The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MOADAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 26, 1860,

take the trouble to look into the Parliamentary
papers giving the returns of floggings, desertions,
and instances of insubordination which have oc-
curred in the Royal Navy during the past . two
years, and they will find such a state of affairs dis-
closed as is enough to startle the most unthinking,
The captains of ships really dont know what to do
with their crews. It follows, as a matter of course,
when the Navy only pays little more than half of
what sailors easily earn in the merchant service,
that almost only the men who are worthless
for the merchant service now join the Navy. Even
these, however, are t'now getting scarce, and cap-
tains of crack frigates have to put up with a chance
medley of longshore boatmen, or anybody else they
can catch. I don't think I am speaking beyond the
mark when I say that there is hardly a line-of-
battle ship in the service of which the captain can
conscientiously say he has a hundred thorough-
good sailors on whom he can depend. If he has he
may think his ship well manned, though much as
he may depend on the men's seamanship, I would
not advise him to trust to their fidelity in the
matter of not deserting. Every man in the Navy
who is worth his salt knows he can double his pay
by joining the merchant service. If he has not
shipped for continuous service, and is well con-
ducted and steady, he waits till the ship is paid
off, and bids adieu to the Navy for ever. If he is a
continuous service man, in nine cases out of 10 he
makes up his mind for desertion, and sooner or
later he effects his object. There are not very
many continuous service men in the Navy yet.
When, some two years since, the Admiralty offered
to let them take their discharge, and yield up all
claim to pensions, 2,286 instantly jumped at the
chance, and quitted the service for ever. Very fa-
vourable conditions were held out to these men to
re-enter the Coastguard and Navy for five years,
but of the 2,286 only 63 could be coaxed back
again. .Lord Clarence Paget rises in the house,
and, with his capital imitation of a sailor's frank-
nesiertsatie - hon. members that sailors are curious
beings, very thoughtless, like children, having no
heed to the future, &c. But this is all a mistake of
his lordship's. Sailors now look as sharply to the
remuneration they are to receive for their services
as any other class of people, and the best proof of
this is that they won't join the Navy. If the
Admiralty could only conciliate the seamen's wives,
the men would enter the Navy fast enough ;
but they will never. conciliate the wives till they
pay their husband's properly. As it is now, sea-
man's wives will do anything rather than let their
husbands join the Royal Navy; or, if they do
join in some wild, drunken moment, they
never rest till they get them out of it,
by fair means or foul. But the wife's inducement to
leave the service is qUite unnecessary when once a
man is in it. Do the Admiralty think it is nothing
to have all the seamen's wives against them ? or
can we ourselves wonder at the antipathy Of the
women when we know its reason ? Let us say Jack
and Bill are both married sailors, with families.
Bill keeps. in the merchant service, where he can
earn £3 10s. or £4 a-month. He leaves his wife a
letter of allotment for £2 or £2105., and can always
manage to be home, and smoke his pipe, and see the
children, at least for a month in the year. It used
to be so with Jack's wife, but in an unlucky moment
Jack has been tempted to enter the Royal Navy,
and his letter of allotment drops at once from £2
or £2los. to 255., and he is away from all sight of
his family for three years at least, if not for four or
five. Do you think, when that man returns, his wife'
will ever let him enter the Navy again ? or, do you
think, if he is on a home station, and let ashore to
see her for a couple of days once in six or nine months
that she won't persuade him to desert ? As a matter
of course, she does so persuade him, and as a matter
of course he often tries, and at last succeeds. And
yet captains sometimes wonder how it is that they
can trap young unmarried men for a time into the
service, but that the married ones never stay. But
whether married or single, the same remedy would
reconcile all. Let the Admiralty abolish the pen•
sion fraud, and pay the men fairly for their labour
while they are in the service. If they tire wounded,
or if they serve well and long, promote the good-
conduct men to pensions. Give the men, in short,
not only a future of advancement to look forward
to, but a fair day's wage, to encourage them to enter
on the path. The money that has been spent in
Boyal Commissions and inquiries as to how to man
the Navy would have manned it long ago if given in
addition to the men's pay.
But how can we expect,te man the Navy when, as
I have said, the men are not only badly paid, but
badly treated, and badly:fed ? I, perhaps, have said
enough to show that the men are not only badly-paid
but scarcely more than half paid. If you- think this
letter worthy a place in your columns, I can give
yet stronger and more convincing Proofs of the
shameful inadequacy of the wages offered for the
labour done, and show also how both the food and
treatment are as bad almost as the pay. -These are
matters, however, which cannot be discussed in a
single letter, even of the inordinate length to which
I have extended mine; but, for the sake of the im•
portant interests at stake, I trust I may look for-
ward to another opportunity of directing public ,
attention to the question. Unless the facts are"
fully and fairly laid before the public nothing will
be done, and it is only through your columns that
the public can -be reached.. Let this, sir, be my
excuse for future intrusion, and for the length to
which I have already trespassed on your valuable
space. •
I enclose my card, and have the honour to remain,
sir, yours most obediently,
ONE WHO KNOWS THE SERVICE.
London, Nov. 23.

Sir,—l agree with your correspondent in to-day's
paper, that the wages in the Navy should be raised
and the pension system modified, but I do not ad-
mit that the writer is " one who knows the ser-
vice ;" and I shall proceed in a few lines to point
out some glaring mistakes he has made ; and I beg
to deprecate most strongly the exaggerated and
bouncing tone of his letter. He says if a man enters
the Navy for continuous service he is only entitled
to a pension after 20 years. By Admiralty circu-
lar of the 14th of June, 1853, the continuous ser-
vice system was established, and under it men are
entitled to pensions after 10 years' service. Your
correspondent also says that " if the man has not
so entered, he is never entitled to any pension at
all." This is equally a blunder. If a man does
not enter fpr continuous service he is entitled to a
pension :after 21 years' service from the age of 20
(a continuous service man would be entitled in 20
years after 18), besides pensions, of course, for
wounds, &c., after short services. Thousands of
men were so pensioned long before the continuous
service system was heard of.
Your correspondent also says that "there are not
very many continuous service men in the Navy yet."
The answer to this is, there aro now 22,000 con-
tinuous service men in the navy, 9,000 boys (all
continuous service), while the remaining men and
officers in the fleet are only 23,000. In other words,
there are more continuous service men than non-
continuance service men, excluding officers, in the
Royal navy.
Your correspondent also omits the various addi-
tions to pay in the navy, which, unfortunately for
the popularity of the service, are paid as additions,
separately in pennies and twopences, and thus lost
sight of by " Jack" and by people who think " they
know the service." Thus, a first-class seaman gun-
ner would have 4d. a-day additional, and if wear-
ing three badges another 3d. a-day, in addition to
the £2 9s. quoted by your correspondent as an
A.B.'s pay in the navy.
I will not trespass further on your valuable space
except to say that I have no doubt, if the navy pay
were properly readjusted, no great increase need be
made to it to raise it nominally to what it often
really is—as much as in the merchant service.
As for the victuals in the navy, I know not how
many bluebooks could be quoted to disprove your
correspondent's absurd statement that the men are
badly fed. But 80,000 men could be found to con-
tradict him, and it is a fact that some £40,000 or
£50,000 is paid annually to seamen in the navy for
provisions allowed to them more than they can eat.
—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
ONE WHO DOES KNOW.
Somerset-house, Nov. 24.

Sir,—Your correspondent, " One who knows the
Service," states that an A.B.'s wages in the mer-
chant service averages from " £2 10s. to £4 ;" and
again, "from £3 10s. to £4" a montb. This gives
a most erroneous impression. The usual rate of
wages for A.B.'s to all parts of the world is £2 10s.
The exceptions are trifling, the principal one being
in the trade to our North American colonies.
In that trade, which is only open during the
summer months, the rate of wages does, under the
very peculiar circumstances of that trade, go as
high as £3 or £3 10s. ; and with the comparatively
small number of seamen who man the high class
steamers wages are considerably above the average
I have mentioned. But the common rate is only
£2 10s. I annex my authority,. which is taken from
page 717 of the Appendix to the Report of the
Merchant Shipping Committee of 1860.
As to the work, food, and lodging in the two

services, let those who know them both say whether
the Queen's service is the worse.

Your correspondent does not, at any rate, seem to
be very well acquainted with the merchant service.
ONE WHO KNOWS SOMETHING OF THE
Nov. 24. MERCHANT SERVICE.

(Prom the Times.)

The letter which we published in Ger last im-
pression on the state of the Naty will have taken
everybody in the kingdom by surprise. After
adopting, as we fancied, eery possible measure for
improving the condition of the sailer, after charging
a dozen of Commissions in succession with the pro-
motion of this very object, and after lavishing with
ungrudging hand innumerable millions on the
naval service, we are told in plain terms that we
are not much better off than in the days of the great
mutiny at the Nore. The times .of violence and
brutality have, no doubt, gone by; but as far as
regards discontent, not °say deep-seated, but, what
is worse, fairly justifiable, we are assured, on the
word of " One Who Knows the Service," that the
Navy is in as bad a state as it well could be. We
are told, moreover, that every captain in the fleet
knows this to be the fact; that the Admiralty
knows it, and that it is known, in short, to every-
body except the public. The hope of our corres-
pondent is that when the public at length comes to
know it something will be done, and that a con-
fessed wrong and mest perilous evil will no longer
be left without a remedy.
It is exceedingly striking, and ought to be in-
structive also, to read the story now placed before
the country. It is not the story of old times,
though the results, unhappily, are pretty nearly as
bad. There is no systematic tyranny on board
ship ; on the contrary, it is acknowledged that
the great majority of captains are good and kind.
There is no impressment, and, consequently, there
can be no men serving against their will. There
is undoubtedly on the part of the public and the
Legislature a genuine desire to secure the sailor
good treatment, and we can most truly say that
money has always been forthcoming for that pur-
pose without stint or grudge. Then, where is the
grievance which could assume such terrible propor-
tions as the one here alleged? We can put the case
in half-a-dozen words. The sailor's eyes are opened.
He has shared in the general enlightennient of the
age. The schoolmaster in his roamings has come
across even our seamen, and they are now fully
competent to estimate the value of their labour, the
nature of their treatment, and the scale of their
pay. But the schoolmaster has not got as far as
the Admiralty, and half the regulations determin-
ing the condition of the sailor are framed upon
principles fitted only for times gone by. No heed
has.been taken of the rapid progress of the nation,
involving the particular progress of all classes of
society. No sufficient thought has been given to
the fact that the man-of-war's man can now see in
the merchant service a mirror of seafaring life, and
that he is fully competent to compare his pay and
his privileges with those at the command of his
equals in another branch of his calling. Above all,
it has been forgotten that the sailor of 1860 is no
longer the sailor of 1800—a careless, impulsive,
half-childish being,—but a shrewd, calculating
man, who can very quickly. find out when he is well
off or otherwise, and who is not disposed to submit
with patience to the consequences even of his own
mistakes. One of these mistakes he discovers that
he has made in shipping on board a man-of-war. If
he had gone aboard a merchantman, he would, ac-
cording to his own reckoning, have been far better
off, and his wife too; so he chafes under his work,
his treatment, and his wage, till at length he be-
comes chronically insubordinate, or seizes the first
opportunity to " run." That is the view of the case
opened by our correspondent's letter.
It shows the altered character of the modern
sailor that the great grievance of all is
the pay, and not so much the pay in itself
as the pay when compared with that of
other seamen. To this it is replied that the
pension restores the balance of the account ; and to
that, again, the sailor rejoins that he does not
choose to accept the condition. The deduction is
too heavy and the prospect too remote. He is not
disposed to forego 30 per cent. of his natural earn-
ings in order that he may lay up a little provision,
to be possibly available 20 years later, and who can
wonder at him ? Would such terms be taken in any
other trade ? Would a carter, a bricklayer, or a
weaver, accept wages one-third or so below the
current rate for the sake of a billet on a benefit
asylum when he shall be a score of years older ?
Of course, he would not. A man in the prime of
youth considers age immeasurably distant, and
looks only to time present. Add a shilling a week
to the market rate of pay, and you may get the
pick of a trade. Deduct a shilling, and all the
pictures you can draw of a contingent gratuity will
not bring au offer to your door. We have only to
look to the merchant service to see the principle in
actual operation. There, excepting under a few
great firms or companies, the sailor can look for
very little consideration. He may be even inhu-
manly or barbarously used, and when his time is
up and his wages paid he may starve, for anything
his late employers care about him. But the wages
are full wages. They enable a seaman to make a
I good deal of money, and leave his wife with a good
many comforts. So he and his wife are both of one
mind in the matter, and the result is that any
merchantman can ship as many good sailors as are
wanted at short notice, while a man-of-war, even
under a popular captain, may lie six months in
harbour for want of hands.
We have given the chief prominence to this ques-
tion of pay because it really appears to lie at the
root of the whole matter. Our correspondent in-
timates, indeed, that the food of the men is bad
also, and this will probably appear to the public
the strangest part of the whole story. We can
understand the insufficient scale of wages arising
out of the old theory of pensions; but, if there
was anything which we believed we had really
bespoken and paid for, it was good fare for our
seamen. On this, however, we say no more at pre-
sent, nor can the point, we imagine, be so material
as that to which we have referred, for bad fare is
certainly common enough in the merchant service,
and yet the merchant service never lacks hands.
Those risks, like any other risk, will always be met
for the sake of pay. Pay, present pay, is the great
consideration which commands service. Give the
highest wages and you will get the best men. There
may be a dozen other things telling in favour of
your offer, but, as a general rule, they will not be
taken into account, Few men in the class from
which sailors are taken will allow an immediate
bargain to be influenced by considerations which
can only be operative after 20 years interval. In
short, they would rather surrender the chance of a
pension, and receive their full share of pay.
All this, it will be confessed, is easily intelligible ;
but how, then, it will be asked, is the Navy manned
at all ? Our correspondent asserts that it is only
manned by sailors who for the most part are not the
best of their class, and who are for the most part
again, heartily sick of their bargain. Hence all the
disturbances and desertions of which we lately
heard so much. The men are in the service, but
they are eager to be quit of it. They have their
eyes about them, and, like all other Englishmen,
they have learnt to talk and think of their con-
dition. They think they have made a bad bargain,
and that for hard work and skilled labour they get
little pay and less liberty. From such impressions
discontent and disaffection ensue only too naturally,
and there, as we are assured, we have a picture of
the British Navy. We should rejoice to find that
a more agreeable view of things could be truthfully
given, but if what is stated is really the case it
behoves us to apply the needful remedies without
loss of time.

The " Greeu Dragon" of the 3d Buffs, granted
in 1707, was one of the royal supporters of Queen Eliza-
beth, in whose reign the regiment was formed out of the
loyal London citizens, and it possessed the peculiar privi-
lege of marching through the streets of the City with music
playing and colours flying. When the 31st were embodied,
the 3d received the popular appellation of the " Old Buffs,"
by way of distinction to the "Young Buffs :" both, how-
ever, derived their name from their accoutrements of buf-
falo leather. The " Bold Fifth" is a soubriquet of long
standing ; they wore a red and white feather, and subse •
quently a white plume, in honour of their rout of the French
Grenadiers at Morno Fortune, in the West Indies, when
their success was so complete that every man was able to
furnish his cap with the white plumes of the enemy.—Once
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THE EXPLOSION ON BOARD THE TONNING.--The
wounded men now lying at the Great Yarmouth Hospital
are progressing favourably towards recovery. It is hopedthat the list of deaths is now complete, and that Reay, the
chief engineer, will able to give his evidence on the re-
8' ption of the official inquiry,
uT
3URNING OF THE SIIIP
II CHINA,—The China, a
large ship, laden with cotton, and bound from New Orleans
to Liverpool, was totally destroyed by fire, at sea, on the
6th November. The crew were rescued by the ship Ocean
Bride, and afterwards transferred to the steamer Quaker,
and landed at New York.

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