The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-15 00:00:00

evtenia_!A nit

LONDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1849.

Grievous as the overstock of superior officers in
the Royal Navy unquestionably is, it is absolutely
nothing in comparison with the understock of non-
commissioned officers and able-bodied seamen. On
Tuesday evening we commented upon the lamentable
deficiency of our present system of manning a vessel
of war when placed in commission. Our remarks
must be regarded upon that occasion as having been
merely preliminary. The evils resulting from so
much mismanagement are altogether too numerous
to be even hinted at with any adequate
emphasis in a single article, penned even by the most
sententious journalist. To-day, therefore, we would
descant upon the miserable consequences of the
existing plan with some greater degree of particu-
larity ; for assuredly the necessity for a speedy
removal of the obstacles surrounding the principal
instrument of national greatness and national protec-
tion must be sufficiently manifest to the reflective
without any elaborate or very ingenious argument.
No one has the folly to gainsay for an instant the
assertion that, being the mightest of the insular
powers of the earth, the proper maintenance of our
maritime force is essential to the continuance
of our empire, both home and colonial. Commerce,
the very basis of our political importance, could not
manifestly be persisted in without due attention to
the abilities, the appliances, and the practised efficiency
of our navigators. Our numerous and gigantic pos-
sessions beyond the seas could not be preserved intact
without the support of an extensive marine service.
While France, as a continental state with an im-
mense line of frontier, might survive, and has actually
survived the destruction of her fleets (as at Trafalgar),
England, as an insular state, could not continue to exist
after the annihilation of her naval armaments. What,
consequently, is a matter of superfluous defence to the
former is a matter of exigent necessity to the latter, a
matter of necessity both aggressively and defensively.
Of this a chart of the seas, of this the history of
England, of this reason, prudence, and patriotism
alike afford conclusive evidence. There remains no
cause whatever for prolonged reflection upon this
point of the argument. It may, nevertheless,
be advisable to consider briefly the number
and the extent of the many evils resulting
from so much inattention to the naval force of Great
Britain. Statements of this nature, statements wholly
beyond the reach of denial, cannot but serve to im-
press upon public intelligence the want of a perma-
nent maritime power, just as we have a standing
army—a standing army, although the empire of
England is an empire at once colonial, commercial,
and insular !

In referring to the enormous and almost innume-
rable grievances arising from the existing scheme for
manning the British navy, we may mention in the
highest terms of commendation a volume recently
produced upon this important subject by a Com-
mander in the Royal Navy, who has already shown
himself the friend and well-wisher of the midshipmen,
Captain ARTHUR PARRY EARDLEY-WILMOT. From
this excellent little volume* all our arguments upon
the wretched system now practised in manning the
vessels placed in commission by Government, receive
full corroboration ; and to its intelligent pages we
gladly direct the attention of the reader, affording as
they do a more elaborate exposure of an evil which
has long provoked from ourselves the strongest
language of condemnation. It will there be
seen how utterly demoralizing are the ill
consequences flowing from the deplorable in-
difference of our administrators to the conduct of a
gallant and glorious profession. Captain EARDLEY
WILMOT there details consecutively some of the
more egregiously unendurable of the results of the
prevailing mode of raising a requisite complement of
seamen. He illustrates his statement by an instance
which is unhappily applicable to any and every vessel
now placed in commission. Immediately the order
comes down from the Admiralty, the ship, until then
lying on the mud in some out-of-the-way creek or
harbour, with only her three lower masts standing,
and with scarcely any of her ordinary furniture, is
cobbled and doctered up by the dockyard workmen,
and after considerable delay she is declared to be
ready for her crew, and the captain, thereupon ap-
pointed, receives official instructions to hoist his pen-
dant forthwith. Well, the pendant is hoisted ; the
necessary officers are named to the vessel, with orders
to join her immediately; and the captain of marines,
with his subaltern and party, soon afterwards make

. _
their appearance. So far accomplished, there still re-
mains the vessel with her commander, lieutenants, mid-
dies, mates, the marines, the gunner, perhaps, the boat-
swain, and the carpenter, but otherwise " empty"—
not a single seaman visible. Thereupon the captain
and his subordinates find themselves in what our
yankee brother JOR&THAN would very justly term
"a pretty considerable fix." The officers see the
necessity for instant action—but where are they to
go for seamen ? Where are they to man the ship
with some hundreds of competent and able-bodied
d
required
complement' ? Where is thtevrees,ssetlhetorafibn:d,
its
No
Aye, he
shale) ing will do, for orders are peremptory; per-
haps, indeed, the service upon which the vessel is
v, anted is of the utmost importance with regard to
promptitude. Therefore the only method of scraping
together a crew is resorted to with as little further
115tontastination as possible. What this method may
7/s67:Csunfortunately but too soon explained. Hear
„
vflpiram EARDLEY WILMOT'S account of it :
"\lh' rendezvous is opened, after some time, at each
pi;ro.nci a lieutenant is generally dispatched to one of
thera;j:to exert himself, by promises and persuasion, in
making up the desired crew. In addition to these mea-
sures, hand bills and placards are posted all over the sea-
-1

'‘‘ Manning the Navy, &e." By A. P. Eardley
Wilmot, Commnder, B. N. Yp. 166, 1849. Cleave,
.London.