The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-04 00:00:00

2HE ROYAL NAVAL RESERVE.

The scheme proposed about two years since for
forming a great naval reserve of seamen, to be called
out in periods of national emergency to man the
Royal Navy, has, we are glad to say, survived the
period of doubt and mistrust with which it was at
first received by the mercantile marine, and slowly
grown up till it now forms one of the most impor-
tant parts of what is called our second line of
national defence. Parliament by its vote of this
year Gaily granted money for the enrolment of 7,000
seamen up to the close of the financial year in March
next. Yet already the number who have joined
exceed this estimate, for up to last Saturday there
were not less than 8,000 able seamen who had
accepted the conditions, and, as they are now
coming in at the rate of not less than 200 a-week,
it is almost certain that before the financial year
is out between 11,000 and 12,000 men will be
borne on the books of the Reserve list. When
the plan was at first proposed the advantages
which it offered to the merchant seamen were so
great that it was confidently anticipated 10,000
men at least would hurry to enrol them-
selves in a single year. The only conditions
required were that the men must have served
five years at sea, be under 35 years of age, have
ranked as able seamen for at least one year, and
that during each year they should perform 28
days' drill at great gun exercise on board such
training ships as the Admiralty should appoint. In
return the government offered to pay every man of
the Reserve £6 per annum quarterly as a retaining
fee; to give pay and allowances amounting to £1 ls.
a week while at their 28 days' drill ; to make all the
men eligible for the Coast Guard and Greenwich
Hospital, and entitled to a pension of £l2 a year
when worn out ; and, above all, not to c ell upon the
services of the Reserve at all unless in periods of
really national distress. Than these terms nothing
could be more fair or more liberal. The men were
not restricted from making long voyages after
having performed their drill, being only required
to produce their books to the shipping-master in
order that the authorities might have a correct
register of where each Volunteer was in case of his
being wanted either at home or abroad. Yet, in
spite of all these certain advantages offered for
merely signifying their readiness to undertake a
duty which they might never be called upon to per-
form, the seamen at first seemed to have an invinci-
ble repugnance to joining, or, indeed, having any-
thing to do, however remotely, with the Royal Navy.
The plan was proposed at a time when seamen's
minds were full of the emeute on board the Princess
Royal, and when it was known that considerable
discontent prevailed in the Royal Navy on the
much-debated question of leave ashore. Above all,
the men entertained a rooted impression that the
Admiralty vont.° not to be trusted, and that as soon
as they joined the Reserve advantage would be
taken of one pretence or another to ship them off to
man vessels on distant stations. In vain meetings
were held at the various seaports; the men were ob-
stinately suspicious, and the whole plan seemed
about to become a dead failure, when it was fortu•
nately determined to address the seamen of the
northern and Scottish coasts. Now, these men are,
as a body, proverbial for their prudence and fore-
sight, the care with which their leaders look
after the interests of their class, and particularly
for the admirable system of union and bene-
fit societies which is established among them.
These men were addressed and asked to join
the Reserve, and they acted with their usual
caution and good sense. They appointed delegates
to examine into all the various branches of the plan,
considered each maturely, and at last expressed
their cordial approbation of the whole, and informed
the Admiralty agents that they would do their
utmost to persuade their comrades to join. When
once this decision was publicly known the seamen
of North and South Shields, of Sunderland, New-
castle, Dundee, Hull, &c., came in fast to join the
Reserve, and their example had an immediate effect
en all the seaports in the kingdom. At the begin-
ning of this year they were only joining at the rate
of some 10 or 12 a week. From this the number
gradually rose to 50, 100, then to 150, till now and
for the last month or more even the number of 200
a week is fast increasing again. Already 8,000 are
enrolled, and there are now upwards of 600 fresh
applicants waiting to have their claims to admission
examined, and who will all be on the list within
another fortnight. Eight thousand men, at the first
glance, may seem a small force, if it is not remem-
bered that these are all carefully selected, able sea-
men, of whom we have only now 15,000 employed
throughout the whole of our vast navy. The pro-
portion of able seamen in the crew of a line of-battle
ship is rarely more than 250, and this is exactly the
class of sailors whom it is so difficult to procure, for,
of course, any number of ordinary seamen can be
had at an hour's notice. These 8,000 therefore
would suffice to man 30 line- of-battle ships. In fact,
the standard of the Reserve men, as being all care-
fully picked out of a large body, is far above the
standard of the able seamen of the Royal Navy.
Thus, of the 8,000 enrolled, no less than 40 hold
certificates of competency as masters, 149 certifi-
cates of competency as mates, and 1,050 are petty
officers in the merchant service, Of the whole num-
ber 6,000 have passed their gunnery drill, only 850
are on leave for long voyages, 2,000 have got leave
for short voyages to home stations, and 5,000 are
engaged in the coasting trade at home, and could
be assembled in a week. These are most important
facts, and become still more so when it is recol-
lected that the plan is daily growing in popu-
larity with the whole of our mercantile marine.
and that by the close of next year we may confi-
dently expect to have a which force of not less
than 20,000 able seamen, of at least one-half
will be formed by men in the coasting trade, close
at hand. Such a number, with the seamen of the
Coast Guard, 4,000 strong, and always told off in
divisions of 250 for instant service in line-of-battle
ships, would place the Royal Navy of this country
on such a footing of strength as it has never yet
stood since its first formation.

One of the objections at first raised by the men
was the distance to which they were often compelled
to go from their homes in order to learn their gun-
nery drill. This has now been met by the Admiralty
sending round large frigates as training ships to the
chief ports at which the men enter, and thus the
President, 50, is stationed in London ; the Trinco-
malee, 26, at Sunderland ; the Castor, 36, at Shields ;
the Hastings, 60, at Liverpool ; the Dmdalus, 22, at
Bristol ; the Brilliant, 20, at Aberdeen; and the
Eagle, 50, at Dundee. These, therefore, form per-
manent guard ships at these ports, and, in addition,
no less than 14 batteries have been erected for drill
on various parts of the coast, and more still are to'
be constructed. Ia fact, therefore, even during
peace, the organisation of the reserve is at the same
time perfecting a powerful system of coast defences,
which, like the Volunteers, will be always ready)