The regulations governing the enrollment of the third class are as follows: . The Admiralty grants to the management of every mercantile training ship the sum of £3 for every boy trained therein who joins the third class naval reserve; the conditions being as follows: 1. They must have been two entire years under training in a training ship, and subject to inspection by the Admiralty and board of trade. They must also be under engagement to serve in a merchant ship at sea. 2. They must be sixteen years of age, not less than 5 feet 1 inch in height, and 30 inches around the chest; of robust frame, intelligent, of a sound and healthy constitution, &c. 3. They must be able to read and write, and show satisfactory proficiency in cutlass, small-arm, and gunnery drill, as well as in elementary subjects relating to seamanship and navigation, such as log, lead, compass, rowing, swimming, reefing and furling sails, steering, knotting and splicing, and rule of the road, and must produce a certificate of good character from the captain of the training ship. They will, on attaning the age of nineteen, provided they have served six months at sea, be eligible to promotion to the second-class reserve, and afterwards to the first class if in all respects qualified. The service of boys in the third class, who pass from it through the second class into the first, will count at the rate of three years' service for one year's time towards pension, provided they comply with the regulations as to drill and reporting their whereabouts. These regulations do not apply to boys brought up in reformatory ships. The number of boys entered under these regulations so far is small, but is increasing. Large numbers of the training ships on the British coast are reformatory, and are thus kept from contributing a quota. Those ships, which have entered into agreement with the Admiralty regarding the naval reserve, are also allowed to enter boys in the naval training ships, a payment of £25 being made to the merchant training ship for each boy so entered. Very few of these boys, however, so enter, on account of being unable to reach the naval standard. That of the naval reserve is less difficult. LENGTH OF ENROLLMENT. The enrollment is for five years, and four enrollments must be served in order that a pension may be had. No pension, however, is allowed a man who does not pass from the second into the first class, but half the time served in the second class (in case one does pass into the first), is allowed to count for pension. The drill to be undergone during the year must be for twenty-eight days. This may (excepting in the first year) be taken in periods of seven days each. There are many stations at which men can assemble for drill, some of which are shore batteries especially built for the purpose. There are, however, nine ships at various ports whose only use is this. The reserve ships employed in coastguard service are also used as drill ships. The men of the reserve when assembled for drill are rated and paid as seamen and ordinary seamen of the Navy, and have their traveling expenses paid from and to their homes. They are required during this time to appear in a uniform cap, and in a dark blue suit of clothing; the men and boys of the second and third classes wear the uniform supplied them. The men during this interval are also subjected to naval discipline and law. The drill is one relating to arms only; the forenoon and afternoon are both taken up with pistol, cutlass, musket, and great gun exercise. There is no doubt that the 17,000 men now enrolled, and who are available under this organization, are a very valuable adjunct to England's Regular Navy; though, scattered, as at least one-third are, over every sea, the whole force could not be quickly brought together. It is for this reason that strong effort is made to draw in the fishing population, hardy and able seamen, who would always be at hand: serving at home or in the coasting trade are 11,940; in the event of war these men can be readily had. Any one desiring to make a voyage of longer duration than six months. must get leave to do so; this leave, however, never extends beyond one year; nor can the man go until he has made, if in his first enlistment, 28 days' drill; if in a second or more, a 14 days' drill. Among the men of the reserve there are those holding the following certificates and ratings: Masters,* 47; mates, 518; petty officers in merchant service, 3,815. A certain number of midshipmen are admitted to the reserve, who are appointed from those who take honors on board the Worcester and Conway training ships (elsewhere mentioned). There are already 120 of these young men on the Naval reserve list, forming the nucleus of a fine body of officers available in an emergency. The reserves can only be called out by royal proclamation. Their term of service under this call is only three years, unless war is declared, in which case they may be held two years longer. At the end of five years they can, under any circumstances, demand their discharge. The estimates for the reserves for the year 1879-'80 were as follows: Subsistence allowance for officers of the Royal naval reserve while under drill. £1,000 Annual retainer to seamen of reserves Drill pay and lodging allowance Medical fees for examinations, targets, repairs of arms, &c. Fees to registrars for enrolling men, &c ... 81,000 38,000 1,500 2,800 4,500 *NOTE.-The British merchant ships commanded by officers of the Royal naval reserve, and fulfilling the following conditions, will be allowed to wear a blue ensign. At least ten of the crew must be men belonging to the reserve. Before hoisting the blue ensign the ship must be provided with an admiralty warrant. Remuneration to officers of coast guard who are in charge of batteries when Pay of pensioner gunnery instructors for mercantile training ships.......... Victuals for naval reserve.... Victuals for the reserve men when on drill afloat.. Repairs to drill-ships. Medical attendance, &c....... £2,000 7,000 100 600 500 25, 526 8, 229 44, 100 1,800 1,528 220, 183 In the future there must be a large addition for pensioners. Some consider this a high price to pay for such service, and regarded in the following light it is: Comparative cost of fleet and naval reserve men. The wages of the 30,887* petty officers, seamen, &c., serving in naval vessels amount to.... Amount required for victualing, supplying gratuitous clothing, &c., to above (about)............. Total cost.. £1, 119, 954 650,000 1,769,954 Or England could'add a permanent force of 3,800 men to her fleet for the money she expends on the 17,000 who may never be called on to do sea duty. Still the money may be regarded as well expended, inasmuch as it disciplines a large number of merchant seamen, whose services are thus made more valuable on board ships where discipline and training are much too often wanting. *NOTE. This is the number, exclusive of boys, employed in the Navy proper, and for general service; the coast-guard force are special-service men, whose service is almost altogether ashore. The force employed in Indian troop ships is paid by the Indian Government, and is also excluded. The last amounts to about 1,000 men. PART IV. CHAPTER I. Intimately connected with the naval interests of the country is the condition of the men who man our merchant ships. With so small a number of seamen allowed in the Navy, we cannot hope to have more than a mere nucleus of a war force; instead of the 60,000 men into which the Navy expanded during the civil war, there are now but 7,500, and in the event of any future contest we must expect our leaven of good men not to exceed one-fourth of the mass we should have thrown on our hands to discipline and train. Under present circumstances we should look in vain to the merchant service for trained seamen. The question is no less bound up with our commercial and monetary interests; we now see one hundred millions paid yearly to foreign shipowners for carrying cargoes which, had our shipping interests now their relative importance of twenty years ago, would be carried in American bottoms. Nearly the whole of the North River front of the great port of New York is taken up with a succession of steamers, among which only now and then is the American ensign noted; and when noted is seen to be flying, in almost all cases, over steamers of the coastwise trade. This decadence has, of course, had the effect to diminish immensely the number of men fitted to serve either as masters or seamen; our deep-sea commerce has dwindled to such puny proportions that there is no longer a school for either class. Our tonnage, though the second in the world, is made up mostly of coasters and river steamers,* and when American shipping takes its place once more on the ocean there will be a demand for masters especially, which there is at present no way of supplying. NOTE.-I desire to acknowledge the very valuable aid afforded me in the preparation of this paper by Thomas Brassey, esq., both through his suggestions and through his writings relating to the navy and merchant marine; by Rear-Admiral Robertson, R. N., Captain Bourchier, of the Exmouth, Captain Smith, of the Worcester, and many others who most kindly gave me the information and assistance necessary to the work. * In the proportion of 2,686,637 tons employed in river, lake, and coast service to 1592,821 registered for oversea. 114 |