royal
Naval Reserve Rank.

Having thus shown what has been the progress
ol' the Royal Navy Reserve up to the present time,
and glanced at the circumstances which in our
judgment have retarded a full and emnplete de-
velopment of this most valuable defensive institu-
Von, we shall proceed to describe briefly the mode
in which the system is worked, and the
means by which the reserve men when
actually enrolled are matte fit to take a part in the
defence of their country when called upon. As the
plan pursued at all the poits is the same, a deacrip-•
tion of what goes on in the London training ship
will be sufficient. On the eastern side of the south
West India Dock, a conspicuous position is occu-
pied by her Majesty's frigate President—the
flag-ship of the ill-fated Admiral Price at the
untoward affair of Petropaulourki—and on board of
this vessel the Naval Reserve men repair each Friday
during their stipulated annual period of service to
learn their great gun drill, and then rifle and •
cutlass practice. Captain Mould, R.N., who
is in command, is au officer of great experience
and a successful gunnery instructor, and under his
superintendence the Naval Reserve men are put
through their drill by Naval Reserve officers. On
Friday last we had the pleasureof witnessing a bard
day's work, and also the satisfaction of bearing
from competent judges that the men went through
their exercise with a promptitude and efficiency
which would do honour to the best drilled ship in
the Navy. On the drum beating to quarters,
something like 140 magnificent seamen came
pouring down the hatchways to the main deck, and
immediately commenced knocking about the 08-
pounders, of which the ship's armament consists,
as if they were an many nine pins. Mr. Roe,
sub-lieutenant of the Royal Naval Reserve,
gave the word of command, and the first
indication we noticed of the improved train-
ing of the men was the dead silence, so dif-
ferent from the hubbub and uproar which
commonly prevail in a merchant abip. To cast loose
the guns, search, load, run them out, and lay them,
seemed to be but the work of a moment, and not the
slightest hesitation or inexpertness was exhibited in
any of those difficult manomvres. The whole pro-
gramme of a hot sea fight was then gone through
with extraordinary vivacity and vraisemblance.
First one broadside was fired, then another ; some-
times the fire was concentric, with a view of
sinking the enemy at once ; then a dropping
fire would be ordered as she was sup-
posed to be bearing down, and each suc-
cessive gnn was elevated in proportion as the
distance decreased. At one time the enemy was
supposed to be forging acme our bows and prepar-
ing to rake, and in a moment our men crouched
behind their guns, and the busy and crowded main
deck was transformed into a desert as if by magic.
Then, as the relative position of the imaginary foe
I was altered, firing from the port or starboard bow
would be ordered, the men would scamper across
the deck like wild cats, with small respect, we
must add, for the persons of the spectators, and
the discharge of whatever number of guus could be
brought to bear would be heard as simultaneously
as if only one bad actually been fired. The pen-
dulum was in constant use to regulate the discharge
of the gun in unison with the supposed motion of
the vessel, and the firing was in all cases timed with
a stop watch. In'imost cases the time occupied was
less than that permitted by tbegunnery regulations,
and in all the firing was far above the average
celerity. It was altogether • most animated and
exciting scene, and nothing could be more satisfac-
tory than the zeal and alacrity with which the men
went about their work. It was obviously a labour
of love with them, and a friendly strife between
the crews of each gun to see which should
do their work the most to the satisfaction of the
directing officer. The alacrity with which the huge
guns were moved in and out solely by the agency
of human muscle was truly marrellona, and the
work exhibited to the best advantage the athletic
forms of men such as we believe it would be very
difficult to find in the mercantile marine of any
other country. After the drill on shipboard the
men went on shore, and in a large shed which has
been constructed for the purpose finished their
day's work with a warm bout of cutlass practice,
in which their proficiency was quite as conspicuous
as in the previous management of the great
guns. We should add that in this shed is also
placed a moveable target, with which the men are,
I by an ingenious contrivance, taught to take aim at
moving objects. The target is placed at one end
of the abed, and made to oscillate as a ship's side
would do in the water. The man stands at the
other end holding a string which communicates
I with the target. When he has covered his object
; he pulls the string, and, if his aim has been correct,
I the target ceases to move and presents a full front ;
if the aim has been incorrect the stoppage takes
place at an angle of more or less acuteness, accord-
,mg to the imperfection of the aim. In this way
gunnery is taught without any expenditure of
powder, and the same may be said of the great
gun drill on board ship, where only caps, or friction
I fuses are used for the broadsides.
.

The above slight and imperfect sketch of the
mode of training pursued on board the President
will beeuthcieut, we trust, to show that the Royal
Naval Reserve is now a real living fact, and that
all that will be necessary to give it its full develop-
ment will be such a relaxation of the conditions of
admission as shall permit of the formation of a se-
cond close of Reserve men, and a little more cor-
diality on the part of the Admiralty towards the
Naval Reserve othoers, is the concession of the blue
ensigns, and other small matters by which the dig-
nity of the Royal Navy would not be in the slightest
degree compromised, but which would leave a
powerful moral effect in disposing the beet officers
in the Mercantile mlirine to adetpt Reserve service
under Her Majesty.

Rzrxrarbrrerable tor AYR. —A contest for the
county of Avr at. the reseal electim wbieb now looms in
the not far off future, bogies to be talked about se a likely.
eocurnmee. Mr. Denison, a son of lb* Speaker's. is
as a candidate who might be eneoeraged to come forward in
oppositioo to the sitting member. It is only just to say '
that Sir James Fergana' bas proved an active and in-
flueutiel representative, sad that to oust him will be far
from as easy task.—North Briiiah Mail.
Tin RIPIIESZNTATION OF THE COUNTY or 01,01110.
—The rumour w►ich bad. been current for some time pest
that the Right Hoe. J. W. Henley. who bas for so many
years represented the ooenty of Oxford in the House of
Commons, intends to retire at the ohm of the prassot per.
is, we have reason to believe, without foundation.
It is moot improbable that then will he any opposition to
either of the pessimist members, as nothing but this retire-
meet of Mr. Henley would bring Sir Henry Dashwood
forward spin.

CU, Orpreoo.