The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-24 00:00:00

MANNING THE NAVY.

The following is the Report of the Royal Com-
missioners appointed to inquire into the best means
of manning the Navy; just presented to both Houses
of Parliament by command of her Majesty :
TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
We, your Majesty's Commissioners, appointed
" to inquire into the best means of manning the
navy, and in what manner, and under what arrange-
ments, seamen may be readily obtained for such
purpose, either during peace or in case of sudden
emergency of war," and to offer such suggestions
as may occur to us " for the amendment of the
system at present in existence, and the means by
which, under the prerogative of the Crown, the
fleet was heretofore manned in time of war ;" and
especially to report to your Majesty our " opinion
as to the way in which the valuable services of the
seamen of the mercantile marine and the seafaring
population of the United Kingdom may be rendered
more readily and willingly available, when required
for your Majesty's naval service," do most humbly
report to your Majesty as follows :-
1. We have, in obedience to your Majesty's com-
mands carefullyperused the report of the committee
of naval officers appointed in the year 1852 to in-
quire into various subjects relating to the manning
of the navy, together with the evidence taken before
them, as also your Majesty's order in Council, dated
the Ist of April, 1853, by which the recommenda-
tions of that committee were, as far as it was then
deemed necessary, carried into effect ; and we have
called for such papers and returns, and have ex-
amined such witnesses, as appeared to us to be
likely to afford the best information on the matters
referred to us.
2. The points to which our atttention has been
directed are :-1. The mode in which y'our Ma-
jesty's ships are manned in time of peace, the con-
dition of the seamen, and whether any alterations
could be introduced by which the service might be
rendered more popular; 2. The mode in which the
fleet has heretofore been manned in time of war ;
the means which exist for that purpose ; the cha-
racter and extent of the reserves on which reliance
can be placed ; what measures it is now desirable
to adopt ; and the means by which the services of
the merchant seamen and the seafaring population
of the United Kingdom could be rendered more
readily available.
MODE OF MANNING THE NAVY IN TIME OF PEACE.
3. Prior to the year 1853 the practice during
peace • was to enter volunteers for particular ships,
nominally for five years, but practically for the
period during which the ship remained in commis-
sion, averaging from three to four years. This
system was attended with great inconvenience to
the public service, and even to the seamen them-
selves. Men who had been trained at great trouble
and expense, and had been brought to a state of
the highest efficiency, were suddenly dismissed,
and, being unable to obtain readmission to the ser-
vice, often sought employment under a foreign flag,
and thus, when required for your Majesty's ships,
were not to be procured. This led not only to
great delay in conducting the ordinary duties of
the service, but was the source of serious embar-
rassment, when political considerations rendered
necessary the speedy equipment of a fleet.
_ CONTINUOUS SERVICE SYSTEM.

4. With the view of ascertaining whether other
arrangements might not be adopted with advan-
tage to the service, and at the same time be the
means of improving the condition of the petty
officers and seamen of the fleet, a committee of naval
officers was appointed in the year 1852 by the Duke
of Northumberland, the then First Lord of the Ad-
miralty, to consider " the question in all its bear-
ings ;" and, in pursuance of the recommendations
of that committee, the continuous service system,
by which seamen were induced for certain advan-
tages to engage themselves to serve continuously
for a period of ten years, was introduced into your
Majesty's navy.
5. That system has now been in partial opera-
tion between five and six years, and, although it
has not been carried out to thd full extent contem-
plated by the committee, it has already been at-
tended with very beneficial results, and has secured
to the country a body of well-trained and efficient
seamen, whose attachment to the service is the best
security for the faithful performance of their duties.
6. We have the strongest evidence before us that
under this system the ordinary peace establishment
of the navy can be maintained by voluntary recruit-
ment at'whatever constant force your Majesty and
Parliament may determine ; and if the recommen- '
dationi of the committee, to which we are about to
advert, were carried into effect, we think that the
country would reap the full benefit of the system,
and that the peace establishment of the navy would
be,placed upon a satisfactory footing.
BOYS.

7. The committee of 1852, in their report, ob-
served that it was chiefly to the boys that they
must look for the gradual organisation of a perma-
nent navy. They stated that by official returns it
appeared that, during the preceding 12 years, up
wards of 2,000 boys had upon an average been
annually entered, " a number which would go far,
on the usual peace establishment of the navy for
that period, to replace the vacancies caused by
deaths, invalidings, pensions, casual discharges,
&c." And they add, that experience had taught
them, that "men, who have been received into the
navy as boys, become, from early habits and asso-
ciations, more attached and adhere more closely to
the service, than those entered at a more advanced
age, and that they eventually constitute, from their
superior education and training, the most valuable
part of the crews of her Majesty's ships." In this
opinion we concur.
8. At the present time, however, only about 500
of those who annually enter the navy have the ad-
vantage of passing through the training vessels, and
so sensible are we of the advantages of early train-
ing that we recommend that a large ship, eimitnr
to the Britannia, at Portsmouth, and capable of
affording accommodation to 500 boys, should be
placed at Plymouth; and that four additional
training vessels should be provided, which would
enable the whole of the boys required for the navy
to receive the same instruction. This would entail
an expense of about .£15,918 per annum.
RESERVE IN THE HOME PORTS.

9. Another recommendation of the committee of
1852, which has not been hitherto carried into effect
is the maintaining an adequate reserve of seamen
in the home ports. They observed that from the
information and evidence that had been laid before
them " during the progress of the inquiry, they
,had been led to the conclusion that it was desirable
to keep a larger force at home than had been cus-
tomary of late years," and they recommended,
" that your Majesty's navy should be maintained
at such a numerical force in commission as, inde-
pendently of the Channel squadron, will admit
10,000 seamen and boys (exclusive of officers) being
retained in England for the protection of the ports
and the coasts of the United Kingdom."
10. The evidence before us shows that, when a
ship of war is commissioned, the most costly part
of her complement, namely, the officers, and perhaps
the greater part of her crew, immediately become a
charge upon the State, and continue so for several
weeks, and even months, during which she is unable
to put to sea for want of the smaller part of her
crew; while the whole expense of the ship which
she was intended to relieve is going on.
11. We are, therefore, of
maintainedopinion that a reserve
of seamen should always bethe home
ports, ready to complete the crews of .
ship
commission, for the relief of foreign stations,s put
and in
the best and most prompt of all reserves in the eventas
of a sudden armament. The number to be thus
re-
tained
nthe home ports should bear arelliroenseto
t
the number in commission ; and, with our
peace establishments, we think that it should not be
less than 4,000, besides those retained in the harbour
guard ships. Such an arrangement also would
afford a ready means of giving a systematic train-
ing in gunnery to all men in your Majesty's naval
service. We estimate the additional expense of this
reserve, after allowing for the economy consequent
on the rapidity of the reliefs, at the sum of L 132,000.
SEAMEN-GUNNERS.
12. And here we beg to call your Majesty's at-
tention to the extreme importance of encouraging
seamen to qualify themselves as seamen gunners.
The committee of 1852 recommended that the num-
ber under training in the Excellent and her tenders
should be increased ; they stated that they could not
overrate the " advantages which the naval service
had derived from the systematic instruction and
training, both of officers and men, in gunnery and
the use of arms, as established on board that ship."
13. In this opinion we concur ; we believe that
seamen, well-trained in gunnery, are becoming daily
more and more essential, and in order to induce

seamen more readily to enter the gunnery ships Ex- '
cellent and Cambridge, and to qualify themselves
for the highly important situations of seamen gun-
ners, we recommend that the pay of each class of
seamen gunners be increased to the extent of id. a
day. With a view also retaining them when once
quali of fied, we recommend
that
a period of five years'
service as seamen-gunners should count as six
years towards a long service pension, and that the
to
pension should he payable them only in the
United Kingdom and the Channel Islands. These
measures appear necessary
to be rendered
this
"view of the relative position ofclass as com-
pared with the Coastguard and otherte 4,000 In--
branches of
en
the service. We think, also, that of h
retained in the home ports 1,000 should always
seamen-gunners. The • extra charge on thisbe
head
would be about £6,239 per annum.
14. These measures are, in oar opinion, all that
are needed under the foregoing heads to place the
peace -establishment of the navy on a firm and

satisfactory basis, and to secure the complete and
efficient working of the system. Great care should,
however, be taken in selecting the men. ooking
to the efficiency of the reserves, which we hope to
form out of those who have entered foi 10 years'
continuous service, we think that it desirable
that they should not be above the age of 25 at the
time of their admission, and above ail that they
should be strong and healthy.