THE NAVY. (Hansard, 20 July 1846)

§ SIR C. NAPIER
said, that before the House went into Committee of Supply, he was desirous of offering a few observations upon the subject of a vote which appeared in the Estimates. He saw a vote for shipbuilding and repairing ships, 1,273,789l., and large as the sum was, he did not object to its amount, but to its application. Since 1843 there had been two ships of the line, six frigates, five brigs, fourteen steamers, and we had on the stocks no less than six 92-gun ships, four or five 80-gun ships, three 50-gun frigates, and four or five 26-gun frigates, with an immense number of smaller vessels. Now, he would ask of what use it was, when we had such an immense fleet as we already had, to go on still constructing more ships to such an extent, and at such an expense to the country? It was quite impossible that we could man half of them if it were necessary for us to get afloat a large navy to-morrow. If, therefore, the Government wanted to increase the naval power of the country, the way to do it was to increase the number of good seamen, for it would be as well to talk of an army when we had a great number of barracks and forts, as to talk of a navy because we had a great number of ships. They ought, therefore, instead of directing all their attention to this vast increase in the number of ships, to direct their attention to obtaining the supply of good seamen to man their ships. 1351 There were six old 74-gun ships which the late Board of Admiralty ordered to be fitted as block-ships; they were to have 40 guns each, to be fitted up with screws, and to carry three or four days coal each; but to remain in harbour as block-ships. Suppose that plan succeeded, of what use would those block-ships be? What advantage would they possess over any other old ships towed by steamers? And for this alteration of those ships a sum of 18,000l. was to be voted as the estimated expense, although he believed that one of those ships would require an expenditure of the sum which had been put down for the whole of them. Then, with respect to steam frigates, the Avenger and the Retribution were fitted up with paddle-box boats; but when they were fully equipped the constructors said they were not fit to carry paddle-box boats, and the boats were accordingly removed, and the paddle-boxes covered as in a common steamer; so that if troops were sent abroad in time of war by those vessels, there would be no mode of landing them but by borrowing the boats of men of war, as had been done in Syria. He trusted that the new Board of Admiralty would pay attention to these subjects, and above all things that they would take means to man the navy fully and efficiently. Another important subject was the state of our harbours. The French had taken great care in that respect. The harbour of St. Maloes was capable of containing 100 sail of man-of-war steamers, while Cherbourg would contain the combined fleets of France and England. That port had two basins, one of which could enable fifty-five sail of the line to come up to the quays, and another which would contain seventy sail of line. Thus that harbour was so situated that soldiers could be sent down at the shortest notice by railways, and sent to sea without delay for any hostile purpose. With respect to the manning of our navy, it would be remembered that in 1841 the French fitted out a fleet of twenty ships, and sent it to the Mediterranean; and we could at that time only fit up seventeen sail, and had two ships waiting eleven months before they could complete their amount of men. The importance of this subject would be seen by hon. Members, when he stated that if we had occasion to commission four or five new ships of the line now, we could not man them in anything like proper time. He made these exposés with a view to direct the attention 1352 of the proper authorities in these matters to a class of abuses which, for the honour of the country and the service, it was most desirable should be remedied. There was another subject, in reference to which he was anxious to say a single word—he alluded to the contracts. On looking over a statement of the various contracts for timber made by the Board of Admiralty, he found that more than one-half of them were privately made. Now, he should be glad to know on what plea the practice of having private contracts was to be defended. He trusted that those who had now succeeded to posts of authority in the Admiralty would look to this matter, and avoid the very objectionable course of proceeding in this respect adopted by their predecessors. There was another subject he was anxious to refer to which was one of very considerable importance; he alluded to the necessity for adopting a more efficient plan for manning the British navy than that which at present prevailed. He cheerfully admitted that the late Board of Admiralty exerted themselves very laudably last year, with a view to better the condition of the British seaman, and they had succeeded in their efforts; for he was unquestionably better fed and taken better care of than in former years; but they were certainly bound in duty to direct their attention most seriously, and on the earliest possible occasion, to the manning of the British navy. Mr. Sidney Herbert was the only Gentleman connected with the Admiralty who had ever thought it necessary to devote any attention to this subject. It was his right hon. Friend the Member for Dorchester who had been the first to introduce a Bill for the registration of seamen. It was strenuously opposed by the merchants; and Lord Althorp had expressed an opinion to the effect that it would be impossible to enact any such measure; but the hon. Member for Dorchester persevered in pressing it. It passed the other House; and was the groundwork of the Bill which was in force at the present moment. Some improvements and modifications, however, were essentially necessary to be introduced into the Registration Bill and the Enlistment Bill as well, in order to render the measure as beneficial as was desirable. The men were now registered; and if the masters of merchant ships would only do their duty, and carry the provisions of the Bill vigorously out, the results would be most beneficial. Certain emendations, however, were indis- 1353 pensably essential to the well-working of this measure, as well as of the Enlistment Bill; and with reference to the plan of manning of the navy, he might say he was a decided advocate for the system of calling out the men by classes, so that every man who served his apprenticeship in a merchant ship might have an opportunity, when out of his time, of serving for some period in the royal navy. He had received a letter from Seaman's Hall, South Shields, in which it was stated that the experienced seamen there who had served their apprenticeship were strongly in favour of this system, and thought that the young seamen, when out of their time, ought certainly to serve for a stated period in the navy. There was another matter to which he was particularly desirous of calling the attention of the Board of Admiralty—he alluded to the necessity of establishing sailors' homes in as many ports as possible. There was a sailors' home in London, which would well repay the trouble of a visit. It was an admirably conducted establishment, where the men were comfortably lodged, and in every respect well treated, and where there was abundant evidence of the great advantage which such institutions were calculated to confer upon the seaman. It was a thing very much to be lamented that, notwithstanding the promises of the late Board of Admiralty, there was no sailors' home as yet in Portsmouth. In that place the old and most objectionable system still prevailed; and the sailor, on arriving in port, found himself at the mercy of crimps, who robbed him unmercifully, so that his money was gone in a few days. He was happy to say that a sailors' home was in process of erection in Liverpool; and he last year laid the foundation of a similar institution in Glasgow; but nothing would encourage such establishments so much as that the Board of Admiralty should take the institution of them under their special superintendence. He trusted that the present Board of Admiralty would take this in hand; and that the day was not far distant when institutions of this kind would be established in Portsmouth and Plymouth, where the money, clothes, bedding, health, and morals of the seamen would be secure. The last and indeed the most important matter that he was anxious to press upon the attention of those who now presided at the Admiralty, was the absolute necessity of putting somebody who had been himself in the navy at the head of the naval construction departments. If 1354 this recommendation were not attended to, it would be in vain to hope to see the ships of the British navy built properly, and in a manner becoming the character of the service. It was really impossible to exaggerate the importance of this suggestion. The present system was in this respect scandalously defective; and the Senior Lord of the Admiralty had the whole practical business of the navy entrusted to his superintendence; and he defied him, were he ever so young, talented, or vigorous, to prevent that defective system of naval architecture, which naval officers so much deplored. Ever since he had been in the navy, he had observed the same fault committed; and unless they adopted his recommendation, and appointed some competent person, who, from practical experience, understood the matter, to superintend the construction of the ships, they would go on in the same objectionable course, spending the public money, and yet not having an efficient navy. Having thanked the House for the attention with which they had listened to him, the hon. and gallant Member concluded by expressing a hope that those who had now succeeded to the Board of Admiralty would see the propriety of taking the matters to which he had thus called their attention into their immediate and serious consideration.

§ MR. WARD
would be prepared on a future occasion to make a statement in reply to tbe observations made by the hon. and gallant Member; but considering the state to which the Admiralty were reduced just at present for funds, it was to be hoped that the hon. and gallant Member would not offer any objection to the House now going into Committee, and agreeing to one or two Votes at all events on account. The fact was, they required money to go on, and could make no progress without it. There was one question, however, which had been put by the hon. and learned Member, and to which he was prepared at once to make a reply. He alluded to the inquiry with reference to a plan of retirement. This was a matter which had engaged the serious attention of the late Board of Admiralty. They had bequeathed to their successors a plan of retirement, on which the late Board were agreed, with the exception of Lord Ellenborough. The noble Lord now at the head of that department approved unreservedly of the general principles of this plan, and only waited for the 1355 meeting of the Board to adopt preliminary measures with a view to carry it into effect.

§ MR. HUME
was anxious, before the House went into Committee, to say how desirable he thought it was that some regulations should be made for the future, of such a nature as would tend to stop the constant scenes of crimination and recrimination which were always sure to take place whenever the Navy Estimates were under discussion. It appeared to him that it was most injudicious and improper to cry down our navy throughout the world in this extraordinary manner. Any one who had listened to the hon. Member would suppose that there was no country in the world which had so bad and so inefficient a navy.

§ ADMIRAL BOWLES
declared there was nothing whatever in the condition of the navy to create any pain or alarm to the House or the country; and if the hon. and gallant Member (Sir C. Napier) would at any time bring forward a specific charge or censure, he would undertake to meet it.