The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-31 00:00:00

TRAINING-SHIPS FOR BOYS.

The training-ship now-about to proceed to the
Mersey, the ci-devant 28-gun ship Conway, is, We
believe, only the first of a series of ships to bo
similarly fitted and employed. The Conway will
be employed as a training-ship for boys between
the ages of 13 and 15. They will be received in
three classes. One class will consist of lads whose
parents are able and willing to pay a moderate sum
for their support and education ; another will com-
prise those whose friends can contribute in a lesser
degree ; while the third will consist of poor boys,
orphans or others, who have no friends to help
them. An association has been formed to supply
the funds necessary for the support of the establish-
, ment, which will be raised by voluntat
subscribed
liberally The merchants of Liverpool hate
liberally for this purpose, and the Admiralty have
lent a ship well calculated for the service as a
commencement, and have fitted her as for sea.
After some probationary terms have been gone
through the most proficient among the lads will be
allowed to choose between the royal and mercan-
tile services—the Admiralty, we presume, under-
taking to receive boys recommended b
asso-
ciation into her Majesty's ships. The J theon‘v a7has
a superintendent and a schoolmaster, receiving
moderate but improving salaries ; and, as the num-
bers of boys increase, so the staff will be augmented;
but it does not seem a part of the scheme to educate
the lads beyond certain elementary standards, or to
fit them for pursuits of a higher character. The
boys are to be trained for the sea, and prepared in
morals and discipline for apprentices to the sea ser-
vice. We hope to End the Admiralty taking the hint
from the Liverpool Association, and fitting out a
number of the old men-of-war, now rotting in
ordi-
nary, as training ships for boys. From 5,000 to
10,000 lads' should be trained annually. The mer-
chant service would be glad of one moiety, and the
Royal navy could dispose of the other. Every ship
might carry double her present complement of stout
boys with advantage. The boy of 16 who leaves
England for a foreign station usually returns a
smart young seaman of 18 or 20, fit for anything,
and from this stock we derive the best men unde
ier
the pendant. Were this principle acted upon,
cry of want of seamen would soon cease o tllO
chant
uttered ; for the boys who entered the mer
service would, in most instances, be truef
tor
we
their
first masters, and enter freely in shill
their services required. The Royal navy has no
worse enemy to contend against than prejudice.
The merchant seaman hear
Royal
ya
o service
ar badlyariev
: the e
spoken of ; every punishment is set down to theaccount of cruelty, and the rules
often described as inhuman and debasing. Men
who know little about,' it, or whose bad conduct
has brought upon them needful punishment,
delight
in me
isleading
if naval discipline
v
but
tf
their education, and
others
boys were made to look upon the restraints un-
posedpart
as needful to the general good, ill-disposed
men would find their damaging assertions contro-
verted, and the regulations of the navy would often
be successfully vindicated.
The agricultural comi-
ties would alway furnish a large supply of hardy,
strong-limbed boys. Little or no
persuasion need be
used in obtaining the recruits, for if a well-dressed
sailor lad were
ere to go into any country church
On a Sunday, we will answer for it he would be an
object of attraction to scores of boys of his own age,
all eager to enrol themselves in the same service.

Boys of this description received on board a train-
ing ship would in a short time have the rough
edge taken off, and be prepared to begin a sailor's
career with right notions ; and it is well known
that during the long war the finest and bravest
sailors we had were found among those who a few
n
years previously had followed the plough,--U i te.,
Service Gazette. •