The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-27 00:00:00

TILE MANNING OF TILE ROYAL

NA V Y,

The following letters have been addressed to the
editor of the Times :
Sir,—ln my last letter I dwelt on various
grievances, real and imaginary, which are alleged
to exist in the Royal Navy, and which are assigned
as the reasons why seamen evince so much disin-
clination to enter the Queen's service. I repeat
that the habits and training of merchant seamen
give me but slender hopes that we shall ever obtain
a considerable supply of good men from the mer-
chant service ; we must, therefore, have recourse
to other measures, and that without delay, for
efficiently manning our navy.
First, we must maintain something like a stand-
ing force ; it will not do to have 50,000 seamen
in one year, and only 30,000 or 40,000 in the next.
These sudden reductions are attended with great
injury and injustice to seamen. For the increase
of the standing naval force all the witnesses agree
in recommending a large addition to the number
of boys. The " boy " system may be expensive,
but it is what we must come to ; I say, therefore,
let as go largely into it at once, and make our
own seamen as expeditiously as possible. If we
can ward off a naval war for three years, we shall
be able to meet an ordinary emergency ; if for five
years, we may, by persevering. energetically with
_
the training of boys, and with the aid of the
Coast Volunteers and increase of Marines, make
a good stand against even the combined fleets
of France and Russia, increased as those fleets
probably will be in the interval. Excellent as
I think Admiral Milne's evidence is, there is
one important point, and only one, on which my
experience compels me to differ from him. I am
decidedly of opinion that sailors are not so indis-
pensable as they were still Isa , let us have them
if we can procure them ; I weal ive them a pre-
ference. but, failing to procure them, let us take the
best substitute, which is a Royal Marine. He is
sufficient gunner for most purposes, he is an ex-
perienced small-arm man, and when he embarks he
is already trained to discipline. These are three
advantages which we cannot secure in a newly-
raised man. Moreover, in case of a reduction of the
fleet we can employ him on shore, instead of send-
ing him adrift as we do our seamen. Let us, there-
fore, speedily increase our Marines by a large
figure, for three or five years, to add to the fleet
when'required, until the " boy" system begins to
develope itself ; then let us stop recruiting, grant
voluntary discharges, and thus reduce the Marines
to the number which we may require to maintain
permanently. Admiral Milne shows clearly that,
although we have a large number of registered mer-
chant seamen, we never have more than one-third
of them at home. A sudden war would have the
effect of keeping a great portion of the two-thirds
out of the country, as owners would naturally send
instructions to their captains to take short freights
in the colonies, but nothing for Europe • in short,
to do anything rather than expose themselves to the
risks of capture by entering the Channel.
There is a suggestion put forth in Mr. Lindsay's
otherwise sensible paper, and which is supported by
the authority of Lord Clarence Paget's recommenda-
tion, which in my opinion is full of danger. They
both assert
.that the Queen's service has not kept
pace in improvement with the mercantile marine,
and that it has fallen far short of the astonishing
progress made in various branches of manufacturing
industry. And what do they suggest to remedy
this supineness on the part of our naval authorities ?
Simply that we should introduce on board ship
mechanical contrivances for working guns, hoisting
sails, &c. The object of these improvements is
stated to be that we may economize labour ; the
object of economizing labour is, of course, to enable
us to work a ship with a smaller crew. In order
that we may follow these improvements to their
consequences, let us suppose an action between a
British and an enemy's ship, equal in every respect
as to size, armament, and calibre of guns. Under
ordinary circumstances the English ship will un-
questionably be manned at least one-seventh in
number under a French ship; take the proportions
at 300 for the crew of the English ship and 350 for
the crew of the French ship ; but, owing to the
adoption of Mr. Lindsay's scientific and mechanical
improvements, we may perhaps be able to reduce
the English crew from 300 to 250. The inevitable
consequence in an action would be that the French-
man, taking advantage of the comparative weak-
ness of your, crew, would make a dash, and carry
you by boarding. But Lord Clarence Paget and
Mr. Lindsay may say that they do not mean that
the crews should be reduced. Then, what becomes
of their boasted economy of labour ? I am not
aware whether these gentlemen have ever been
under fire ; it not, let me advise them to take a hint
from one who has ; lt them avoid these mechanical
appliances, they wilt be terribly in the way, and
will cramp a space not too large at present; inde-
pendently of this inconvenience, I can assure them
that cogwheels, bars, and pinches in an action will
make most ugly splinters. If economy of labour is
ever to lead to the reduction of the crews of ships,
it will be by the introduction of Armstrong's gun,
which may be worked by one-third of the number
required to work the present heavier guns. But,
after all, can we adopt this mercantile view in the
manning of ships of war ! And can we safely
overlook the proper relative strength of our crews
as compared with those of our adversaries ? These
are questions which must be answered without
reference to the adoption of mechanical contri-
vances and economy of labour on board our ships
of war.

I fear I must trouble you with one more letter.—
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
BLUE JACKET.
United Service Club, May) 1859.

Sir,—ln common with your correspondent "Blue
Jacket," I have been surprised that more notice has
not been taken by the public generally of the re-
port made by the commission on manning the navy.
It is gratifying to notice that the changes advo-
cated in this report are gradually being carried out
by the Admiralty. One of the grievances com-
plained of by seamen has already been removed by
increasing the rations of salt meat and bread.
Having had a good opportunity of ascertaining
the feelings of a body of merchant seamen who had
been for a few years in the navy, I know that the
insufficiency of the daily ration, especially in cold
weather, was the chief ground of complaint. Many
inexpensive modifications of the scale of victuallini,
might easily be made, so as to vary the daily food,'
and render it more nutritious and palatable.
The unpopularity of the navy among merchant
seamen has been greatly exaggerated ; whatever
disinclination to entering the service may formerly
have existed among these men, it is rapidly on the
declina. The real thoroughbred seaman speedily
becomes accustomed to the life on board a ship of
war. He finds himself equal to the man-of-war's life
in his duties aloft, and he can easily master the gun
drill ; nor *does he require much longer time or
greater labour to learn the musket exercise.
By a little judicious cncouragpment the guns'
crews soon strive to surpass each other, while the
exercises aloft excite eager emulation between mast
and mast when the ship is alone, and between ship
and ship when in company with other vessels.
Although the thoroughbred seaman is soon recon-
ciled to the pecularities of a man-of-war, there is a
nondescript amphibious species of being who takes
longer to educate, sand it is men of this class who
must necessarily form the majority of our nrw

These men arc at first perfectly helplesss ; they
cannot wash their clothes, far less repair or make
them ; the daily manipulation of their hammocks,
the most .comfortable of single beds, is to them a
mystery ; aloft, they are only in the way, and below
they are liable to be chaffed and quizzed by the
more experienced hands.
These are the men who in time become useful
fellows, but who at the outset of their naval career
require the considerate treatment and patient
teaching pointed out by the judicious Admiralty
circular recently issued.
No captain, however well seconded by-his senior
executive officer, can do much for these men in-
dividually ; the leading men on the lower deck, the
petty officers and seamen brought up in the service,
must take this raw material in hand and mould it
into shipshape fashion.
Now, this important duty falls chiefly upon the
master-at-arms and his subordinates. The comfort
of the ship depends far more upon them than upon
the superior officers. Frequently has the improve-
ment of this department been urged upon the
Board of Admiralty ; for on its efficiency the
happiness and discipline of the men on the lower
deck mainly depend ; yet I must reluctantly state
a fact, 'but too well known to every naval officer,
btheeant
Dthriopei
this most important department has never
yorFanised. Its numbers in the larger
ships ire
insufficient, and it is a rare occurrence to
find a man capable
of performing the difficult and
delicat e duties of
master-at-grins,
"BlueeoiToral.
Youl7 correspondent
his ass istant—the shi t,er-at-anns, or even those of
Jacket"—whose real .
naive would, if I not,mistaknkees
has give great weight
to the :mggestions he m
alluded to the
want of an uniforw system of discipline.
It ;warns from the tenor of his
letter that it is
rather a system of routine to Which his.
remarks
are directed, for the system of discipline is in great
measm '2 rendered uniform by the system of minor
punish molts established a few years since.
The ge punishments are rather on the side of
leniency, for the few..turbulent and . refractory
charatt ers to be found in, every ship would never
be met •ced by them alone • yet they a re, on the
whole, sufficient to uphold the discipline (Vadminis-

tered with discrimination), provided they were
accompanied by greater facilities for the discharge
of -worthless and incorrigible characters. Nothing
tends so much to create discomfort on the lower
deck among the quiet and well disposed men as the
presence of such characters. A man on, whom
punishment has no effect is rarely a good seaman ;
he should therefore, no matter on what station, be
at once discharged from the service.
It cannot be too often explained to the public
that there is no difficulty in manning the navy in
ordinary times. But if we suddenly require for the
nautical labour market 10,000 seamen, it is pal-
pably evident that time will be required to procure
them. Jack's pockets are rarely so full that he
can stand idle until some political complication, or
one of John Bull's periodical alarms, obliges the
navy to bid for the merchant seaman's services.
Nor can it be too frequently repeated, that to the
well-disposed seaman who know his work the navy
is far from being an unpopular service.—l am, Sir,
your obedient servant,
ANOTHER BLUE JACKET.

VOLUNTEERS.

The following Circular was issued from the War
Office yesterday :

" War-office, Pall-mall, May 25.
" With reference to the circular of May 12,
sanctioning, under certain conditions, the enrol-
ment of volunteers, it seems essential, in order that
the patriotic exertions of those who may come for-
ward may contribute most effectively to that which
they have at heart—namely, the defence and
security of their country, that they should not be
left in ignorance of the nature and character of the
service to which they are thus binding themselves ;
but that the objects which such bodies of volun-
teers should have in view should be clearly ex-
plained to them, as well as the peculiar duties
expected from them, together with the best means
of qualifying themselves for their effective discharge.
" Premising that these volunteers may be of two
classes, one comprising those who may be instructed
to act as riflemen or sharpshooters in the field ; the
other, those whose services may be rendered most
valuable in our seaports, and other coast towns, in
manning the batteries constructed for their defence,
it must be borne in mind that—
" L The first essential, without which no body
of volunteers, however composed or organised, can
hope to render available or really useful service, is
that it should be amenable, when called upon to
act, either in garri3on or in the field, to military
discipline; for without such discipline no General
or other officer under whom they may have to act
will be able to place much dependence on their
assistance or co-operation in the hour of need.
"2. In the second place, the conditions of ser-
vice should be such as, while securing and enforc-
ing the above necessary discipline, to induce those
classes to come forward for service as volunteers
who do not, under our present system, enter either
into the regular army or the militia.
" 3. Ix the above view the system of drill and
instruction for bodies of volunteers should not be
such as to render the service unnecessarily irksome,
or as to make demands upon the time of the mem-
ders that would interfere injuriously with their
ordinary
.avocations ; thus either indisposing to the
service, in the first instance, those who might
otherwise have gladly joined it, or driving them
out of it, after a short experience of the inconve-
niences to which they have been exposed.
" 4. It should not be attempted, therefore, as re-
gards rifle volunteers, to drill or organise them as
soldiers expected to take their place in line, which
would require time for instruction that could ill be
spared ; but it should be rather sought to give each
individual volunteer a thorough knowlede of the
use of his weapon, and so to qualify the force to act
efficiently as an auxiliary to the regular army and
militia, the only character to which it can aspire.
" 5. It is evident that this object will be best at-
tained by the enrolment of volunteers in small
bodies, in companies, consisting of an establishment
of 1 captain, 1 lieutenant, 1 ensign, and 100 men of
all ranks, as a maximum, or in subdivisions, and
even sections of companies, 4ith the due proportion
of officers, and composed of individuals having a
knowledge of and thorough dependence upon each
other ; and it should rarely, if ever, be sought to
form them into larger corps, entailing the necessity
of a lengthened and complicated system of drill in-
struction.
" 6. The nature of our country, with its nume-
rous enclosures and other impediments to the ope-
rations of troops in line, gives peculiar importance
to the services of volunteerriflemen, in which bodies
each man, deriving confidence from his own skill in
the use of his arm, and from his reliance on the
support of his comrades—men he has known, and
with whom he has lived from his youth up, inti-
mately acquainted, besides, with the country in
which he would be called upon to act—would hang
with the most telling effect upon the flanks and
communications of a hostile army.
"i. The instruction, therefore, that is most re-
quisite is practice in the use and handling of the
rifle ; and with a view to this sites for firing at a
target should be established, if possible, in every
locality where companies or bodies of volunteer rifle-
men are formed, and every encouragement given
to the men to avail themselves of them, leaving it
to themselves to select their own hours for prac-
tice, or for such further instructions, as sharp-
shooters, as it may appear desirable to give
them—namely, how to extend and avail themselves
of cover, to fire advancing or retiring, to protect
themselves from cavalry, or other simple movements
which, whilst leaving every man his independent
action, would enable them to act together with
more effect. Interested as the more wealthy classes
throughout the country will be in the efficiency of
such bodies of volunteers formed in their own neigh-
bourhood, they will doubtless co-operate heartily
with the Lords Lieutenant of counties in endeavour-
ing to find such sites for practice, and in whatever
else may tend to further the object in view.
" 8. Her Majesty's Government will authorise the
issue from the public magazines at cost price of
targets and of the regulated annual allowance of
practice and exercise ammunition for each trained
volunteer—viz., 90 rounds of ball and 60 of blank
cartridge, and 165 percussion caps ; and for the
training of each recruit 110 ball and 20 blank cart-
ridges, 143 percussion caps, and 20 ditto for snapping
practice. Requisitions for the same to be made to
the Secretary of State for War, upon forms which
will be supplied, on demand, from this office.
" With a view to the supply of ammunition from
the Government stores for the use of volunteers, it is
a primary and indispensable condition of their for-
mation that the rifles with which they are armed
should be perfectly uniform in gauge with those in
use by the regular army, and that there should be a
similar uniformity in the size of the nipple, in order
to suit the Government percussion caps.
" 9. The apparatus for testing the gauge consists
of two plugs, one of .577-inch, and another .580-
inch. Each rifle. to be serviceable, must admit the
former and exclude the latter. _

...,......._ .... _
" All the barrel makers in Birmingham, and the
' setters up' in that town, as well as in London. are
provided with similar plugs to those which are used
in the ' view rooms' at those places ; and as the arms
of each corps will be subject to an examination by
competent viewers from the Government Small Arms
Department, under the direction of Lieut.-Colonel
Dixon, R.A., Superintendent of the Royal Small
Arms Factory (for which purpose application must be
made to the War-office), commanding officers of corps,
and all who purchase arms, should hold the manu-
facturers responsible for the correctness of the
barrels and the nipples.
" 10. It may further be a question whether it
would not be found advantageous, with a view to
the better preservation of the arms and accoutre-
ments of the company, to provide, if possible, in the
neighbourhood of the practice range or parade
ground of each company, a dry and airy building
or room as a store, where they could be deposited
and properly cleaned and attended to at the expira-
tion of each clay's drill.
" 11. It is also very.desirable that the uniform
adopted should be as simple as possible, and that
that of the different companies serving in each
county should be assimilated, and though this point
is left to the decision of the volunteers, subject to the
approval of the Lords Lieutenant, it is considered
that a recommendation on the subject would be of
advantage.
" 12. As regards artillery volunteers, their prim-
ary object will be to aid in the most efficient man-
ner in the manning of the batteries erected for the
protection of our coast towns, so that the Royal
Artillery and Militia may be, to as great an extent
as possible, disposable for other services.
" 13. These volunteers may consist of a different
class from that which will come forward for the more
active duties of riflemen in the field. Married men
resident on the spot; and such as either could not ab-
sent themsel Os, even fora day, from their usual busi-
ness, or might be physically unfit for field duties,
might yet find ample time for learning how to ,
work a great gun 'mounted in their immediate
neighbourhood, and might be fully adequate to
whatever exertion its exercise might require. The
interest they would have in thus contributing to
the security of their property and families, which
would be at once endangered by any hostile attack,
would be even stronger than that which would lead
volunteer riflemen to the field.
" 14. The same principle which is recommended
for the organisation of riflemen should be adopted
i for the artillery volunteers, except that the
latter should `be divided into still smaller bodies.
For instance, the most effective system would
be that which would associate 10 or, at most, 12
men, all neighbours intimately acquainted with