DOCK-YARDS

DOCK-YARDS.

Previous to the reign of Henry VIII. the kings of England had neither naval arsenals, nor dock-yards, nor any regular establishment of civil or naval officers to provide ships of war, or to fight them. They had admirals, however, possessing a high jurisdiction and very great power. (See the article ADMIRAL in this Supplement.) And it would appear, from a very curious poem in Hackluit's Collection, called "The Police of Keeping the Sea," that Henry V. had both ships, officers, and men exclusively appropriated to his service, and independent of those which the Cinque Ports were bound, and the other ports were occasionally called upon, to furnish, on any emergency. By this poem it also appears that Little Hampton, unfit as it now is, was the port at which Henry built

"his great Dromions
Which passed other great shippes of the commons,"

but what these dromions were no one now can tell; nor is it easy to conceive how the building and repairing of the Great Harry, which in the reign of Henry VII. was launched at Portsmouth, and cost L. 15,000, was managed, considering the very rapid strides made at once from the small Cinque Port vessels, manned with twenty-one men and a boy, to this enormous floating castle; at that time it is well known they had no docks nor substitutes for them.

The foundation of a regular navy, by the establishment of dock-yards, and the formation of a board, consisting of certain commissioners for the management of its affairs, was first laid by Henry VIII., and the first dock-yard created under his reign was that of Woolwich. Those of Portsmouth, Deptford, Chatham, and Sheerness, followed in succession; and the last, excepting the new and unfi-

Dock-Yards. nished yard of Pembroke, was Plymouth, which was founded by William III.

From the first establishment of the King's dock-yards, to the present time, most of them have gradually been enlarged and improved by a succession of expedients and make-shifts, which answered the purposes of the moment; but the best of them possess not those conveniences and advantages which might be obtained from a dock-yard systematically laid out on an uniform and consistent plan, with its wharfs, basins, docks, slips, magazines, and workshops, arranged according to certain fixed principles, calculated to produce convenience, economy, and dispatch.

Neither at the time when our dock-yards were first established, nor at any subsequent periods of their enlargement as the necessities of the service demanded, could it have been foreseen what incalculable advantages would one day be derived from the substitution of machinery for human labour; and without a reference to this vast improvement in all mechanical operations, it could not be expected that any provision would be made for its future introduction; on the contrary, the docks and slips, the work-shops and storehouses, were successively built at random, and placed wherever a vacant space would most conveniently admit them, and in such a manner, as in most cases to render the subsequent introduction of machinery and iron railways, and those various contrivances found in the large manufacturing establishments of private individuals, quite impossible, even in the most commodious and roomy of his Majesty's dock-yards.

The want of a systematic arrangement in our dock-yards, independent of machinery, and the enormous expenditure of money laid out on expedients, were questions of frequent discussion among naval men connected with the various administrations of the navy, and it was thought by many that it would be more desirable to construct an entire new dock-yard in some eligible situation, on an extensive scale, than to continue the improvements in the old ones. For this purpose, so early as the year 1765, the attention of the naval administration appears to have been turned to the Isle of Grain in the river Medway, along the shore of which is a fine expansive sheet of deep water. A dock-yard thus placed, on a systematic plan, would supersede that of Chatham on one side and Sheerness on the other; but it was discovered on boring that the substratum was so loose and sandy, as not to admit of a solid foundation. General Bentham, however, revived the project in the year 1800, which he seems to claim as his own, and painted the situation in such glowing colours, and as affording so many advantages for a grand naval arsenal, that the Lords of the Admiralty were induced to order a fresh set of borings to be taken. They were carried to the depth of sixty feet, and were every where found to consist of sand and mud, and totally unfit for the construction of basins, docks, and such solid buildings as are required for naval purposes.

The imperfection of the naval yards to the eastward, the extension of the boundaries of France towards that quarter, the occupation of the great naval port of Antwerp, and the uninterrupted com-

mand of the Scheldt and the ports of Holland by Dock-Yards. that power, rendered an enlargement of the means of naval equipment in the eastern dock-yards of England, or a new naval arsenal, indispensable. For the latter purpose, the banks of the Thames were considered, in every point of view, as preferable to those of the Medway, the entrance into the latter being narrow, and having a bar across it, on which, at low water of spring tides, there is only 14 or 15 feet of water; whereas the navigation of the Thames is at all times uninterrupted, excepting by the badness of the weather. It communicates directly with the great market of London, in which every description of stores, foreign and domestic, is accumulated; and the trade of the Thames is the great source from which the fleet is supplied with seamen. The marshy peninsula of North-fleet was considered by naval men, who had turned their attention to the subject, to possess every possible requisite for the establishment of a royal dock-yard, on an extensive scale. It was sufficiently removed from the mouth of the river to be completely sheltered, yet near enough for ships to proceed to sea with one wind. In the river between North-fleet and the sea, there is plenty of water for the largest three-deckers to proceed with all their guns, ammunition, stores and provisions, on board, and almost with any wind, if moderate. A copious stream of good fresh water runs across the peninsula. The soil afforded plenty of earth, suitable for bricks; the foundation was excellent for docks, slips, wharfs, and buildings of all kinds. It was sufficiently near the metropolis for speedy communication with the naval departments, and to receive stores in barges and the river craft. It was capable of being defended both on the land and river side; and when the whole was raised to the height of twelve feet with a dry gravelly soil, from the excavations of the docks and basins, there could be no doubt of the healthiness of the situation. By the direction, therefore, of the Lords of the Admiralty, a complete survey was made by Messrs Rennie and Whidbey, who furnished a plan and estimate of a naval arsenal, on a magnificent scale, within which all kinds of machinery were proposed to be employed, for the making of anchors, sawing of timber, rope-making, block-making, &c. Iron railways to be laid from the timber wharfs to the timber fields, from thence to the mills and pits, and from them to the docks, slips, and workshops. The estimate, it appears, was about six millions sterling, which Mr Rose, in his letter to the late Lord Melville, calculates, with the fortifications and unforeseen expences, to amount actually to ten millions; an expence which the minister did not venture to propose, though there can be little doubt that, when the case was fairly stated to the public, and the necessity of increasing our naval establishments to the eastward had been made apparent, no violent opposition would have been made to a measure, which tended to keep up our naval superiority, and which was the less objectionable, as none of the money would have been taken out of the country, but circulated within it, to the encouragement of the arts, trades, and manufactures of the kingdom.

The Board of Revision made a detailed report on the merits of the plan, which, however, as the exe-

Dock-Yards. cution of it was delayed, was not printed; but the real reason was supposed to be, that of the very gloomy view taken by the Commissioners, of the disadvantages and imperfections of the present dock-yards, which Mr Rose seems to think, and, indeed, it is generally thought, is by no means warranted, and that those disadvantages, in that report, are greatly exaggerated: perhaps to enhance the value of the North-fleet plan, of which they seem to have been much enamoured. Imperfect as the old dock-yards are, chiefly from their having risen, as before observed, to their present state, by a succession of expedients and make-shifts, they are, nevertheless, far superior to any similar establishments on the Continent of Europe; if we except the unfinished arsenal of Cherbourg, whose magnificent basins (see BREAKWATER) are certainly unequalled, and the space surrounding them capable of being turned to every possible advantage. M. Ch. Dupin, a French officer, who lately examined all our dock-yards with a skilful eye, pronounces them as by far superior to any on the continent. We have heard much of the magnificent basins and the covered docks of Carls-crona, but the one has been greatly overrated, and the others are merely covered over with shed-like roofs; nor is there the least likelihood that the plan will ever be finished. We have been told likewise of the superior advantages of the naval arsenal of Copenhagen, where every ship has its appropriate storehouse. This plan has been adopted at Brest, and is reprobated there by every naval officer, and the officers of the yard, as most inconvenient, and a great waste of room, by having the most bulky and the most trifling articles stowed together in the same room. A better arrangement is, that of having certain magazines appropriated to certain kinds of stores, and arranged according to the class or rate of ship for which they are intended; and if appropriated or returned stores, the name of the ship to which they belong painted in front of the birth in which they are deposited. This is the system generally followed in our dock-yards.

The great point in which our naval arsenals are most defective, is the want of wet-docks or basins; which, however, are, to a certain extent, compensated at the two principal dock-yards of Portsmouth and Plymouth, by two magnificent harbours, in which the whole navy of England, when dismantled, may be moored and laid up in ordinary, in perfect security. The want of basins, however, in our dock-yards, are most severely felt in time of war, when the expeditious fitting out of the fleet becomes so very desirable. One at Portsmouth, on a small scale, has been found of incalculable advantage to that yard; and a larger one, now constructing at Sheerness, will probably make that yard of sufficient capacity to supersede the necessity of a new establishment at North-fleet, or in any other situation to the eastward.

The perfection of a dock-yard, then, independent of the advantages of machinery, which are but contingent, may be considered to depend upon one or more extensive basins, surrounded by spacious wharfs or quays. By means of these a prodigious saving of time, labour, and expence, may be saved, in every

Dock-Yards. stage of the progress of fitting out a ship for sea, from the moment she is launched from the slip, or taken out of a dock, as well as in dismantling a ship on returning to port to be paid off and repaired, or laid up in ordinary. For this purpose the docks and slips should occupy one of the sides of the basin, with working sheds for carpenters and joiners, smiths' shops, saw-pits, and seasoning-sheds between them. The ship, when completed on the slip and launched into the basin, may then be taken immediately into the adjoining dock to be coppered. From this she proceeds to the second side of the basin, in the corner of which is the ballast wharf; the remainder of the side will probably be occupied by the victualling department, with appropriate stores in the rear for various kinds of provisions, and behind these the bakery, brewery, and slaughter-houses; on the wharf the iron tanks for holding water, now universally used for the ground tier, in lieu of wooden casks. These are taken on board next after the ballast, and, together with the superincumbent casks, would be filled in the ship's hold, by means of flexible pipes to convey the water into them. The provisions would, at the same time, be taken on board at the same wharf, in front of the victualling stores. The third side might be appropriated to the ordnance department, with the gun wharf extending along the whole side, and the gun-carriage storehouses, magazines, &c. in the rear. The fourth side would be occupied as the anchor wharf, with the cable storehouses, the sail lofts and stores, rigging loft, and magazines for various stores in the rear. Behind these again, on the first side, containing the dry-docks and building-slips, the ground would be appropriated to the reception, birthing, and converting of timber, from whence iron railways would lead to the saw-mills, saw-pits, and workshops, all of which would be placed on that side. On the second side a pond or basin for the victualling lighters and craft, with wharfs communicating with the manufactories and storehouses. The same on the ordnance or third side; and on the fourth side might be placed the ropery, hemp storehouses, tar-houses, with a basin for hemp-vessels, lighters, &c. Communicating with the great basin on the building side, and also with the river or harbour, on the shore of which the dock-yard is to be formed, should be a mast-pond, with a lock for the storing of spars; in front, the mast-houses, top-houses, capstan-houses, and a slip to launch the masts into the pond. Here, also, might be placed the boat-houses, and boat-pond.

A peninsular situation, like that of North-fleet, having, at least, three-fourths of its shore surrounded with deep water, is peculiarly favourable for some such arrangement as is here mentioned; as any number of locks and canals might be made to communicate with the river, so that ships coming into the basin might not interfere with those going out, nor the lighters and other craft bringing their several species of stores, with either, or with one another. By such an arrangement a ship would be equipped for sea at half the present expence, and within half the usual time. A ship fitting out for an anchorage distant from the dock-yard, as at the Nore and Spit-head, is liable to every inconvenience and delay;

Dock-Yards. as all her guns, stores, provisions, and water, must be carried to her in dock-yard lighters and other craft, into which and out of which they must be hoisted and rehoisted; liable to delay from bad weather and contrary winds; to be stove alongside the ship, to the total loss or damaging of their cargoes; added to which, is the loss of time in going backwards and forwards, especially to the artificers; the desertion of the men; the accidents from the upsetting of boats; and many other evils of a magnitude not easily to be calculated, and exceeded only by the disappointment and vexation that unavoidably occur when ships are preparing for some particular and pressing service; all of which, when ships are fitted out in a basin for sea, are avoided. Here no delay, no embezzlement, no desertion, can take place. A ship in returning from sea may be docked and undocked into the basin with all her stores on board; and if to be paid off, instead of keeping the crew on board for weeks, till all the stores have been delivered into the dock-yard, the ship, by the proposed plan of basins, would remain securely in the basin, to be stripped at leisure by the riggers and labourers of the yard, and the crew become immediately available for other ships. Of the many superior advantages of wet docks for laying up ships to discharge, over the practice of exposing them in rivers or harbours, the shipping interest of the port of London, Liverpool, Bristol, and Hull, can best testify, more especially that of London, which has taken the precaution to surround the docks with high inclosing walls, by means of which all access is barred, and all possibility of embezzlement prevented.

From a brief description of the royal dock-yards as they now stand, a general idea may be formed of their several capacities, advantages, and defects. Taking them in succession, according to their vicinity to the capital, the first is

Deptford.—The front or wharf wall of this dock yard, facing the Thames, is about 1700 feet in length, and the mean breadth of the yard 650 feet; the superficial content about thirty acres. It has three slips for ships of the line, on the face next the river, and two for smaller vessels, which launch into a basin, or wet dock, 260 by 220 feet. There are also three dry-docks, one of them a double dock, communicating with the Thames, and the other, a smaller one, opening into the basin. With these restricted means, even with an adequate number of workmen, its capacity for building ships, or for large repairs, must be very limited; but in the occasional repair of fourth-rates and frigates, and in the fitting out of sloops and smaller vessels, a great deal of work was performed at Deptford in the course of the war. The proximity of Deptford dock-yard to the capital is, however, of great importance, in the convenience it affords of receiving from this great mart all the home manufactures and products which may be purchased by contract for the use of the navy. It is, in fact, the general magazine of stores and necessaries for the fleet, from whence they are shipped off, as occasion requires, to the home yards, the out-ports, and the foreign stations, in store-ships, transports, coasting sloops, lighters and launches, according to the distance to which they must be sent, to the

amount, in time of war, of more than 30,000 tons Dock-Yards, a-year.

The principal stores deposited in Deptford dock-yard are small cordage, canvas and ships sails, to an immense amount; beds, hair for beds, hammocks, slops, and marine clothing; anchors under the weight of about 75 hundred, which are generally made by contract; all above that size being manufactured in the King's dock-yards.

The great magazines for the reception of these stores consist of a large quadrangular building, with a square in the middle, of three stories in height, with cellars underneath, in which are contained pitch, tar, rosin, and turpentine. The length of each side of these store-houses is nearly the same, differing from a square only by some eighteen feet; this length is about 210 feet, but they vary in width from 46 to 24 feet.

Parallel to the west front of this quadrangle is the rigging-house and sail-loft, 240 feet, and nearly 50 feet wide, in which all the rigging is fitted for ships and stowed away, the sails cut out, made, and placed in proper births for their reception, as well as for various other stores of a smaller kind.

On the eastern extremity of the yard is a long range of building, called the pavilion, in which the beds, hammocks, and slop-clothing are kept, and in which also are the house-carpenters', the joiners', and wheelwrights' shops. This building is about 580 feet long, by 26 feet wide.

The remaining buildings usually appropriated to the different services of a dock-yard, are all to be found at Deptford. A good blacksmith's-shop, a plumber, glazier, painter-shops, seasoning-sheds, store-cabins, saw-pits, mast-house and pond, boat-houses, mould-loft, timber births, besides good houses and gardens for the principal officers; with several coach-houses and stables, so that the whole space is completely filled up in every part.

The number of men employed in this yard, in time of war, may have been about fifteen hundred, of whom about one-half were shipwrights, and other artificers, and the other half labourers. There were, besides, in constant employ, eighteen or twenty teams of four each, of horses, to drag timber and heavy stores.

Adjoining to the dock-yard is the victualling-yard, the completest establishment of the kind, perhaps, in this or any other kingdom, though still capable of much improvement in the arrangement. Its frontage to the Thames is about 1000 feet, and mean depth 1000 feet, containing about 19 acres. This space is laid out in a more convenient manner than any of the dock-yards, for answering all the purposes which were intended. The general store-houses in front of the wharf wall, the cooperage, the brewery, the butchery, and the bakery, are all separate and complete in themselves. Besides all the requisite offices for keeping the accounts, there are houses and gardens for eight of the principal officers of the yard; and when the old wharf wall shall have been repaired, and carried out a little farther into the river, for which a sum of L. 27,000 appears on the estimate of 1817, the victualling-yard will be complete in all respects, according to the present arrangement.—(Navy Estimates for 1817.)

Dock-Yards. The cooperage is spacious and well laid out. The staves are all sawed by hand, and this operation employs about 100 sawyers in time of war. Mr Brown of Fulham has succeeded, it seems, in making casks by machinery, by which seventeen men in nine hours are stated to be able to complete 300 casks, whereas, by the ordinary method, the same number could only complete about eighty. The brewery is well arranged, so is the bakery; and the butchery, consisting of a yard for keeping the cattle, with pens for sheep and hogs, two spacious slaughtering-houses, cutting and salting houses, by the abundant supply of water and constant washing, are kept in the cleanest order, and free from any disagreeable smell.

In the salting season 260 carcasses have been slaughtered in each of the two days in the week appropriated to killing, and the hog hanging-house is capable of containing 650 carcasses.

The total number of coopers, sawyers, bakers, and labourers employed during war, in the victualling yard at Deptford, amounted probably to twelve or thirteen hundred.

Woolwich Dock-yard.—This first and most ancient of the dock-yards presents a frontage to the river of 3300 feet; the breadth very irregular, from 250 to 750 feet, and contains an area of about 36 acres. It has five slips, which open into the river, three of which are for ships of the line, one for frigates, and one for vessels of a smaller class. It has three dry docks, one a double and one single dock, all of them capable of receiving ships of the line. With all its imperfections, Woolwich yard, with a complete establishment of artificers, has been of great service both in the building and repairing ships of all classes. Some of the largest and finest ships in the navy have been launched from Woolwich yard, among which may be mentioned the Nelson and the Ocean. In fact, it is chiefly as a building yard that Woolwich ought to be considered as of much importance; and even in this respect it has, of late years, much deteriorated, owing to the increasing shallowness of the river, and the immense accumulation of mud, which is found, in a very few weeks, completely to block up all the entrances into the docks and slips, and along the whole length of the wharf wall. It is stated, in the Eighth Report of the Select Committee on Finance (1818), that "the wharf wall at Woolwich, owing to the action of the tide on the foundation, is in a falling state, and in danger of being swept into the river, it being secured only in a temporary manner, and requires to be immediately rebuilt in a direction that will preserve it from similar injury hereafter, and prevent, in a great degree, that accumulation of mud, which has, in the course of the last ten years, occasioned an expense of upwards of L. 125,692; and would threaten, in time, to render the yard useless."

It was, in fact, found necessary to diminish the depth of the hold of the Nelson, in consequence of the Trinity Board having stated that no vessel drawing above 19 feet of water could be navigated down to Erith Reach, and one even of that draught not without difficulty and danger.

The magazines or storehouses are not to be com-

pared with those of Deptford. They are more confined, and, owing to the narrowness of the yard, and the progressive additions made according as necessity required, there is little or no methodical arrangement. As far, however, as regards the building and repairing of ships, its conveniences may be reckoned superior to those of Deptford. The new mast-houses and mast-slip, the new mast-ponds, and the houses for stowing yards, topmasts, &c. with the locks under them, are all excellent. The timber births are well arranged, and the addition recently made to the western extremity of the yard will allow the stacking of several thousand loads of timber, and of classing it according to the purposes to which it may be applicable; and when the new smithery, and the line of wharf-wall shall be completed, the dock-yard of Woolwich will become an important and valuable naval arsenal.

A considerable quantity of cables and cordage are manufactured at Woolwich; but the ropery is most inconveniently situated at a distance from the dock-yard, and great part of the town intervenes between them. Its length is 180 fathoms, but so narrow, that the hemp store-houses, of three stories high, come close to the spinning-house on either side. These store-houses are capable of containing about 2000 tons of hemp, and the cellars underneath them about 6000 barrels of pitch and tar. The hemp stores in the dock-yard are capable of containing about 2000 tons more.

In the present state and situation of the ropery, it would scarcely admit of the introduction of machinery, as has been done in most of the great private manufactories. The process of tarring, or passing the yarns through heated tar, and then drawing them through apertures in an iron plate, is performed at Woolwich by four horses. The laying of a cable of twenty-two or twenty-three inches is performed by the simultaneous exertion of 170 or 180 men, and requires upwards of an hour of the most severe exertion of strength, especially on the part of those who are stationed at the cranks, who not unusually break a blood-vessel by the severity of the labour. The simple and beautiful machine, invented by the late Captain Huddart, performs with more accuracy the same process, and with the attendance of only three persons.

Woolwich dock-yard seems to be complete in all the usual appendages of artificers, work-shops, store-cabins, offices for the clerks, houses and gardens for the commissioner and the principal officers of the establishment. The number of men employed during the war amounted to about 1800, of whom nearly 1100 were shipwrights and artificers, and the rest labourers. The number of spinners, knitters, layers, labourers, &c. in the ropery, might be about 260. Upwards of twenty teams of horses were daily employed in this yard.

One of the four divisions (the 4th, consisting of thirteen companies) of Royal Marines are stationed at Woolwich, where barracks, and all the necessary buildings, have been erected for their accommodation on shore.—(See the article MARINES.)

Chatham Dock-yard.—This dock-yard is situated on the right bank of the Medway, to which it pre-

Dock-Yards. sends a line of river wall at least 5500 feet in length; the width at the upper end being 400, in the middle 1000, and at the lower end about 800. The superficial contents may be estimated at about 90 acres. It has six building-slips on the front, from which ships are launched into the river; three of these are for ships of the line; and three for frigates and smaller vessels. In the same front are four dry-docks communicating with the Medway.

The inconveniences arising from want of arrangement are less felt in Chatham than in any other of his Majesty's dock-yards; and it could not perhaps be materially improved, if, on the same site, an entirely new dock-yard was to be planned. At the southern extremity of the yard is the ropery, hemp and yarn houses, rigging houses, a range of store-houses, 1000 feet in length, by about 50 in breadth, in front of which, along the wharf, are the anchor racks, extending nearly a thousand feet. Next to these are the slips and docks, with the working-sheds and artificers' shops close in the rear, an excellent smithery, timber-births, seasoning-sheds, deal and iron yard, &c.; and beyond these, on the eastern extremity of the yard, the officers' houses and gardens. The commissioner's house, and excellent garden, are situated nearly in the centre of the yard. The lower, or north-eastern part of the yard, is occupied by mast-ponds, mast-houses and slips, store boat-houses and slips, ballast-wharf, timber-births, and saw-pits.

With all the advantages of interior arrangement, Chatham dock-yard still labours under that great defect to which most of the dock-yards are liable, from the injudicious manner in which the wharf walls have been constructed; without any regard being paid to the ebbing and flowing of the tide, or the currents of rivers, projecting in one part and retiring in others; the consequence of which is, that eddies are formed, and a constant accumulation of mud takes place along the line of the wall, and particularly in the openings of the dry-docks, the slips, and the jetties. Of late years, however, since the attention of engineers has been called to this important subject, every opportunity is taken, in the repair of the wharf walls of the dock-yards, to correct the injurious effects arising from their improper direction; and as the river wall of Chatham is rebuilding, there is no doubt that due attention will be had to the line in which it is to be carried, so as to obviate the evil so universally complained of.

There is no wet-dock or basin in Chatham-yard, but the Medway, flowing along it in a fine sheet of water, in some degree answers the purpose of one. The whole river might indeed be converted into a magnificent basin, by pursuing the same plan as that adopted in forming the new docks at Bristol. This would be effected by cutting a new channel for the river through the chalk cliff below Frindsbury Church, opening out a little above Upnor Castle, and continuing the new channel across the marsh near St Mary's Creek, so as to open out into Gillingham Reach, close to the fort. Here a basin might be constructed wherein ships might be equipped in all respects ready for sea, whenever the wind and tide should be favourable. At present, owing to the

shallowness of the water, and the crooked navigation Dock-Yards. from Chatham round Upnor Point, they are obliged to take in their water and ballast at one place, their stores and provisions at another, their guns, powder, and ammunition at a third; in consequence of which, a ship is usually longer in getting out to sea from Chatham than even from Deptford. If this new channel was made for the river, the whole space from the first reach below Rochester Bridge to St Mary's Creek, at the lower extremity of the dock-yard, might be converted into one magnificent basin.

Chatham, being a building, a repairing, and refitting yard, the establishment of men was much greater in war than Woolwich or Deptford; the number of shipwrights, other artificers and labourers, being upwards probably of 2000, besides that of the rope yard, which might amount to about 250.

A considerable piece of new ground (about 2000 feet in length by 200 in breadth) has recently been added to the upper part of Chatham dock-yard, on which is erected one of the completest saw mills in the United Kingdom, under the direction of Mr Brunell. The mill is situated on high ground, and close to the margin of a deep circular basin or reservoir of water, dug down to the level of the Medway; with which it communicates by a tunnel or subterranean canal, passing through the mast-pond. From the side of the reservoir, opposite to the mill, proceeds a long iron railway, supported on a double row of iron pillars; and alongside of and parallel to this railway, on the side next to the dock-yard, are a continued series of stages for the reception of timber after it has been sawn into plank. A steam-engine, of the power of thirty-six horses, sets in motion all the operations of this mill, which may thus be briefly enumerated: 1st, It drags up the large barks of timber through the canal into the reservoir, as they are wanted. 2d, It lifts up these large logs to the margin of the basin, carries them into the mill, and places them on the frame under the saws. 3d, It saws them with the greatest nicety into planks of any required thickness. 4th, It takes the pieces away thus sawn, and places them on carriages of iron. 5th, It drives these carriages along the iron railway to any required distance; and, 6th, It deposits the sawn timber on the stages, ready to be used, in any part of the dock-yard where it may be required. From these stages it is conveniently conveyed to the docks or slips by single horse carts or trucks, with great expedition, down an easy descent, and without the least interference with any of the works carrying on in the yard. The whole of these operations are conducted by about ten or at most twelve men.

This mill is supposed to be equal to the power of fifty saw-pits and nearly one hundred sawyers, and is capable of supplying the dock-yards of Chatham and Sheerness with all the straight-sawn timber that they can require. But the great advantage of the plan is, in its application of the steam-engine to the management and arrangement of timber, by which the labour and expence of a great number of horses are saved; and, what is of still greater importance,

Dock-Yards. the obstruction and impediments to the general services of the yard are avoided, which the dragging about of large balks to and from the saw-pits, with teams of four horses each, occasion in all the other yards. It allows, besides, the large space of ground, which these saw-pits would occupy, to be appropriated to other purposes.

Marines. The first division of Royal Marines, consisting of twenty-one companies, is stationed at Chatham, in excellent barracks, situated near to one of the extremities of the dock-yard. (See art. MARINES.)

Victualling-Yard. There is a small victualling depot, situated partly in the parish of Chatham and partly in that of Rochester, from whence the ships at Chatham and at Sheerness and the Nore receive a supply of provisions and water; but no articles of ship's stores are manufactured. The store-houses are sufficiently capacious for containing all the stores that can be required for the ships fitted out at the two ports on the Medway. The establishment consists of an agent, clerk of the check, storekeeper, and their respective clerks, which, with the messengers, porters, labourers, &c. may amount to about 90 persons.

Sheerness Dock-Yard.—This dock-yard is situated on a low point of land on the island of Sheppey, whose soil is composed of sand and mud brought from the sea on the one side and down the Medway on the other, and has so much contracted the mouth of this river, as completely to command the entrance of it. The situation, in a military point of view, is a most important one, particularly from its vicinity to the North Sea, and to the anchorage at the Nore; by which anchorage and the works of Sheerness, the mouths of the Thames and the Medway are completely defended.

As a situation for a dock, the objections to which it was liable are now in a fair way of being removed. On account of the low swampy ground on which it stood, fevers and agues were at one time so prevalent, that shipwrights and other artificers were literally impressed and compelled to work at Sheerness. In process of time, however, a town sprung up close to the dock-yard, and with it some little improvement by drainage, embankments, and other measures. Still it continued, till a very short time ago, an unhealthy and disagreeable place. As a dock-yard, it was totally destitute of all convenience or arrangement; and the whole premises mixed among wharfs and buildings belonging to the Ordnance Department, did not exceed fifteen acres of ground. The store-houses were dispersed in various parts of this space, and in so ruinous a state, that a ship hauled up in the mud was by far the best in the whole yard. It had two small inconvenient docks for frigates or smaller vessels. It was, in fact, a mere port of refitment, and might be considered as an appendage to Chatham.

From the very limited capacity of Sheerness, and the mighty preparations in the Scheldt, originated the magnificent project of the naval arsenal at North-fleet, which, from a change of political circumstances, and from the important improvements now carrying on at Sheerness, is not likely ever again to be revived. The Finance Committee (Eighth Report) say, they have learnt "that the

re-establishment and extension of the yards at Sheerness and Chatham may be considered as superseding, under any circumstance that can now be likely to occur, the plan contemplated for a naval establishment at North-fleet, on so extensive a scale as to require the expenditure of several millions."

Those improvements appear, indeed, to be of that magnitude as to render any establishment at North-fleet wholly unnecessary, by making Sheerness, when finished, as complete a dock-yard, and perhaps more so, than any other in his Majesty's dominions. Previous to carrying into execution this important undertaking, a committee of engineers and others was appointed, among whom was Watt, Huddart, and Jessop, whose plan was afterwards minutely examined, and some slight improvements suggested therein by Mr Rennie. The first stone was laid on the 19th August 1814, and the whole will probably be completed in the year 1822; at an expense not far short of one million Sterling.

The advantages arising from the adoption of this plan are, 1st, The addition of nineteen acres of ground to the dock-yard, by taking in the whole of the muddy western shore of the Medway, beyond the low-water mark of neap-tides, and getting rid of the offensive and unwholesome smell which it perpetually occasioned. 2dly, The construction of a wet dock or basin 520 feet in length by 300 in width, equal in surface to three and one half acres, and capable of containing a fleet of ten sail of the line, in which they can take on board all their stores, ammunition, and provisions, and be equipped in all respects ready to proceed to sea. The entrance into this basin is from the Medway, through a lock that is closed by a floating dam-gate. 3dly, The construction of three dry docks on the eastern side of the basin, and opening into it, each capable of holding a first rate ship of the line. 4th, Ample space for constructing store-houses, mast-houses, mast-ponds, and slip, smithery, and artificers' workshops of every description. 5th, A farther extension of the dock-yard, by the addition of ten or twelve acres of a low marshy tract of land called Major's Marsh, which at present is below the level of the sea, and the water kept out, as in Holland, by embankments, but which will be raised several feet by the excavation of the basin, the dry docks, and the mast-ponds, so as to allow of drains to carry off the water to the shore, affording space for timber-births, houses and gardens for all the officers of the dock-yard, as well as for the Admiral Commanding in Chief at Sheerness and the Nore. These additions, together with some part of the premises held by the Board of Ordnance, will make the whole area of the new dock-yard of Sheerness amount to upwards of fifty acres. The wharf wall on the south side of the basin in front of the intended mast-houses is 100 feet, and that on the river front 60 feet in width, lined on both sides with as complete a specimen of good and beautiful masonry of granite as any in the kingdom.

The usual officers with their clerks amounted, during the war, to about 50; and the shipwrights, artificers, and labourers, to about 800; the shipwrights being the most numerous, as the principal

Dock-Yards. part of the work was confined to the repairing of small vessels in the yard, but mostly to repairs of the fleet afloat at the Nore or in the Medway.

Portsmouth Dock-yard.—Portsmouth dock-yard will always be considered as the grand naval arsenal of England, and the head-quarters or general rendezvous of the British fleet. The dock-yard, accordingly, is by far the most capacious; and the safe and extensive harbour, the noble anchorage at Spithead, the central situation, with respect to the English Channel and the opposite coast of France, and particularly with regard to the naval arsenal at Cherbourg, render Portsmouth of the very first importance as a naval station; and, in this view of it, every possible attention appears to have been paid to the extension and improvement of its dock-yard. The sea wharf-wall of this yard, extending in the direction of north and south along the western shore of the harbour, is about 3500 feet in length; and the mean depth may be 2000 feet, and it incloses an area of more than one hundred acres.

In the centre of the wharf-wall, facing the harbour, is the entrance into the great basin, whose dimensions are 380 by 260 feet, and its area 2½ acres. Into this basin open four excellent dry-docks, and on each of its sides is a dry-dock opening into the harbour; and all of these six docks are capable of receiving ships of the largest class. Besides these is a double dock for frigates, the stern dock communicating through a lock with the harbour, and the head dock with another basin about 250 feet square. There is also a Camber, with a wharf-wall on each side 660 feet in length, and of sufficient width to admit of transports and merchant ships bringing stores to the dock-yard. In the same face of the yard are three building-slips capable of receiving the largest ships, and a small one for sloops, besides two building-slips for frigates on the northern face of the yard, and a smaller slip for sloops. The range of store-houses on the north-east side, and the rigging-house and sail-loft on the south-west side of the Camber, are magnificent buildings, the former occupying nearly 600 feet in length, exclusive of the two intermediate spaces, and nearly 60 feet in width, and the two latter 400 feet. The two hemp-houses and the two sea-store houses occupy a line of building, which, with the three narrow openings between them of 25 feet each, extend 800 feet. The rope-house, tarring-house, and other appendages of the ropery, are on the same scale. The two sets of quadrangular store-houses, and the two corresponding buildings, with the intervening timber-births and saw-pits, at the head of the dry-docks, issuing from the great basin, are all excellent and conveniently placed. The smithery is on a large scale, and contiguous to it is an iron-mill, a copper-mill, and a copper refinery, at which is remelted and rolled all the old copper which is taken from ships' bottoms; and here, also, are cast bolts, gudgeons, and various articles of copper used in the navy. The number of sheets manufactured in one year of the war amounted to about 300,000, weighing above 12,000 tons, on which it has been calculated that a saving of at least £20,000 was effected for the public, besides obtaining a good pure article. Most of these were constructed under

the direction of General Bentham. (Bentham's Sec- Dock-Yards. vices, &c.) At the head of the north dock are the wood mills, at which every article of turnery, rabbiting, &c. is performed for the use of the navy, from boring the chamber of a pump to the turning of a button for a chest of drawers. But the principal part of these mills is the machinery for making blocks, contrived by that ingenious artist Mr Brunell (see BLOCK-MACHINERY), which cannot be regarded without exciting the highest respect for the talents and skill of the author.

The northern extremity of the dock-yard is chiefly occupied with seasoning-sheds, saw-pits, and timber-births,—the working boat-house, and boat-store-house. On the eastern extremity are situated the houses and the gardens of the Commissioner and principal officers of the yard; the chapel, the royal naval college, and the school of naval architecture. The former institution has recently been remodelled, and the latter is a new establishment formed by the recommendation of the Commissioners for revising the civil affairs of the navy, for the education of a certain number of naval architects, known by the name of the "Superior class of Shipwright Apprentices." These two establishments were combined, by order in Council of the 30th January 1816, under the following regulations:

Naval College.—The number of students not to exceed, in time of war, one hundred; in peace, seventy, of whom thirty are to consist of the sons of commissioned officers of the navy, and to receive their board, clothing, lodging, and education, free of all expence; the remainder to consist of sons of noblemen, gentlemen, civil and military officers, on payment of £72 a-year. The age of admission from 12½ to 14 years. A bond is to be signed by their friends, in the penalty of £200 for the first class, and £100 for the second class, in the event of any young gentleman being withdrawn from the navy before he has served the proper time to qualify for the commission of lieutenant. (See article NAVY.) No student to remain at college longer than three years; at the end of which, or sooner, if he shall have completed the plan of education, he is discharged into one of his Majesty's ships, the college time being reckoned two years of the six required to be served to qualify for such commission.

Naval Architectural School.—The number of students not to exceed twenty-four. Candidates for admission examined at stated periods, the degree of merit alone giving preference for admission; the age of entrance from 15 to 17, and the duration of their apprenticeship seven years. The students are lodged, boarded, and educated, free of all expence, and have the following yearly allowances: 1st year £25, 2d £30, 3d £35, 4th £40, 5th £45, 6th £50, 7th £60. And at the expiration of their apprenticeship they are eligible to all the situations in the ship-building department of his Majesty's dock-yards, to be there employed as supernumeraries, until regular vacancies may occur; provided the apprentice shall have completed the plan of education, and certified by the professor to be properly qualified.

The consolidated establishment of the two departments consists of a governor, who is the first

Dock-Yards. Lord of the Admiralty for the time being; a lieutenant-governor, who is a post-captain in the navy, with a salary of L. 800 a-year, and apartments; two lieutenants of the navy with L. 200 a-year each, apartments, and an allowance for board. A professor, who is a graduate of the University of Cambridge, with a salary of L. 700 a-year, and apartments; a master of classics, history, and geography, with L. 350 a-year, and apartments; three assistant-masters, well skilled in mathematics, the first with L. 250, the two others L. 200 a-year each, with an allowance for house-rent; besides masters for teaching drawing, dancing, fencing, and the French language, and two sergeants of marine artillery. In addition to which, is a superintendent of the school for naval architecture, a professional ship-builder, brought up in one of his Majesty's dock-yards, to instruct the apprentices in the practical part of ship-building.

The professor has the charge, and keeps the rate of all the chronometers, which may not be in use, belonging to the navy; and all midshipmen in the navy are now required to pass their examination in the theory of navigation, at the naval college, by the professor, in presence of the admiral commanding in chief, and the lieutenant-governor. (See NAVY.)

The strength of Portsmouth dock-yard, during the war, was considerably above 4000 working men, of which about 1500 were shipwrights and caulkers; the joiners and house-carpenters were nearly 500; the smiths 200 nearly; the sawyers 250; the riggers and their labourers nearly 200; and scavelmen and labourers of various kinds nearly 700; and the rope-yard employed about 350 persons.

There are two victualling establishments at this port; the one in Portsmouth town, the other across the harbour, at a place called Weevil; both of them inconveniently situated for supplying the ships with water and provisions, more especially such as may have to take them in at Spithead. The former consists chiefly of provision-stores and magazines, with a tide-mill and a bakery; at the latter there is a cooperage and a brewery. The total number of persons employed, including the officers, at the two establishments, during the war, amounted to about 500.

The noble building for the reception of sick and wounded seamen is situated on the Gosport side of Portsmouth harbour. Being appropriated to the military branch of the navy, it will be described under the head of NAVY.

The second division of Royal Marines, consisting of eighteen companies, are stationed at Portsmouth, in barracks, which are inconveniently situated in the town; and eight companies of the Royal Marine Artillery have their head-quarters at Fort Monckton, not far from Haslar Hospital. (See the art. MARINES.)

Plymouth Dock-Yard.—The naval station of Plymouth is inferior only to that of Portsmouth; and, in point of its more westerly situation, as considered with reference to the grand naval arsenal of Brest, it is superior even to Portsmouth. It possesses one of the finest harbours in the world, capable of containing, in perfect security at their moorings, not less than a hundred sail of the line; and, when the Breakwater shall be completed, it may then boast of an excellent roadstead for eighteen or twenty sail of the line. The

dock-yard, however, has only one small basin, without gates, whose dimensions are 250 by 180 feet, and contents little more than an acre; but the excellent harbour of Hamoaze, on the western bank of which, the wharf wall extends, almost compensates for the want of one, especially as the depth of water allows the largest ships to range along the jetties, and receive their stores on board immediately from the wharf.

Plymouth dock-yard extends in a circular sweep along the shores of Hamoaze 3500 feet, its width about the middle, where it is greatest, being 1600, and at each extremity 1000 feet, making its superficial contents about 96 acres. In the line facing the harbour are two dry-docks for ships of the first rate, a double dock for 74 gun ships, communicating with Hamoaze, and another dock for ships of the line, opening into the basin. There is, besides, a graving-dock without gates, and a canal or camber similar to that in Portsmouth yard, for the admission of vessels bringing stores into the yard; which, communicating with the boat-pond, cuts the dock-yard nearly into two parts. There are five jetties projecting from the entrances of the dry-docks into Hamoaze, along side of which ships are conveniently brought when undocked. All these are situated between the centre and the northern extremity of the harbour line. On the southern part are three building slips for the largest class of ships, and two for smaller vessels, the outer mast-pond and mast-houses, timber-births, saw-pits, and smithery. Higher up, on this end of the yard, is an extensive mast-pond and mast-locks, with plank-houses over them; and, above these, three hemp magazines, contiguous to which is the finest ropery in the kingdom, consisting of two ranges of buildings, one the laying-house, the other the spinning-house, each being 1200 feet in length, and three stories in height. In the construction of the new rope-house no wood has been used, excepting the shingles of the roof, to which the slates are fastened. All the rest is of iron. The ribs and girders of the floors are of cast iron, covered over with Yorkshire paving stone, and the doors, window frames, and staircases, are all of cast iron, so that the whole building may be considered as proof against fire.

The northern half of the yard, besides the docks and basin, with all the appropriate working sheds and artificers' shops, contains a cluster of very elegant stone buildings, ranged round a quadrangle, the longest sides being about 450 feet, and the shortest 300 feet. Within the quadrangle are also two new ranges of buildings, in which iron has been used in the place of wood. These buildings consist of magazines for different kinds of stores, rigging-houses, and sail-lofts. The northern and upper part of the yard is occupied by a range of handsome houses, with good gardens behind them, for the commissioner and the principal officers of the yard, the chapel, the guard-house, and pay-office, stables for the officers, and the teams, and a fine reservoir of fresh water for the supply of the yard.

Plymouth is not only a good building and repairing yard, on account of its excellent docks and slips, and the great length of line along the Hamoaze, but

Dock-Yards.—also a good refitting yard, and was fully occupied during the war with the refitting of the western squadron, employed in the constant blockade of Brest. The number of men borne on the establishment of this yard might have been about 3000, of which about 800 were shipwrights.

Plymouth Victualling Establishments.—The victualling establishments are here, as well as at Portsmouth, unconnected, and, in fact, dispersed in three different places: the cooperage and the brewery being at South-Down, near Mill-brook, on the farther side of Hamonze; the bake-house and principal stores at the entrance of Sutton-Pool, in the Catwater, and the slaughter-house on the Devil's Point at the head of the Sound. The total establishment of the victualling department at this port, officers included, amounted to about 400 persons.

Plymouth Hospital.—Is a handsome building of stone, or rather a series of separate buildings, regularly arranged, in which respect, as admitting a freer circulation of air, it is perhaps superior to that of Haslar. (See NAVY.)

Marines.—The third division of Royal Marines, consisting of 20 companies, are stationed at Plymouth. The barracks are conveniently situated at Stonehouse, very airy, and sufficiently spacious. (See MARINES.)

Pembroke Dock-yard.—This dock-yard has been established but a very few years, and is intended merely as a building-yard. It is situated on the southern shore of Milford Haven, not two miles from the town of Pembroke. It includes an area of about 60 acres, its surface descending in a gradual slope to the water's edge, along the shore of which is ample space for a couple of dry-docks, and at least twelve building slips, over which it is intended to erect a connected series of roofs, which will not only be attended with much convenience to the workmen, but also with a great saving of expence. The slips, being built of wood, on a limestone foundation, are erected at a very trifling cost; and the only works of any considerable expence in the yard, will be that of the dry-docks, each of which will amount to the sum of £ 60,000 nearly. For a new building-yard, a small store-house will be quite sufficient, and an old ship hauled up, serves all the purposes of one at present. There is no commissioner, nor is the usual establishment of officers completed. The total number of persons of all descriptions employed in the yard are under 500.

Ordinary of the Dock-Yards.—At each of the ports where there is a dock-yard (Pembroke excepted), a certain number of ships when put out of commission, or new ships not yet commissioned, are laid up in what is called a state of ordinary, and such ships, till very recently, used to be placed under the immediate charge of the commissioner, the masters attendant, and other officers of the dock-yard. But a new system has lately been adopted, both with regard to the fitting of the ships for their better preservation, while thus unemployed (DRY ROT), and also as to the care and management of them by naval commissioned officers living constantly on board. (See NAVY.)

Capacity of a Dock-yard.—The capacity of a dock-yard for building, repairing, and refitting ships of war, depends upon so many circumstances, that it scarcely

admits of calculation; chiefly, however, on the facilities afforded by a suitable arrangement of dry-docks, building slips, and basins, and on the number of shipwrights and other artificers borne on the strength of the yard. In building new ships, where the materials are at hand, and no interruptions occur, the capacity may be ascertained to a tolerable degree of accuracy. To complete the building of a 74 gun-ship, it is calculated that the labour of one man would be required for 18,000 days, or of 18 men for 1000 days, or about 54 men to finish her in one year. A dock-yard, therefore, with 500 good shipwrights, might be expected to launch from eight to ten sail of the line every year, if the conveniences of the yard admitted them all to be employed on building. But with regard to repairs, they are so various and so uncertain, that it would be next to impossible to form any calculation that should at all approach to the truth. A writer, well-versed in naval matters, in attempting to prove the sufficiency of our dock-yards, without having recourse to private merchant yards during war, has stated, that by an uniform system of management, "the annual regeneration of ships of the line may be safely reckoned at twelve sail, and that of frigates at eight sail;" and that besides, there "might be docked for casual repairs, in the course of one year, two hundred and sixty-seven sail of ships and vessels of war." (Letter to Lord Melville on the General State of the Navy, 1810.)

When Henry VIII. first established a regular king's dock-yard at Woolwich, he appointed a board, consisting of certain commissioners, for the management of all naval matters; and it is curious enough, as appears from the Pepysian Collection of Manuscripts in the University of Cambridge, that the regulations which he made for the civil government of the navy, and which were, in the reign of Edward VI., revised, arranged, and turned into ordinances, form the broad basis of all the subsequent instructions given to the several officers, to whom the management of the civil affairs of the navy has been committed. (First Rep. Nav. Rev.)

The Commissioners of the Navy then consisted of the Vice-Admiral of England, the Master of the Ordnance, the Surveyor of the Marine Causes, the Treasurer, Comptroller, General Surveyor of the Victualling, Clerk of the Ships, and Clerk of the Stores. They had each their particular duties; and once a week they were ordered to meet at their office on Tower Hill, and once a month to report their proceedings to the Lord High Admiral.

In 1609 the principal officers for conducting the civil affairs of the navy were suspended in consequence of many abuses being complained of; and other commissioners were appointed, with powers to manage, settle, and put the affairs of the navy into a proper train, and to prevent, by such measures as might appear to be necessary, the continuance of the many great frauds and abuses which had prevailed. A similar commission was renewed in 1618, which in a full and minute report detailed and explained those frauds and abuses.

That commission, which ended on the death of James I., was renewed by his successor, and remained in force till 1628, when it was dissolved;

Dock-Yards. and the management of the navy was restored to the Board of Principal Officers, as established by Edward VI.

In the disturbed reign of Charles I., the navy was suffered to go to decay; but by the extraordinary exertions of Cromwell, it was raised to a height which it had never before reached; but again declined under the short and feeble administration of his son.

Duke of York the Lord High Admiral. On the restoration of Charles II., the Duke of York was appointed Lord High Admiral; and by his advice a committee was appointed to consider a plan he had drawn out for the future regulation of the affairs of the navy, at which he himself presided. "In all naval affairs," say the Commissioners of Revision, "he appears to have acted with the advice and assistance of Mr Samuel Pepys, who first held the office of Clerk of the Acts, and was afterwards Secretary of the Admiralty; a man of extraordinary knowledge in all that related to the business of that department, of great talents, and the most indefatigable industry."

The entire management of the navy was now in the hands of the Duke, as Lord High Admiral, by whom three new commissioners were appointed to act conjointly with the Treasurer of the Navy, the Comptroller, the Surveyor, and Clerk of the Acts, as Principal Officers and Commissioners of the Navy; a book of instructions, drawn out by Mr Pepys, was sent to the Navy Board for its guidance; a rapid progress was made in the repair and augmentation of the fleet; but being called away, in consequence of the Dutch war in 1664, the example of zeal and industry set by Mr Pepys was not sufficient, in the Duke's absence, to prevent neglect and mismanagement in every department except his own.

New Set of Commissioners. From 1673 to 1679, the office of Lord High Admiral being put in commission, at the head of which Prince Rupert was placed, the King, by Mr Pepys, arranged all naval affairs; but in the latter year, when the Duke was sent abroad, and Mr Pepys to the tower, a new set of men were made commissioners of the navy, who, without experience, ability or industry, suffered the navy to go to decay. "All the wise regulations," say the commissioners of revision, "formed during the administration of the Duke of York, were neglected; and such supineness and waste appear to have prevailed, as at the end of not more than five years, when he was recalled to the office of Lord High Admiral, only 22 ships, none larger than a fourth rate, with two fire-ships, were at sea; those in the harbour were quite unfit for service; even the 30 new ships which he had left building had been suffered to fall into a state of great decay, and hardly any stores were found to remain in the dock-yards." He reappointed Mr Pepys as Secretary of the Admiralty; he set about an inquiry into the characters and abilities of the first ship-builders in England, and by the advice of Mr Pepys, joined Sir Anthony Dean, eminent in that profession, with three others, to the former principal officers, in a new commission. The old commissioners were directed entirely to confine their attention to the business of a committee of accounts. To each of the new ones was entrusted a distinct branch of the proposed reform; and it appears, that, highly to

their credit, "they performed what they had under-Dock-Yards. taken, in less time than was allowed for it, and at less expence;" having completed their business to the general satisfaction of the public, two months before the Revolution.

The business of the navy, thus methodized and settled, remained undisturbed by that event. The commissioners of revision justly observed, that "the great work of re-establishing the fleet, and restoring order, industry, and discipline, in the dock-yards, accomplished in so short a time by the commissioners then chosen, with so much care, proves, in the most convincing manner, how much depends on having the civil affairs of the navy placed under the management of men of real ability, professional knowledge, and uninterrupted industry."

Commissioners of Naval Inquiry and Revision. It will readily be supposed, that the vast increase of our naval force since that time, has necessarily required many additional orders and regulations, some of which, from circumstances, are not compatible with each other; some given to one dock-yard and not to another; others in one yard became obsolete, while they continued to be acted upon in another; so that there was no longer that uniformity in the management which it is so desirable, indeed so essentially necessary to preserve. From the year 1764 to 1804, when his Majesty appointed a commission "for revising and digesting the civil affairs of his navy," the attention of the Lords of the Admiralty and the Navy Board had frequently been directed to this important subject; but owing to various causes, nothing was done to forward so desirable an arrangement, except that Sir Charles Middleton (afterwards Lord Barham), when comptroller of the navy, classed and digested under distinct heads, in a book for that purpose, all orders and regulations prior to the year 1786. The commissioners of naval inquiry, appointed in 1803, state the necessity of revising the instructions, and digesting the immense mass of orders issued to the dock-yard officers, and regret that a work of such utility should not have been completed. The late Lord Melville, to whom the navy is perhaps more indebted than to any single individual, and who, from the active part he had long taken in its concerns, was well aware of the irregularities and disorder which prevailed in the dock-yards, on his appointment to the administration of naval affairs, determined to carry into execution a complete system of reform and of uniform management, in all the several departments. The commission consisted of Admiral Lord Barham, John Fordyce, Esq. Admiral Sir Roger Curtis, Bart. Vice Admiral Domett, and Ambrose Serle, Esq. They made fifteen distinct reports; the date of the first being June 13th, 1805; of the last, the 6th March 1808; all of which except two have been printed, by order of the House of Commons, and mostly carried into effect by his Majesty's Orders in Council. One of the two not printed, is an inquiry into the state of the navy at different periods, and of naval timber; the other relates to the formation of a new dock-yard at North-sleet, which, however advisable and even necessary the design of it might have been considered, at the time when Bonaparte was energetically carrying on his mighty plans, for the creation of a naval force to contest the power of

Dock-Yards. the ocean with Great Britain, will, as has already been observed, no longer be thought so, under present circumstances.

Uniform System of Management introduced. From these reports have been established, for the first time, in all his Majesty's dock-yards, one uniform system of management, by which incalculable advantages are said to have been derived to the public, in the preventing of frauds, in the saving of labour and materials, and consequently time and expence, and in securing better workmanship in the construction of ships, which is perhaps of all other considerations the most important.

Commissioners of the Navy. The management of the dock-yards, and of all the civil affairs of the navy, is entrusted to certain commissioners appointed by patent, of whom the comptroller of the navy and three surveyors, and seven other commissioners, form a board at Somerset House, for the general direction and superintendence of the civil concerns of the navy, subject to the control of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. At most of the home yards and of the foreign yards is a commissioner of the navy, who is always a naval officer, of the rank of post-captain. The foreign yards, over which a commissioner presides, are Bermuda, Cape of Good Hope, Gibraltar, Halifax, Jamaica, Malta, Quebec, Kingston, including the lake-establishments, and Trincomalee, which, with the five belonging to the home yards, Woolwich (including Deptford), Chatham, Sheerness, Portsmouth, and Plymouth, make the whole number of commissioners of the navy amount to twenty-four. The salary of each of the Home Commissioners is L. 1000 a-year; that of the Comptroller L. 2000. The salary of the Foreign Commissioners L. 1200 a-year, except that of the Cape of Good Hope, which is L. 1800, and Trincomalee which is L. 3000 a-year. They are also entitled to very liberal superannuations when unfit for further service; and at their death, their widows receive a pension for life of L. 300 a-year.

Establishment of Navy Office. The establishment of the navy-office at Somerset House consists of eleven commissioners; a secretary and assistant secretary; two secretaries to the committees of accounts and stores; an assistant to the surveyors; a receiver of fees and paymaster of contingencies; and 150 clerks with salaries from L. 800 to L. 90 a-year, besides a surveyor of buildings and six draughtsmen, messengers, porter, &c.—the total annual expence of which, as voted by Parliament in 1817, amounted to L. 77,504, 18s. 6d.—(Ordinary Estimate of the Navy.)

Of the Treasurer's Office. The treasurer of the navy is a high and responsible officer, appointed by the crown, and removable at pleasure. His salary was L. 4000 a-year, but has recently been reduced to L. 3000. The establishment of the navy pay-office at Somerset House consists of a paymaster and deputy, three cashiers, one for the navy, one for the victualling, and one for the allotment branch; an accountant, inspector, a superintendent of the payments of the dock-yards, resident in London, sixty established and eighteen extra clerks, besides six pay clerks and three conductors of money at the four pay-ports, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Chatham, and Sheerness. The annual expence of this establishment, as appears

from the navy estimates of 1817, amounts to Dock-Yards. L. 43,241, 15s. 4d.—(Ordinary Estimate.)

To each of the four dock-yards, Deptford, Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Chatham, are victualling establishments for supplying the fleet with provisions and water; and also at Dover, Cork, Cape of Good Hope, Gibraltar, and Malta. There is no resident commissioner at any of the victualling establishments, either at home or abroad; but the superintendent of the victualling-yard at Deptford, which is the great depot of provisions for the fleet, is a post-captain in the navy. At each of the others, the duty of providing, and of issuing provisions to his Majesty's ships, is entrusted to an officer named the "Agent Victualler." The victualling of the navy was formerly under the direction and superintendence of the navy board; but at length the navy increased to such a magnitude as to render a separate establishment necessary, to which the furnishing of all supplies of provisions, both at home and abroad, should be entrusted, subject to the control of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. The victualling board at Somerset House consists of a chairman and deputy-chairman, the former with a salary of L. 1200, the latter of L. 1000 a-year, and five other commissioners with salaries of L. 800 a-year each; a secretary to the board, and a secretary to the committee of accounts; a registrar of securities, and 136 clerks, with salaries varying from L. 800 to L. 80 a-year, according to their class and length of service, the total annual expence of which amounted, in 1817, to L. 45,541, 13s. 4d.

The Commissioners of Victualling are also allowed to retire on superannuations when unfit for service, and discretionary pensions settled on their widows and children.

The Transport Board having been dissolved at the end of the war, its twofold duties were divided between the Navy and Victualling Boards; those which concerned the hiring of transports devolved on the Commissioners of the Navy, and those which related to the sick and hurt department, on the Commissioners of the Victualling Board, on whom also devolves the direction and superintendence of all the naval hospitals at home and abroad.

The principal officers of an established dock-yard are, 1. The commissioner. 2. The master attendant. 3. The master shipwright. 4. The clerk of the check. 5. The store-keeper. 6. The clerk of the survey; to which have recently been added the subordinate officers of timber-master, and the master measurer. There are besides several assistants to the master attendant and master shipwright, foremen, sub-measurers, quartermen, and converters, surgeon, chaplain, boatswain, warden, &c. The enumeration of the establishment of salary-officers of one yard, Portsmouth, for instance, will serve to convey a general idea of the whole.

1. The Commissioner's salary L. 1100 a-year (all others L. 1000); three clerks with salaries from L. 400 to L. 120.

2. Two masters attendant, one at L. 650, the other at L. 500 a-year; one clerk to both.

3. Master shipwright, L. 720 a-year, three clerks from L. 300 to L. 120.

Dock-Yards. 4. Clerk of the check, salary L. 600; eight clerks from L. 400 to L. 80.

5. Storekeeper, salary L. 600 a-year; twelve clerks from L. 400 to L. 80.

6. Clerk of the survey, L. 500; eight clerks from L. 400 to L. 80.

7. Clerk of the rope yard, L. 350; one clerk.

8. Engineer and mechanist, L. 600 (at Portsmouth only), with a draughtsman; one clerk.

9. Timber master, salary L. 500; seven clerks from L. 250 to L. 80.

10. Three assistants to the master attendant at L. 220 each; one assistant to the timber-master, L. 200; three assistants to the master shipwright, L. 400 each.

11. The master-measurer, L. 250 a-year; ten clerks from L. 200 to L. 80.

12. Thirty-five foremen from L. 250 to L. 80 each.

13. Sub-measurers, quartermen, and converters, from L. 180 to L. 160 each.

14. The master mast-maker, sail-maker, boat-builder, joiner, house-carpenter, brick-layer, smith, ropemaker, rigger, painter (wood-mills, metal-mills, mill-wright, at Portsmouth only); with salaries each, from L. 260 to L. 200 a-year.

15. 22 Cabin-keepers from L. 100 to L. 60 each.

16. A surgeon, L. 500; assistant L. 200.

17. Chaplain, L. 500.

18. Boatswain, L. 250.

19. Warden of the gate, L. 200.

Watchmen, warders, and rounders.

The total amount of the salaries paid to the above mentioned officers in the year 1817, in Portsmouth yard alone, was L. 50,065, 5s. (Estimates of the Ordinary of the Navy, 1817.)

The duties of these several officers may briefly be summed up as under:

The Commissioner has full authority over all officers and other persons employed in the dock-yard and ordinary; can suspend any officer until the decision of the Lords of the Admiralty or Navy Board shall be taken; sends a daily report of transactions relating to the shipping, to the Admiralty, and another more detailed report of the transactions of the yard, to the navy office; he is to see that the officers of the several departments be diligent and attentive to their respective duties; to visit the storehouses, and examine the stores received from the contractors; to use every means for preventing embezzlement of stores; to examine any ship or vessel meant to be purchased or hired, to see that she is fit for the service intended; to superintend the general monthly muster of all the men belonging to the yard, and to the ordinary once each quarter; to control the quarterly payments of the yard, and of all ships where there is no pay-captain specially appointed for that service; to co-operate with the commander-in-chief, captains, and officers of his Majesty's ships in commission; and, generally, to adopt such regulations and instructions for the management of the yard as may appear to be most expedient for the benefit of the public service.

Master Attendant.—The duties of this officer are highly important both in the dock-yard and afloat. Of that part of the latter, however, which gave him

Dock-Yards. the responsibility for the general care and management of the ships in ordinary, he has been relieved by recent regulations, in consequence of the ordinary being placed under the superintendence of commissioned officers of the navy. He has still, however, to take care that the iron ballast of ships laid up in ordinary be ready for sea service; that the ships have on board a proper quantity of shingle ballast to keep them down to a proper depth in the water; that the ships be arranged at their moorings according to their respective draughts of water; to see that when any ship is put in commission, the iron ballast be stowed according to the established plan; to see that the moorings are of a proper size; to lay them and the transporting buoys down, and to take care that they are kept in a proper state of repair; not to permit any merchant vessel to lie at them, or alongside of the ships in ordinary; that no strange boats loiter about the ships, or wharfs, or jetty-heads. He is to attend the docking, grounding, and graving all of his Majesty's ships, by day or night; to take charge of them while transporting from and to their moorings; to give assistance to all ships in distress, within the limits of the port and neighbourhood; to appoint craft for the conveyance of stores to or from his Majesty's ships, all the sailing and other craft belonging to the yards being under his directions; to survey all ships tendered to Government, in company with the master shipwright and clerk of the survey; he is to keep an account of the entry and discharge of all sailmakers, riggers, and riggers-labourers, employed in his department of the yard, whom he is to examine as to their qualifications; to visit frequently the sail-loft and rigging-house, and, in conjunction with the master, sail-master, and master-rigger, settle the work that is to be done on every succeeding day; he is carefully to inspect the qualities and dimensions of all stores with the storekeeper and the respective masters of the trades, rejecting all such as may not be agreeable to contract. He is to take care to provide rigging and stores in due time, for every ship that shall be ordered to be brought forward for commission; he is to join the clerk of the survey in warranting all stores demanded for a ship refitting; to examine all the boatswain's stores landed from a dismantled ship; and all sails, cables, cordage, and other old stores, before they are delivered into the charge of the storekeeper; and, in company with the storekeeper, frequently to examine the state of the stores. These, and numerous other duties connected with the receipt and expenditure of stores, and the distribution of the labour of a very considerable proportion of the strength of the yard, fall to the lot of the master attendant, who is always selected from among the old and experienced masters in the navy.

Master Shipwright.—Has the superintendence of Master all ships ordered to be built, repaired, and refitted; is ordered to be present at the launching, docking, and undocking, grounding, and graving of all ships; the disposal of all the shipwrights, caulkers, house-carpenters, joiners, &c. ashore and afloat, the examination of them when entered on the yard; has the sole direction of the boatswain of the yard, of the mast-makers, boat-builders, capstan and top-makers, and

Deck-Yards generally all such as are employed on wood-work. All the carpenters of ships in ordinary are under his directions; all the timber of the yard is at his disposal; and the timber-master, who is more immediately charged with the management of the timber, as to its arrangement, conversion, &c. is to follow the direction of the master-shipwright. He keeps an account of the expences of the repairs and refitting of ships, as well as of ships building, and assists in preparing the Parliamentary estimates for the extraordinaries of the navy in each year. He attends the surveys of ships coming in from sea, and reports the nature of their defects, and when a ship is brought forward for service from a state of ordinary, he estimates the expence and the time that may be required to fit her for sea. From the master shipwrights are selected persons to fill the important situation of "Surveyor of the Navy."

Clerk of the Check. Clerk of the Check—Is an officer of great trust, and charged with many important duties. He keeps an accurate account of the entry and discharge of every man in the yard; musters them either himself or by his clerks, every time they pass the gates, into or out of the yard, and checks those that may be absent; keeps an account of the pay earned by every man; musters the ordinary once a month, and every ship in commission at the port at uncertain times; also the crews of all tenders, store-ships, navy transports, and other hired vessels, and all ships belonging to the public service, immediately on their arrival in port. He attends the receipt of all stores, articles, and materials of every kind delivered into the yard, and examines with the proper officers all works performed by contract; takes an account of all stores received as a check upon the storekeeper; of hemp, tar, and other materials for the rope-yard, as a check on the clerk of the rope-yard; receives the money produced by the sales of old stores or chips, and pays the contingent expences of the yard; attends all the payments of the yard and the ordinary; pays bounty and conduct money; and at the end of every quarter furnishes the Navy Board with complete copies of all his accounts.

Storekeeper. This officer has the charge of all the storehouses in the yard, and stores of every description, as well manufactured articles as raw materials, with the exception of timber and hemp, which are in charge of the timber-master and clerk of the rope-yard respectively, until manufactured, when they are also delivered over to the storekeeper. Attended by the clerk of the check, the clerk of the survey, and the other respective officers and masters of the trades, he carefully inspects the qualities and dimensions of all articles received into the yard, and rejects all such as may not be agreeable to contract, or abates of the price or quantity according to any deficiency that may appear; each species is then entered in a rough book, and, when checked and examined, is brought into the ledger. He has the sole charge of all slops, beds, bedding, and marine clothing; but he is not charged with old stores returned into the yard, such as sails, cables, copper, &c. until the master attendant, or master-shipwright, in their respective departments, have examined and charged him with them, by a note under their hands. At the end of every quarter he transmits to the Navy Office all the rough

receipt books, vouchers of receipts, and issues, with Dock-Yard a correct abstract, and a quarterly balance of stores on hand.

The stores belonging to each ship at the port are kept in their proper store-births, and marked with the ship's name to which they belong; and when a ship is to be brought forward for commission, all her stores are immediately placed in the birth belonging to the ship. All stores are marked by the storekeeper with the broad arrow, the distinguishing mark of the king's stores. The difficulty of examining the immense quantity of certain articles of stores, operated at one time against any examination whatever; and it generally happened, on the appointment of a new storekeeper, that the quantities in store differed very materially with the balances in the ledger; but, of late years, this evil has been remedied by obliging the storekeeper to compare the quantities on hand with the balance in his books, whenever any species of store shall be reduced so low as to admit of its being done without inconvenience to the public service. It is obvious that, although every practicable check has been adopted on the receipts and issues of the storekeeper, that this officer is charged with a high and responsible situation of trust.

Clerk of the Survey.—The duties of this ancient officer were probably at one time more important than they now are, though he is still charged with a great variety of business, connected chiefly with the store department, on which he is the main check, especially as far as regards the issues of stores to ships in commission, and the returns when put out of commission. He keeps an account of the stores issued to each person, and charges him with the same. He takes a monthly survey of the remains of stores issued for the annual service of the yard. He is to see that the quantity of stores issued to ships when put in commission or when refitting, is conformable with the establishment, and that each ship has neither more nor less than her exact proportion; and he is to supply her commander with a complete survey-book, containing the dimensions of her masts, and yards, and sails, size and length of rigging, blocks, &c. and an account of all the stores committed to the charge of the boat-swain and carpenter, whose expence-books are examined, together with the remains, on her return to port, by the clerk of the survey. On the death or removal of a storekeeper, the clerk of the survey, in conjunction with the newly appointed successor, and such others as may be appointed, is to take a complete survey of all the stores in the yard, in order that the new storekeeper may be regularly charged therewith, and become responsible for the same. These are the principal duties; but there are many others which the clerk of the survey has to perform, and which require his constant and unremitting attendance.

Clerk of the Rope-yard has the charge of the rope-yard, and all the store-houses belonging to it, and musters all persons employed in the rope-yard every time they come in to work, and in the evening when they leave work. He attends the receipt of all stores for his department, in which he is checked by a clerk from the Clerk of the Check's Office, and another from that of the Clerk of the Survey;—he attends all payments of the rope-yard, and transmits quar-

Dock-Yards. terly accounts to the Navy Board.—(First Report of the Commissioners for revising the Civil Affairs of the Navy.)

Engineer and Mechanist.—This officer is of recent appointment, and is borne on the establishment of Portsmouth Dock-yard only; the wood and metal mills, and the block machinery, being confined to that yard; and they require a person of great skill and judgment, not only to keep them in order, but to suggest improvements, and to examine any new invention in mechanics that may be proposed for his Majesty's service in any of the dock-yards.

Timber-Master.—This officer is also of recent appointment. Formerly all timber received into the yard was placed under the charge of the store-keeper, and under the management of the master shipwright and his assistants; the one having no professional knowledge, and the other little or no responsibility while in its rough state. The difficulty of procuring a supply of certain descriptions of timber, and the ravages committed by the dry-rot, have effected a change in the charge and management of this important article highly advantageous to the public service. The timber-master is now the responsible person; and, in consequence of which, more care and attention are bestowed in the classing, stacking, and keeping an accurate account of the receipt and expenditure of timber, than at any former period. Though thirty or forty thousand loads may be in a dock-yard at one time, every single log or balk is marked, numbered, and assorted in so methodical a manner, that any individual piece can, at a moment's notice, be pointed out; and where the master shipwright may demand a piece of timber for some particular purpose, the stack is immediately pointed out where such piece is to be found. To preserve this arrangement—to examine all the timber as it comes into the yard—to keep the account of the receipts and expenditure, with all the various duties attached to this office, require a number of clerks, who are constantly employed under the timber-master.

Master-Measurer.—This officer likewise presides over a department but recently created; and, with the Foremen, Sub-measurer, Quarter-men, &c., forms a large addition to the number of salary-officers in the dock-yards; but the appointment was deemed necessary, in consequence of the new system of building and repairing ships, by what is called Task and Job; the former being applied to the building of new ships, and the latter to the repairing of old ones; both, in fact, mean, the paying for work by the piece, but estimated in a different way. Thus, for building a ship of 100 guns, and 2164 tons, by task, the sum to be allowed was calculated at L.6615, or at the rate of L.3, 1s. per ton; while for a 74 gun-ship of 1620 tons, the allowance was to be L.4374, being at the rate of L.2, 14s. per ton. But as it could not be expected that the workmen would require no payment till this ship was completed, or that they should be paid before-hand, it was necessary to ascertain the progress of the work, in order to pay them a proportionate sum; and, for this purpose, measurers were appointed, who had no interest in the work, to ascertain the value of the part performed. Job-work was attended with greater diffi-

culty. The best estimate of the probable expence of repairing a ship is but a mere guess, as the extent of her defects are not known till every part has been examined. The usual mode was, to measure the works as they proceeded, by the quarter-men, checked by the foreman of the shipwrights,—approved by the assistant, who superintended the repair of the ship,—sent to the master shipwright, who, with the prices annexed, forwarded it to the Navy Board.

The Commissioners of Naval Inquiry (Sixth Report) clearly expose the "combination of self-interest which has been permitted to exist against the public, in all the persons who were concerned in the accounts of job-work, and the fictitious manner of making up those accounts." The quarter-men, for instance, were paid wages according to the amount of the earnings of the men under their own superintendence, and the accounts of those earnings were taken by themselves. General Bentham has furnished an instance of the gross abuses which existed under the old system of job-work. "By the regulations of the Navy Board, nothing less than L.5, 2s. was to be paid for the smallest repair of a 34 feet launch. If the above sum should be found inadequate to the payments for the work done to a boat of this class, the repair was then to be denominated a middling repair; in which case L.11, 1s. was the exact sum. Again, if this sum were insufficient, the repair was to be denominated a large repair; and, in this case, although the value of the workmanship might have exceeded the sum of L.11, 1s. only by a few shillings, the expence was to have appeared in the accounts as doubled, and set down L.22, 2s., and nothing less was to be the exact sum paid for this work." Nothing was more common in estimating a man's wages, to find him working three or four tides, and very often three nights, in one day. (Bentham's Services, &c.)

The whole of this system is now done away. The master-measurer being a professional man, has under his directions a certain number of sub-measurers, selected from among the shipwrights of the best characters for integrity and intelligence. These persons are to measure, daily, the work that has been performed in the course of that day by the several gangs of shipwrights, and value it according to a table which, after long experience and accurate observation, has been constructed by the officers and assistants of the yard, in such a manner that every piece of work performed on a new ship, from the keel upwards, and every bolt drawn or driven in the repair of an old one, has its adequate value; and, in order that task and job work should not any longer be, what the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry pronounced it to be, "the source of abuse and fraud," the quartermen do not, as formerly, partake of the earnings of the gang which they superintend, but are now sworn salary officers, whose interest it is, for their own character, and chance of advancement in the service, to see that every part of the work is performed in a proper and workmanlike manner; and the consequence is, that no new work is now paid for that is not actually performed; and that every part of the work is performed in the best possible man-

Dock-Yards-ner. By these schemes, it appears that a shipwright could earn generally about 6s. a-day in summer, and 4s. 6d. a-day in winter. The system of measurers, sub-measurers, quartermen, &c. being made salary officers, appears to be attended with very considerable expence; but the whole is a mere trifle, provided it be the means of preventing fraud, and of securing good ships to the navy. (See SHIP-BUILDING.) That it does both appears to be the opinion of the best informed officers of the dock-yards; and the advantages which are so obviously to be derived from piece-work, provided the workmen are properly superintended, have induced the Navy Board to extend the task and job scheme not only to all the artificers of the dock-yards, but also to the labourers, where it can be done, as is now the general practice in almost all private manufactories. (Third Report of Commissioners of Naval Revision.)

Master Mast-Maker, &c.—These masters of the several trades have the immediate superintendence of all the work done, and the persons employed in their respective departments; the mast-maker, boat-builder, joiner, house-carpenter, bricklayer, smith, and painter, being under the direction of the master shipwright, and his assistants; the sail-maker and rigger under the master attendant, and the rope-maker under that of the clerk of the rope-yard. Each of these masters have immediately under them a certain number of foremen, who superintend the working men, and take a particular account of the earnings of each. Both masters and foremen are taken from among the most respectable and intelligent of the several trades, and are a most useful body of men in the dock-yards.

Cabin-Keepers.—The store-cabins in the dock-yard contain an assortment of stores for the current service, and are placed under the charge of the master shipwright or the master-attendant, according to the nature of the stores which are placed in them. To each of these inferior store rooms is appointed a cabin-keeper, who is charged by the store-keeper with the quantities of the several articles delivered to him, an account of which is entered in his supply-book; and the articles delivered by him on a note from the superior officers of the yard, are entered in his expence-book; and once a-week these books are compared by the superior officer of the department under which the cabin is placed, to see that no waste or embezzlement may have taken place. The cabin-keeper being an officer of trust, is required to give bond, with a respectable security, in the sum of L.200, for the due and faithful execution of his office.

Surgeon and Assistant.—Have the care of the men belonging to the Ordinary in all cases of sickness or hurts; but of the workmen in the dock-yards, in cases of wounds or hurts only. One or other are required to attend constantly during the working hours, and to muster such of his patients as are able to attend every morning. The surgeon is to examine every artificer, apprentice, and workman, of every description, previous to his entry on the yard, to as-

certain his fitness as to bodily strength, and whether he may labour under any disease or infirmity. He is strictly forbidden to have any professional practice whatever but what may be required by his public duty, and his attendance on the families of the officers resident in the dock-yard.

Boatswain.—Has the superintendence, under the master shipwright, and his assistant, of all the scavelmen, labourers, and teams of horses; of the unloading and landing of all timber and other stores; of all the cranes, crane-ropes, slings, &c. and of the fire-engines; and he keeps a daily account of the employment of the scavelmen, labourers, and teams, a copy of which is delivered at the end of every week to the master shipwright.

Warden of the Gate.—Has the superintendence of all wardens employed in the yard, and has charge of the gate, through which he is not to permit any stranger, improper person, or foreigner, to pass. He is to see that nothing is carried out of the yard improperly, and to cause the bell to be rung at the proper hour, for the workmen to enter, according to the season of the year.

The principal officers at each of the victualling establishments at home are, 1. The agent victualler. 2. The clerk of the check. 3. The store-keeper. After these come, 1. The master cooper. 2. The master brewer. 3. The master butcher. 4. The master baker. 5. The miller; and 6. The superintendent of the wharf. The agent has L. 600 a year; the rest from L. 400 to L. 200 a-year, and the number of all the salary officers, including the clerks, may amount to about 40 at each of the four victualling establishments at home.

All the officers, clerks, artificers, and labourers of the civil establishments of the navy, are entitled to a pension on their retirement on account of old age or infirmities, proportioned to the length of their services, provided each service shall have exceeded ten years.

The total annual expence of all the branches of the civil establishments of the navy in the year 1817 stood as under:

(Estimates of the Navy for 1817.)