The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-07 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—My attention has been drawn to an art
cle on the Naval Reserve movement, in the Times
of Dcc. 4, wherein it is stated that the seamen of
North and South Shields, of Sunderland, Newcastle,
Dundee, and Hull, came in fast to join the Reserve
after certain delegates had considered the matter.
As one of the force at this port I beg of you to
allow me space, in an early publication, to add to
this list the port of Hartlepool, and to ask of you,
what appears to be nothing but an act of justice to
a body of public-spirited men, that the credit of
first adopting the Naval Reserve scheme be given
to those of the north-eastern ports, to whom it de-
servedly belongs.
Early in January, 1860, while men at other ports
were doubting, the seamen attached to the Hartle-
pool Sailors' Union came forward spontaneously to
offer their services to the shipping master of this
port, and to them belongs the honour of being the
first of all the north-eastern ports in leading this
movement. Hartlepool sailors were not only the
first in the field, but for some months after the com-
mencement of the scheme, mustered as strong a
force as the whole of the ports mentioned put toge-
ther, and it was solely through our success that
neighbouring ports began to move in the matter.
It is a source of pride and honour to Hartlepool
men to think that they took such a position—that
Hartlepool attained to 100 men for the Reserve first
of any port in the United Kingdom, and was also
the first to attend a drill under the instruction of a
naval officer. They are therefore desirous that their
claims should not be ignored.
While we hold the distinction of being the first
to come forward, we also continue to keep in the
proud position of supplying a greater number of
men—according to the population—than any port
in the United Kingdom. In May, 1860, the num-
bers of enrolled Reserve men in the following
north-east ports were—Hartlepool, 146 ; Sunder-
land, 133 ; the Tyne, 81; Seaham, 46 ; Blyth, 25 ;
and by a return dated Nov. 30, 1861, we find H ar-
tlepool stands the fourth port on the list of the
United Kingdom, being higher than Liverpool, Bris-
tol, Plymouth, Southampton, Hull, Newcastle,
Dundee, or Aberdeen. The port of Hull, which is
stated to be supplying men "so fast," stands with
the miserable number of 31 against it, while Hartle-
pool contributed 33 the first month of the enrol-
ment, and now has 435 men, all of whom that are
in the port have heartily come forward with
genuine loyalty and patriotism and volunteered
their services to the Government in the present

crisis.

I think you will see, therefore, that the Naval
Reserve of this port do not without grounds claim
the honour of being the foremost in the van of the
north-east ports in the establishment of the Reserve
scheme.
While on the subject, I may state that Hartlepool
is yet without a ship to exercise in, being limited
to a small 2-gun shed, which gives to the men but a
poor representation of the 'tween decks of a man-
of-war. Surely we deserve the same facilities as
Liverpool, Bristol, Aberdeen, and Dundee, which
do not possess so many Reserve men.—l am, sir,
your most obedient humble servant,
WILLIAM LOWES, Hartlepool Naval Reserve.
Sailors'-hall, llartlepool, Dec. 5.