The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-23 00:00:00

OUR SHIPS OF WAR.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY NETTS.

SlR,—The Agamemnon, it appears, is to join our
fket at the Dardannelles : and other large screws
are to be fitted out—the Nile, for example. So
much the better! But " Itame was not built in a
day." We must have patience with a body of ad-
ministrators, now closely watched in their expendi-
ture, and dependent upon another body, subject to
" hot and cold fits;" building ships convulsively one
year, and the next year laugh:lig over the gro-
' moque productions of their panic or demented state.
' Apropos of the Nile. It appears that just as she
is wanted her copper is to be stripped, and she has
to be caulked afresh. Does not this fact bear out
my recent suggestions on the subject? But there is
far higher authority than mine on that point.
The evidence of the Naval Inquiry of 1848 calls
attention to the effects of copperuig ships dismantled,
without guns, and floating lightly in harbour, to
the load water line, so that a considerable
space of copper lying exposed to the air spoils the
caulking, and injares the plank itself. One eminent
witness (I think Lord J. Hay) seemed to bear me
out in my idea of keeping our new ships nncoppered
till they are wanted, by suggesting (as I have also
done in the House of Commons) that they might be
kept laid up on their slips. Though we have some
45 slips, there might be practical difficulties in the
way ; still nothing more than a strong will and a
little forethought might overcome. Why not get some
cheap land icclining to a lake or arm of the sea,
away from all danger, and commence the experiment
by building some ships one above, or rather behind,
the other, so as to launch several from the same
inclined plane ?
The Admiralty is evidently acting with vigour :
the members of the board have sufficient good sense
to listen to suggestions given in good faith, from
whatsoever quarter they come ; and they have fixity
of tenure enough not to dread opposition for opposi-
tion's sake. One courageous act of last week will
be highly conducive to discipline, and shows that no
fear of party combination sways them in their course
of rigid justice--so necessary to the interests of the
service.

The process of weeding the navy of old and useless
ships has, it seems, commenced appropriately enough
on one of our clumsy and nearly useless paddle-
wheel steamers. Was she not one of our " failures,"
ordered in a panic in 1845? A whole batch were
then ordered, terrible only in their nomenclature.
Examine the evidence of the committee of 1848, and
you will have the facts at length. Some had engines
too large, which were transferred to other ships.
Some made bad, very bad, troop ships; a sort of
management which has, I think, kept some of our
soldiers, wanted on a pressing emergency, some
three months on their passage to the Cape—the
whole nation trembling at the grim experiment.
Well, sir, some such craft is now at last
condemned. But what lam coming to is this.
Why honour her with so decent a funeral as a
breaking up in a royal yard? To pay for building
her was bad enough. Need we break her up too ?
' Believe me, iu ninety-nine cases out of a hundred
it is better to be quit of an old ship at whatsoever
price she will fetch, than spend money on her.
Every day you feel you are but throwiug good
money after bad. I perceive the Blake and the
Victorious are likely to be condemned. Sell them
too. The fewer established artisans you have to
keep the better. We had about 10,000 in 1848 ; and
that is a large body to be watched. Besides, finis
custodiat ipso* custmles?
"A Naval Officer," writing in the Times, com-
mends Sir J. Graham for his zeal and administrative
ability, shown in the spectacle now presented at
Constantinople. lie sums up the fleet as about to
consist of 29 vessels (15 steamers) containing some
twelve thousand men. No doubt the praise is de-
served; but why add, ungraciously, that this effort
has been made in spite of the "ranting of the Man-
chester school ?" That school may have its faults:
and especially that of not seeing that it is a wise
economy to keep an efficient naval force, the want of
which America is regretting. Yet, let me tell " Naval
Officer" that it is to Manchester's impatience of
taxation that we owe half the naval reforms we now
rejoice in. I)id the Manchester school project the
Vulcan, or send seamen to sea with Goldner 's pre-
served meats ?

I perceive the Emperor of Russia has ordered a
ship of 100 guns in America. He has no Manchester
school : but then a system of peculation has left him
with a fleet repotted to be unfit to carry gams to sea.
He seeks to cure the evil at its source. Bir James
Graham might do well to order a large ship of a
building firm, and build another exactly like it in the
dockyards, and then compare notes of the cost.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
JOHN TRELAWNY.
Reform Ciub, Nov. 22, 1853.

P.S. Could you inform me whether the practice of
stepping masts in advance ships (which masts some-
times become rotten before going to ses) alluded to in
the committee of 1848 has been discontinued of late ?

NATIONAL EDUCATION.